Romania

 July 24^th Entry 1:

                I find it funny (ironic? intentional?) that the first words Gandalf speaks to Frodo (at least in the movie) are “A wizard is never late.  Nor is he early; he arrives precisely when he means to!”  Isn't this true of Jesus?  Often times I find myself sitting and wondering whether or not Jesus is ever going to show up.  This of course is by my schedule and when I think Jesus should do something (as if I really have any clout as to when He should show up according to my schedule).  On this first flight, Jesus proved Himself faithful—like He always does.  I’m no fan of flying and heights are not my friend.  Throughout the first portion of this week I had been growing nervous knowing the inevitable flights were to come.  Initially I laughed at myself because I knew I blew it all out of proportion.  Then as we further took off and we changed directions according to the flight pattern, I began to panic.  I was scared and began to say (under my breath) “Jesus, Jesus, Jesus help me” over and over.  Then as I further panicked, I grabbed my Bible to where my devo was having me read.  “Fear not” and “I am with you; I will help you.”  Perfect.

            Am I cured of that fear? No, not really; but am I going to let it rule me?  No, because my Savior is GREATER than my fears and everything must bow its knees to Jesus.  And because perfect love casts out all fear, I am comforted by His peaceful presence and He will not let any calamity befall me.  He’s not through with me yet.

He leads; I follow

Entry 2:

            It’s interesting; I think we as humans try to place too much responsibility on ourselves.  In particular with the church, Jesus said Himself that He “will build His church” and the “gates of hell cannot stand against it.”  We have a responsibility to the church to be good stewards and to obey what He instructs us.  Much like the clay can’t do anything in how it is being formed, but is solely at the bidding of the potter.  We can only be moldable and get out of the way of Jesus and watch Him do what He does.  Much of life is just taking ourselves out of the equation and just let God lead.

He leads; I follow

July 28^th Entry 3:

            I’m in Romania!  How crazy is that?  As much as I love lose to say that I’m completely comfortable here, I am entirely out of my comfort zone.  It’s just that the peace that I feel is the knowledge that I am right where God wants me to be.  There is no safer place to be than in the will of God.

            At the church service today, I experienced something incredibly profound (aside from dozing off and having the “nods” because of the heat… hehehe): participating in the presence of God with a different part of the body of Christ.  During worship, it didn't matter if we knew the same language because we worship the same God.  Unity in Christ isn't something to be “achieved” or a way of thinking.  It’s something we live in because Christ lives in us.  In Jesus there is no “Greek of Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised,” Romanian or American.  But we are one because He has made it so.  The church is made up of once-broken people made whole by Christ, brought together to display a mosaic of His majesty, His healing power and His amazing grace.  Dysfunctional normality is now functional because of His work in our lives.  Valleys shall by raised up, hills made low; rough paths smooth.  That’s what He does.

(completely different thought)

            It’s interesting to me, I’m not necessarily “passionate” about missions, but God has begun to speak to me about them.  It’s not say that I wouldn't love travelling the world and sharing the Gospel, but I’ve never had a fire in my belly for that.  I’m passionate about the body of Christ, and long to shepherd His people because that’s what vision I feel God has given me.  Yet, what has been continually revealed to me is that God leads, I follow.  Let’s see what adventure He has for me.

July 30^th Entry 4:

            Being a missionary hasn't ever been a desire.  I don’t know if it is one at this moment, but within me God is really cultivating a love for Europe.  Maybe it’s because my heritage is deeply rooted within Germany and my ancestry is calling after me.  One thing’s for sure is I love God’s church.  I really love God’s people.  If that means venturing overseas to help God build the church, well He leads and I follow.

            Thinking about it on the plane ride from Chicago to Munich, I watched the Hobbit.  Gandalf said, “I’m looking for someone to have an adventure.”  I’ve given this a lot of thought and I’ve found this to be a desire of mine.  A rather deep desire, too.  Now first and foremost, Jesus has called me to an adventure, the greatest one in History.  God created man—men in particular—to desire a companion in life.  After all, He said of Adam “it is not good for man to be on his own.”  I feel within me growing a yearning for an adventure, and someone to accompany me.  I believe the Lord will lead her to me and me to her.  But still, He leads; I follow.

            Life really is an adventure when you let God lead.  It’s not like we ever truly had a say in anything anyway.  My actions and my attitude?  Yes.  Anything else? Nope.  I am growing and continuing to give the reigns fully to Him.  Because He leads; I follow.

Romania devotion for July 31^st:

Galatians 3:26-28 “You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus for all of you who were baptized in Christ have clothed yourself with Christ.  There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ.”

            Unity in the Spirit is not something to struggle for nor is it something we work toward.  Perfect unity cannot be “achieved” by human will or strength.  God says “not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit” (Zechariah 4:6).  Because we have the Spirit who dwells in us, unity is something we live in because our God is not divided against Himself.  If I've found myself hitting a brick wall, it’s because I was acting within myself and not within the Holy Spirit.  He is the One who makes it possible to love with any depth or being of myself.

August 1^st Entry 5:

            It turns out that when you do the will of God and speak the words that He gives, you feel good.  I don’t do it for the good feeling, though.  Life is much more than feelings.  It doesn't always feel good to do what God says because it dives into parts of life that may be messy.  However, tonight was not the case.  Speaking of God’s grace made me think about His grace.  It caused me to reflect on the evidence of His grace toward me.  Something as simple as color; would we notice any different the world would be if God didn’t splash the world with fiery reds, or magnificent blues?  What of the flavors of food?  God didn’t have to make things taste as good as they are.  And sometimes I wonder why He would do such things.  One of my favorite authors says it this way: “Is it perhaps, He enjoys so see that look upon your face?”

