Location: You won't believe this--I am sitting in a gas station parking lot in R.'s Dacia with the computer on the steering wheel; it is Sunday, the 13th of February, a little after 2:30pm.
(The meat of this post is four paragraphs below, so skip there if you are in a hurry to know why I am waiting in the Dacia. Scroll down to the next post or look on the side column for a picture of a Dacia.)
I know, a laptop in a Dacia is like an oxymoron. The dash board is taped together, and I found a wire on my floorboard today, which I hope did not come off of something important. However, the steeringwheel is shaped just right for this little computer, and so here I am typing while I kill a bit of time.
I took this Dacia to the garage on Friday, and now I have brakes. I have to admit, driving with brakes is a bit more boring than driving with out, but I feel safer, especially when I have other people in the car--which is most of the time. For instance, I picked up four women who were hitchhiking out of my village together on Friday. They asked where I was going, and I mumbled something about taking the car to the garage because it needed some attention. However, they wanted to stop where I had not expected it, and when I could not stop, I had to admit that I had no breaks! As I downshifted and used my handbrake, I apologized that I could not stop right where they wanted, and that I had no brakes. I said, "I didn't want to tell you before, but now that you are getting out, I will tell you that I don't have brakes!"
There have been many surprises this week, and changes in schedules. Yesterday it poured, then snowed, and then the sun came out, all while I was cutting firewood. I was working on firewood yesterday instead of Friday, because Friday I had to go to town to get the brakes fixed. Thursday I was in town, too, because I had to pick up a package, which can only be done on Thursdays between 10am and 12pm. Now the guy at the post office has my cell phone number so he can call me when I get a package, saving us some of the trouble we have gone through. Most importantly, though, I met with my men's group on Thursday night, but please pray for us. It is going so well, but the other unofficial leader now has something at church each Thursday, and we might not be able to find a time during the week when we can all meet. That would be a great disappointment for me, because this group has been a huge blessing, but I trust the Lord; He knows what is best!
But enough about that, because I need to tell you about what just happened. I just came from A., a village in the Sighisoara area. We have a couple families from there who have been coming to our church, and it is a long way away; more than an hour's walk. These people have been coming faithfully every week, but they also beg every week, often going from one person to another. They are not bad people, but it is hard to feel welcoming to them if you know that they will ask you for something each time you talk to them.
I had run into the man earlier in the week, and I was praying for him the past few days; I could not get him out of my head. Finally, the Lord gave me a plan. I picked up groceries for them this morning--before they could ask me for anything--and volunteered to give them a ride home--again, before they could ask. Then I asked if I could come to the man's house after church for a cup of coffee, knowing that his house was in a very poor state and that he had little, if anything to offer me. He agreed, and I paid him a visit.
How wonderful it was! He is in a desperate situation, and it is true that his house is literally falling down around his ears. It is true that his wife died last year, and that he does not have much work because no one is hiring people to install new gutters at this time of year. It is true that they have almost nothing, and that they are using the second hand clothes they recently received. But it is also true that until he and his twelve-year-old daughter (who is sick and does not go to school) moved to this area, he went to church for eight years straight, never missing a Sunday! He gave up alcohol a long time again, and he trusts the Lord to provide.
I asked about his wife, and they showed me pictures. We chatted and laughed together, and then we prayed together. As we sat in their cold, fireless house, he did not offer me anything. But I was finally able to get behind the beggar to meet the man who loves Jesus, who wants to care for his daughter, and who is trying to get by best he can.
I am so glad I went. We have been praying together at church to know how to involve and help this and other families. We have several families who are coming regularly, who have enormous need, and who come from a little too far away to be very involved. Our church does not have the resources to help them much of the time, and we are trying to teach them to depend on Jesus.
So now I am killing time before I need to pick up R.'s family and take them home. Please pray for this man (G.) and his daughter (L.) Please pray for our church, as we stuggle with knowing how best to be the hands and feet, as well as mouth and heart, of our wonderful Jesus.
I bless you in His Name, in the Name of Jesus!
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?