The sun gave off its morning glow. It was now the beginning of the 5th full day here in Sombor, Serbia. The days have been long, but like vapor in the wind they so quickly pass.
We ate our morning pastries from the local shop just down the road and then embarked on our latest mission. Maca, an incredibly sweet lady who works at the church we are staying at and had some firewood she needed us to chop. We set out with high energy and high hopes, and then…
Mark went down.
It happened so quick it was hard to register what had occurred, but the 5cm long gash down the outside of his leg gave quite the detail. In trying to take the axe out from the log he was chopping, he lost balance and fell onto the blade as it was being yanked out. We quickly rushed him to the ER where they took him into a room to assess the damage.
As I stood in the hospital outside the room, the reality of the situation rushed over me. This was real, very real, and this was my life. I no longer was just thinking or talking about this trip, I was living it. Talk about a wake up call, this was it. I prayed hard and with intentionality, as I tried not to let the outside atmosphere of this not so American Hospital affect my inner atmosphere.
About 30 minutes went by and the door opened. By a miracle of God, the blade only scratched his muscle, and beyond just a few weeks of recovery and a killer scare, there is no permanent damage! He was stitched up and looking good, and we headed back to the church.
As I sit at a coffee shop writing this, it’s hard to fathom that I’ve only been here for a week now. God has rocked my world on multiple occasions now, and not in the ways I expected. To be completely honest, I set out envisioning 11 months of extremely rough living conditions and dependency on God in that aspect. My sight was far to narrow.
God has and is calling me to a deep, deep dependency on Him that goes far beyond just my bodily state. He wants all of me. Jesus puts it well when He said, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, strength, and mind!” (Matthew 22:37)
We were listening to the world edition of “How Great is Our God” as a team after the whole Mark incident, and lets just say it shook me, hard. This whole journey is about so much more than just Abel, it’s about His Kingdom at large! He has invited me to be a part of it, and I need to put aside my performance and ego, and let Him do His thing in and through me! There will be seeds He plants through me on this trip that I may never see the fruits off, but as I said way back when I wrote my support letter, “we’re simply called to walk with God, the result is in His hands, not ours!”
This Sunday I’ll be giving my first ever sermon to the church here. Can’t describe how excited and honored I am to have this opportunity! If you all could be praying for continued wisdom and strength for me, that’d be huge!
Love you all!
Till next time…
