Wednesday, December 15, 2010

Playing Catch-Up



(Location: On my bed in my warm little house in the village of C., Romania, 7:30pm on the evening of the 14th of December)

It is high time that I fill you in on the past week or two. Today and yesterday have been catch-up days anyway, so it is only fitting. Last week I could not teach because of our busy schedule, so this week we are doing double French lessons and double English lessons. I also gave myself a haircut, updated last months budget record, and caught up on writing emails. As soon as I write this post, most things will be caught up after a busy beginning to the month of December.

Two weekends ago, I visited my former coworker, I., near Sibiu. Thanks for praying for him; life is hard for him right now. He is lonely, and he was so happy to have a visitor that he asked me millions of questions but never let me more than half-answer, so finally I stopped trying! He has nearly nothing, but he bought groceries especially for me to show me royal hospitality. We talked all day Saturday after I got there, worked on adjusting a watch band that he needed to shrink, and sang together. The next morning, I got to preach (in Romanian!) at his church, and we had a nice fellowship. Outside, we had received the first real snow of the year, and it was beautiful!

Before I had to catch a train to Sighisoara, we decided to visit Sibiu. We considered hitch-hiking (after all, he taught me!), but ended up walking 8 kilometers. We stopped by the Christmas market downtown, and had hot chocolate. Then we headed to the train station to await our respective trains.

We had talked about how many people I know in Romania, because I knew one of my friends was also in Sibiu that day, though I did not get to see her. I could not remember how many people I knew in Sibiu. However, we ran into a youth group from Sighisoara we knew, so we said hello. But the real surprise came after waiting for nearly two hours in the train station. A girl came in an looked at me funny, before saying my name with surprise. I had been wondering why she was looking so intently, until I recognized her as someone with whom I volunteered this summer at the camp for people with disabilities. What a fun surprise to see her there!

That following week flew by. We finished packing our 5,000 pairs of rubber boots with 10,000 pairs of knit socks. We presented our first Christmas programs of the season, and they went really well. One was quite a distance away to the north, with my friends from Targu Mures. The next was in my village of V., which was a huge contrast in setting--a five-hundred-year old church building under construction without heat, compared to the local community center complete with chairs and stage. But toward the end of the week, winter weather chased away the warmer temperatures. We, too, were chased out of Sighisoara, heading to Hunedoara County were we did three more Christmas programs. They went well, too, though I was sorry I was unable to visit my good friends when we were so close by! It was a full two days, and I drove the whole way, making it tiring, too.

A highlight from the trip was our time with some Messianic-Jew missionaries who hosted us the first night. I got to spend some "guy time" with the husband while my team of ladies did some work with his wife. We had deep discussions about the Bible and religion, and we got to celebrate the Sabbath meal with them (Shabbat Shalom). I also got to meet his Romanian son-in-law, who is helping an American gal from Atlanta (I met her, too) record an album. I appreciated the time with people who take their faith so seriously. How many people do you know (even among church workers and missionaries) who spend their time thinking about God and His ways (Philippians 4:8)?

After we returned to Sighisoara, the snow really set in, and I enjoyed sitting by the wood stove while one of my collegues went sledding with the neighborhood kids. Then we did a candlelight march with Christians from throughout the city, singing carols and praying at each place we stopped downtown. Yesterday morning, I finally made it "home" for the first time in a week, coming by bus on slippery roads at 6:15 in the morning. There was ice in my water bucket inside my house, so I got my stove going and have not let the fire go out since.

This is transition week. The American students left town today, and others of my friends and collegues will be leaving for the holidays. Meanwhile, the end of the week will speed up again, catapulting me into a quick roadtrip to Switzerland for Christmas with P. from Targu Mures, and then back in time to host 70 people coming to help with our blitz of outreaches that happens between Christmas and New Year's. Then there may be a quick trip to Budapest and back before I settle into a slower January.

I am excited about January as I have been praying a lot about what will come. I have some decisions to make, and God has been teaching me so much about being a godly man. He has been showing me what kinds of things I tend to let distract me, and teaching me how to let my will fall to the wayside so that His will lives in my heart. I am tired of trying to juggle other people's needs with my desires and preferences mixed in, while struggling to maintain healthy relationships with God and with the people around me. Instead, I am just nestling up to my Father, having understood that I cannot go wrong if I go to Him, fixing my eyes on the Author and Perfector of my faith. I love spending time in the Word and in prayer, and I am making decisions for January and beyond that will allow me to do more of that. The greatest Christian service we do is worth very little or nothing if it causes us to neglect or forsake our relationship with our Jesus. If we can no longer wallow in the Word, if we can no longer soak in His Presence or embrace prayer time with the Holy Spirit, then we are running the race in vain.

What is important to you? What are your priorities? Are you trying to please other people? Is your every action determined by other peoples' needs and wants? Are you racing after pleasure or happiness or peace, only to find it slipping through your fingers like the wind? Are you stressed out by the service you offer others, by the ministry God has given you?

Do not forsake your first love--turn to your Father, God, and enjoy Him. Let Him bless you, and thank Him, praise Him, worship Him. Converse with Him, rest with Him, and love Him. Your life will be empty or meaningless unless you do. But when you run back to God and let Him sweep you up in His arms, everything else will fall into place. Oh, how grand it is to be caught up in the arms of God!

Maybe it is time for you, too, to get caught up!
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A Rose From Home

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?