Location: my house in the village of C., about 9:30 pm on the 10th of June
As there is a chance I will be able to get online this weekend, I thought it would be good if I wrote an update for you. I am not promising any pictures, though.
So yes, last time you heard from me, I rode a borrowed bike straight out of a seventies Hollywood flick 40 kilometers to town and back! I am not used to such a ride, especially on a road bike like that, with curved handlebars that threatened to attack my knees with every turn. However, I did survive both potholes I failed to avoid, and rolled into town as the sun set.
The next morning, I stood plotting revenge against the manufacturers of that bike seat, but after a family church service mostly in Swiss German, I decided I was able to go for another horseback ride, which ended with four of us galloping in a race across the meadow high in the hills. Today we were up in that field again, though it was far different from Sunday's cookout up there. Today we walked through the fields (of hay, or wheat, or something that is too small and too country for me to recognize at this point) and dug up weeds for two hours in the June sun.
Yes, we have done some hard work this week. Everyday begins with watering the garden, because the daily rain we were having dried up a week ago. This week we have done some more painting, built/repaired a privacy fence, organized and laid stone in a barn, wheelbarrowed sand, and many other tasks. Have you ever used a scythe? I have now! I enjoy the rocking motion, though my yard clearing was not as easy as it looked. And I now have a large spider bite on the back of my leg, yet ironically it did not come from those weeds. I think I was bit at choir rehearsal Wednesday as we prepared for tomorrow's concert.
So there has been pure delight, pure frustration, challenges, victories, fatigue, and more. As I expected, I ran into some more trouble with my bank in America. Umm, but I have also had delicious food, and especially wonderful desserts, from produce from our garden. I also earned my own jar of strawberry jam by weeding the flower bed! Tonight I showed up a bit late to buy milk, and the lady only barely salvaged a liter of milk before it became cheese. I also did laundry by hand tonight, and even if all the socks are not completely white, all the clothing passes the odor test! Once last year, I stated that I thought the manual agriculture and simple life in Romania was charming, and someone told me it might not be charming for the people who have to live that way. I try to remember how charming it is when I am breaking my back and dripping sweat over a pitchfork or shovel. Often, when the going gets tough, I amuse myself by imagining a visit to Romania by an OSHA employee. (I cannot remember if that is the exact acronym for the bureau of workplace safety.) Many of the things he would see here would make him start convulsing, and I pray specifically each day for protection as I work hard or am around others working hard.
So I thought you would be interested in hearing about the bike ride and horseback ride. In fact, during that bike ride, I saw a sign for used bikes, but when I turned in I was charged by two nasty looking and sounding dogs. I politely explained to them that I was not afraid of them and that they should mind their own business, but I did not wait around for their response, deciding I could easily retreat by the way I entered. Instead I talked to some men working in the field, who told me there were no bikes there anyway! On Monday or Tuesday, I enjoyed another bike ride around town with my coworker, I. He goes for a ride almost everyday, and he has been a good friend to me. So we biked to a nearby lake and had a good time; this time I was on an old military issue bike that actually was a lot sturdier even if it only had one speed. The brakes only sort of worked, which made for a lot more fun. As I cycle through the people I know whom I wish were here to visit and see what I am seeing, many of you come to mind. But J. (my mentor), I often wish you could be here to share some of these adventures!
I think the best sporting adventure happened today. I. and I had talked about wrestling or having a water fight after work, so we ended up having a wrestling match, somewhere finding enough energy to compete in the yard with all of the neighborhood kids watching. If you know my family, you know that I live among many star wrestlers; however, I was never one of them, except in fourth grade intramurals. I have to admit that it was not fair; not only am I a head taller than this twenty-two-year-old, but I outweigh him by a good twenty to forty pounds. We had fun though, and it wore us out. As we sat there panting, discussing my advantage, our boss said he would like to wrestle me!
Already tired, I accepted the challenge, knowing for certain that I was proving myself crazy. Not only was I out of breath, but my boss (probably forty-five?) was in the military in Switzerland several years ago. He is not a huge man, but he is tall like me, and when he works without a shirt you can see that he will always be victories over his work. So I sized him up after a brief rest, and we began circling. Soon the not only the neighborhood kids, but the whole family was watching! We wrestled for probably five minutes, each of us nearly pinning the other several times. See? I told you I have a good boss! And now I have the marks to prove it; my body will probably remind me of it when I report to work in the morning!
So life is good, because we have a good God who is actively at work in our world, working out His plans for our good and for His glory.
This blog is your opportunity to travel with me wherever I am in the world, during both the mundane and exciting moments of life that I humbly recognize as holy. As I bare my life to you, may your reading take you beyond my words to the Word, beyond my life to the Life, beyond the chaos to the Truth, and beyond teachings to the Teacher--the Rabboni. I promise it will be an adventure, and by the end, may you, too, truly know the Way!
A Rose From Home
My Story (As prepared for my church congregation this spring--2009)
I have a story to tell you. I am the main character, but the story is not about me. I have traveled several parts of the world, but my adventure has been closer to home. I am twenty-six years old. My story begins like many of yours…
I grew up going to church. I had been born into a family who labeled themselves “Christian,” in a country that labels itself “Christian.” Every Sunday found me attending a worship service and Sunday school in a mainline denomination church. I served as an acolyte, attended Vacation Bible School, helped my dad count and record the offering money, sang in the youth choir, was a leader in the youth group, and occasionally served as liturgist. Baptized as an infant, I was confirmed at the age of twelve, thus becoming an “official” member of the church. Then, hurt by the church, my family left to find another.
Have you ever been hurt by the Church?
