October 21st
You know when something is in the back of your mind, and you always hope to have that moment of free time to get it done, but it never happens? Yeah, that’s how this blog has been this semester. Consequently you haven’t heard from me and I haven’t had this wonderful opportunity of de-brief in almost two months.
The reason I have finally sat down with fingers to keys and heart at the ready is tomorrow, actually in less than 12 hours, I will be on route to Split, Croatia, for this semesters 10 day outreach. I thought it imperative to write, not only to bring things up to speed before I come back with those stories too, but so I can have prayer support! We will be joining a missionary couple there who own and run a coffee shop and shepherd a small fellowship of believers. While the 16 of us are there (yes, it’s a massive team, please pray for our unity and that no-one gets lost) we will be helping with the coffee shop, and doing a LOT of street evangelism. We’ve prepared 3 different skits which are designed to share the truth of the gospel, and will be our conversation starters. I am so thrilled to be part of them and have had a blast rehearsing. I think song and movement is a powerful medium to communicate, and at least break the ice and spark people’s interest. I had a small taste of using a skit a few weeks ago in Budapest; a group of us were doing more of a tourist weekend, but decided to go outside our hostel to do some evangelism. The hostel, called the Citadella, happened to be on the highest hill with a 360 degree view of the city lights. Not only was it beautiful for us to look at, on a Saturday night many tourists come up to the lookout point which is where we planted ourselves. We began by singing worship songs, then once the attention was drawn we performed our skit, Pastor Bud preached and then we split off for some one on one conversations. It was incredible, I was part of three different conversations that were all very different but all positive. It’s exhilarating to be able to share about how wonderful Jesus is, how he has changed my life so much. It’s a wake up call to come back to the simplicity of the gospel, when so often I cloud my mind with complex thoughts about either theology or the Lord’s will or what I should or should not be doing.
Anyway basically we are going to be doing that for one week straight. Split is a really old city, down south on the coast, a 14 hour train ride away. Croatia is a predominately Catholic country, meaning many people are hard-hearted to the true gospel, caught in dead religious works or thinking they are right with God when that relationship with Him just doesn’t exist. As far as we’ve been told the city of Split has a large mixture of cultures as well as tourists, and lots of young people, so sharing in English is not a problem. It is very exciting! But obviously a little scary. I just know I need to be filled with the Spirit, to not walk in any of my own strength or wisdom but to walk in His power and with His love. My fear is becoming so caught up in the words and making sure I’m doing my part, that I don’t even care about the person I’m sharing with. I want to listen, to love, to care, then to share, knowing that Jesus is what every person in this world needs. And then to trust that Jesus wants to save people more than I want to see people saved. His spirit will be what stirs people, what draws them to our message. I’ve been studying the book of Acts this semester, and just love how God used these ordinary human beings (the disciples) who were just called to be witnesses. That means that they testified unashamedly of the things they knew to be true.
I would love to be able to write of the many lessons God has been teaching me through my classes this semester, but simply don’t have time (or the brain capacity/recollection). There are a couple words though that have been key- receive, response and relationship. (I wonder if it’s just how my brain works that I have a neat little alliteration there, or completely coincidental).
Recieve, because I have a tendency to prevent myself from receiving by my pride. I come to God holding onto the things I think are my strengths, thinking I can do anything...but the problem is when I come to Him holding something I can’t reach out and take anything. So I need to be reminded that the only thing useful to me is to admit complete need and dependence on Him, and to receive His power. And the other side of that is to receive grace.
Which is where response and relationship come in. Christianity is only ever meant to be a response to the things God has done... I see God’s goodness and respond with trust. I see the salvation He offers and respond in faith. I see the good plans he has for me to walk in, and respond in obedience. Relationship means that He loves me no matter what. Whether I am having a good day or bad day, whether I’ve made a ton of mistakes. If I forfeit anything, I forfeit the closeness and sweetness of that relationship. This has been a theme that’s flowed throughout my Genesis class, looking at the life of Abraham and his walk with God. Good stuff. I hope that all makes sense.
Okay, few, I finally have a blog written! Yay! I hope its encouraging, Im always encouraged by the feedback. And please pray for my trip to Croatia! I get back on the 31st of October.
Love you all!
