Well, here we are. 19 days left on the World Race. Final month is in full swing. Just shy of 2 weeks before we make our way back into Romania for a week of debrief and that long anticipated journey back into a culture that now seems so distant and foreign to me.
I sit here before you, my faithful readers, as a slave. The first thing that our Transnistrian contact said to us when he shook our hands was, “This is going to be the hardest month of your lives, you will be our slaves.” Great…
Clearly, he has never been to Uganda. Now that was a difficult month.
Over the last couple of weeks, I have come to the conclusion that yes, indeed we are slaves this month. The majority of our week consists of digging through giant piles of rubble searching for old bricks that can be reused. We find them chisel off the old stuff and stack them neatly. Everyday we commute an hour and a half to get to “the brick yard” as we have so affectionately named it, and the same amount of time to get back. About 50 minutes of the trip on either end consists of walking (which I kind of enjoy personally). We sit on concrete or dirt, essentially sifting through garbage, and why? Because we love Jesus so much that we have decided to become slaves on behalf of the glorious Kingdom of God. I am a slave, my name is Brandon.
You see, the church that we are currently working with is building a training center in order to have an extra meeting place for discipleship training and whatever other functions may occur. Being located in the poorest nation in Europe, there is much faith…and lots of reusable parts required from this church to see this project completed. That is why we are sifting and cleaning and saving them money. We are building the Kingdom one brick at a time.
There is part of me that has been feeling terrible because surely, this is not how I wanted to spend my last month on the race. Very rare human interaction, always tired, always sweaty, and always dirty. For a while door-to-door outreach seemed like a better option as long as there were actual people involved. Then I began to pray for more of God’s Spirit of joy. I just needed to have more joy in my work because yes, I am a slave. I have chosen to release myself into the hands of the Almighty God, my only master, and He has placed me here, now, to freely give of myself to serve his people. I am reminded of Paul’s words in Colossians:
“Slaves, obey your earthly masters in everything; and do it, not only when their eye is on you and to win their favor, but with sincerity of heart and reverence for the Lord. Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving.”
Thank you Jesus. You speak powerfully into my life. I am so full of joy because you have blessed me.
The more I serve these people here, no matter how small or frivolous the task seems, I am a servant of the Lord Jesus. I am so blessed to know that I am rewarded by the One and Only.
Just some thoughts.
The Man With Unclean Lips,
Brandon Barnum