After months of searching, we settled into a very large independent church. Things were different there, and I was quickly welcomed and at home among new friends that truly had a passion for Jesus. The Word of God was taught boldly from the pulpit, and I was introduced to a missions-aware lifestyle. So it was with regret that I said goodbye only a couple of years later to move with my family to another church. I purposely remained aloof, not wanting to make new friendships before I left for college a year later. Besides, I was loosing my faith—or so I thought—and I didn’t want anyone to know. I was asking scary questions like “Is there really a God?” and, if so, “Is He the Christian God?” and “Would I be Christian if I had been born in another part of the world?”
Have you ever asked yourself unsettling questions about what you believe?
So I headed into college under a cloud of confusion that only worsened for the next two years. Though I didn’t know what I believed anymore, I continued to go to church every Sunday, and to help lead worship in chapel. Most importantly, even during this questioning, I continued my morning habit of daily study of the Bible. I had begun at age twelve, reading at first a chapter per day, then ten minutes each morning, then an half-hour, and so on. So, only by the grace of the very God I doubted, I remained anchored in His Word and in His community, though I felt like a fake most of the time. Since then I have learned that “fake” is the worst insult the world can give us; that is why the label of “hypocrite” is so offensive.
Have you ever felt like a fake?
Six weeks with missionaries in South Africa followed by a year in France began to teach me what life with God is all about. I began rebuilding my faith, this time it belonged to me, in contrast to me borrowing the faith of my parents, church, or anyone else. In my parent’s basement in 2003, on either Christmas Eve or New Year’s Eve, I invited Jesus to live in me; perhaps I had done so before, but I didn’t recall—but since 2003, I have never forgotten that moment. Unfortunately, nothing changed. I continued to do my best to act like a Christian, as I had done for so long.
Have you ever found yourself “doing your best” to be a good person, or to act like a Christian?
Though I did not realize it at the time, I was quenching the Spirit, even though I had welcomed Him into my life. During the next few years, the LORD continued to nurture me, and slowly things began to change. Several tough months in Idaho birthed my prayer-life. I spent three years being humbled in a job that was my informal seminary training. In 2007, a short stint in Mexico helped me to see things as they were, and not long afterward, I was baptized by immersion. No baptism of any kind can save a lost soul—only Jesus can do that. However, this baptism was an important covenant between me and God, symbolizing not only my death and resurrection with Jesus and my public profession of faith, but it also my life change, the beginning of my bearing fruit. “For each tree is known by its own fruit…”according to Luke 6:44. During the past year and a half, the LORD has provided me with an informal pastoral internship in my church, teaching me every aspect of discipleship. Simultaneously, I have been studying unceasing prayer and worship. I am now very different than I was five years ago.
In the Book of Acts (which tells the story of the earliest years of the Church) every time a person decided to follow Christ, two things took place—though not always in the same order. Each person experienced a life change, which I call the “baptism of repentance,” as well as the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, which I call the “baptism of the Spirit.” Looking back, I realize that the Holy Spirit was living in me in 2003, but it wasn’t until I surrendered everything to God, as represented by my immersion, that I allowed the Spirit to have His way in me and transform my life. “I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now life in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me. (Galatians 2:20)”
Have you invited Jesus to live in you? Have you allowed the Spirit to transform your life?
I tell you this story for two reasons. First, I tell this story in order to boast in the LORD! May God our Father get all praise and glory forever! Second, I tell this story because it is relevant to you. Likely you have heard that I am leaving the country: I have let my light shine before you; please let your light shine within the Church, too! This congregation is in revival, and as each of you allows the Spirit to revive you, the entire Church will be revived and utterly transformed, to the glory of the Most High God. And for His glory is the reason He created us; the reason He sent His only Son to reveal Himself to us; the reason He became Sin for us and died for us on the cross—while we were still sinners; and the reason that He conquered death and offered us eternal life with Him.
It will cost you a lot—in fact, it will cost you everything, your very life. But if you have never surrendered your life to Christ Jesus, if you have never invited Him to send His Spirit into you and to transform your life, then do it right now. Just let go of everything to which you are desperately clinging; stop trying to do it yourself! This is the very reason you are still breathing in this physical life—God has been delaying His judgment of this sinful world because He is waiting for you—2 Peter 3:9 says He wants none to perish!
If you have already invited the Spirit into your life, then live like it! Bear fruit! Anyone and everyone who meets you or knows you or sees you or hears you should know immediately and clearly that Jesus the Christ lives in you and loves them! That is how stark the contrast should be between your life and the world around you!
Have you immersed yourself in God’s Word and in prayer in the last twenty-four hours?
If you call yourself a follower of Christ, then there is no excuse for not communing with Him daily! Anchor yourself in the Word! God has revealed Himself to us through His Son, Jesus Christ, and the Bible is a complete and accurate record of that revelation. And prayer is humbly letting Him love us. Let Him love you! God doesn’t need us, but He wants us! God doesn’t need us to live for Him—He wants to live in and through us! Let us love and fellowship with one another, even when you disagree! Pray for each other—the names in the church directory are a great place to start! Church, we are not only the Body of Christ, but we are the Bride of Christ. We have allowed ourselves to get bedraggled and stained—now let us stand to the glory of God! Let’s let Him purify us, restore us, and love us!
My dear Brothers and Sisters, if you have ever once been blessed by God our Father at work in me, then I urge you, please, take seriously His desire to love and work in you, beyond anything you can ask or imagine! I have told you the beginning of my story—may it end in glory to the Father, in the Name of Jesus, by way of His Spirit.
Now, what is your story?