            As I thought on it more, there will never be a greater display of God’s grace than all that Jesus did on the cross.  To start with, the very fact that He was on the cross was amazing grace in action.  Jesus lived the life that I couldn’t and died the death that I should have.  He did it all so that I could enter into His glorious Kingdom and enjoy fellowship with Him.  One of the most beautifully powerful episodes in the Bible is the short conversation between Jesus and one of the thieves next to Him.  Just earlier He was mocking Jesus, the next he was asking Jesus to remember him when He entered His Kingdom.  I’m betting a large portion of the reasoning behind this episode was that the thief saw the sign above Jesus’ cross which said “This is the King of the Jews.  (It was the first evangelical billboard. Hehehe)  The thief asked, and Jesus gave freely.  That man deserved the punishment being dealt to him.  Jesus was completely innocent.

            The scene between the thief and Jesus gives us a great picture of Ephesians 2:8-9.  “For it is by grace that you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works so that no one can boast.”  We cannot earn, nor can ever attempt to be “good enough” to enter into the gates of heaven.  There was a written code that stood as evidence against us.  We all sinned, chose death instead of God, who is life.  It would be equivalent of a murderer proclaiming his innocence to a judge because he did some good things like walk a little old lady across the street.  But while we were still sitting, rotting in the cell we chose in our sin, Jesus brought the key and unlocked the door.  Romans 5:8 tells us that while I was still a sinner, Christ died for me.  Jesus’ work on the cross gave me access to freedom on His terms.  He showed us how much we mean to Him.

            (I believe if you would ask Jesus why He did this for you, His answer would be this: “Because of you.  I did it for you.”  To Jesus, we are all the reason He really needs.  And He’s God, so He gets to make the rules.)

            To further something God has been speaking to me, it began with reading Isaiah 50:10-11 “Who among you fears the Lord and obeys the world of His servant?  Let him who walks in the dark, who has no light trust in the name of the Lord and rely on His God.  But now, all you who light fires and provide yourselves with flaming torches, go, walk in the light of your fires, and of the torches you have set ablaze.  This is what you shall receive from My hand:  You will lie down in torment.”  The theme—for me—on this whole trip has been: God leads; I follow.  He knows the way to go—because He is the Way—and is the only One trustworthy to follow.  He hasn't let anyone down yet and always, always keeps His promises.  If God said it, He will do it.

            Now, I take a look at the last couple of months of my life and I ask myself if that has been evident in my life.  From the outside looking in, maybe it did look like I was living that way.  My answer would be a resounding, “NO.”  It’s true I've been frustrated and confused about where I’m going in life, and at times it felt like it would better if I said “forget it” and walk away.  But something kept me coming back.  Maybe it was sheer stubbornness because I wasn't willing to give up.  But to think on it now, at every turn I felt and heard something telling me to keep going, keep pressing on.  Several mediums: close friends, family, the Word of God.  2 Timothy says it perfect “Even when we are faithless, He remains faithful, for He cannot deny Himself.”  Maybe God’s stubbornness is far greater than mine; He’s not willing to give up on me.  Jesus loves me to give up on me, even when I feel like deserting Him.  (Anybody remember Peter? J)  Philippians springs forth evidence: “being confident of this, that He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.”  Amen.

God leads; I follow.

August 4^th Entry 6:

            The first thing I want to say is that it has been an absolute honor to be with these Romanians.  There are no cultural, or language barriers for the Holy Spirit.  God placed two completely different cultures together and brought about something magnificent: a display of how the body of Christ is to be.  Not identical people or thinking, but built upon the same foundation: Jesus Christ, and operating for the same purpose: living for the glory of God; to make much of God and make Him known among the people.

            Once again I had the privilege of speaking to the Romanians (and Americans, seeing how we are all together).  Beforehand I was actually nervous about what I was talking about.  I knew what God wanted to be speaking, but that didn't stop me from being like Moses at the burning bush.  However, worship before, along with prayer kind of kicked the nerves because God gave me full confidence and assurance of what I was to be speaking about.

            That night we also had another member of our team share—Hope—and at the end of what she was speaking, I was amazed.  It was completely a God-thing, because the main points or focus was the faithfulness of God.  It was amazing because we didn’t orchestrate it, but was totally driven by the Holy Spirit.

God leads; I follow

August 5^th Entry 7:

            First thing’s first: this is an incredibly bumpy and curvy bus ride.  I’ll forgive myself for .  Mission trips are all about serving.  It doesn't matter; you are there to serve.  There’s something amazing, though because it seems like even though you go to serve people and bless them, you’re blessed much, much more.  God has taught me so much and the people have blessed me and shown me many wonderful things.  It hasn’t been a 100% smooth sailing trip, but it has been completely worth it.  There is no greater reward in life than knowing you've done God’s work.  Life can be summed up in four words: God leads; I follow.

            One should think that that should be ridiculously obvious, that the Sovereign King of the Universe gets to call the shots and make the rules.  The heartbreak is that sin has distorted our view; it makes us big and God smaller (at least in perspective).  But we have the Solution: through Jesus Christ.