Today I sit in the top floor of the Sultan Hostel in Istanbul and I am thankful. I thought that the best thing about being on the world race was going to be seeing the world and also seeing God do miracles. I have just been on it three months and I have seen so many amazing things, great artifacts, amazing cities and people, and even miracles. But without doubt the greatest thing about the world race for me has been getting to know God better and getting to know my squad better. We are starting off our time in Istanbul Turkey as our squad of 45 together. This morning we had a beautiful worship and encouragement time. I love them so much.
It has been so powerful in my life the way that God has shown me how he created us to live as a body. How he created us to need each other. To want to be with each other. When I go back home I know that I can’t live without people. I feel so alive when I am loved and encouraged and able to love others. It’s like this beautiful interconnected river system where I receive love from God and my friends here and give it out and they receive and give into others and back into me. I am always getting refreshed and fed by this river, but not letting it become stagnant by not giving out.
Another thing I’m really thankful for is divine circumstances and coincidences. Coming from Saskatchewan whoever thought I’d be really thankful for Daylight savings time? Well about a week or two ago I found a great reason to love it. In Serbia we were leading the church service at a local baptist church in Nis. So Grant and Casey and I got there early to practice. Little did we know the big daylight savings time switch had happened during the night and so we were an hour earlier than we planned to be for church.
The gate outside the church was locked and so we thought we better just start practicing outside the church. So we get out our guitars and djembe and start singing worship songs on the sidewalk. After a few songs a man walks up to us with alcohol on his breath and starts talking with us. His name is Darko he tells us and he is a really friendly guy. His wife and daughters left him 15 years ago and he struggled with drugs and alcoholism ever since. He has had a hard life but with God’s help he gave up drugs about 15 months ago. But to this day he cannot stop his drinking habit. Casey asked if we could pray for him to be set free from this temptation to get drunk and drown his sorrows. He says yes and we pray for him. I could feel God’s presence getting stronger as we pray and I knew something really cool was happening. Afterwards he seemed brighter and like a seed of hope had been planted in his heart. We invite him to come to church or talk with us afterwards and then we head inside.
The church service goes really well, Grant preaches and at the end of his message Darko walks in the back. He waves to me and after the service Casey and I go to talk to him.
He does something that I will never forget.
He pulls out of his pocket a little metal golden heart and gives it to me. Then later his gives one to Casey. He says “Here is a piece of my heart, today you have become my friends. Because of my troubles I have repelled so many people but today I have new friends.” He tells us that he feels a lot better and a lot of the temptation has gone away. Some of the men from the church talk with us and him and we sit down and pray again. It turns into almost an hour of prayer for Darko with Darko praying as well asking God for his help. I wish I was all righteous and holy but I did get really bored during the prayer, it wasn’t an intense passionate prayer but a lot of slow praying in Serbian. I just started a water fast and all I wanted to do was sleep, but God had something that He wanted to do. So we stayed and prayed the whole time, afterwards he was so thankful. He decided to maybe start coming to church every once in awhile I think.
I miss Darko and will keep on praying for him when I remember to. God taught me a lesson that day though. Even when things go wrong according to our plans they are often exactly right in God’s plan. Even when I’m tired and unspiritual God can still use me to bless somebody :). Even though we plan our steps God designs the path ahead. If you could pray for Darko for freedom and life to overwhelm him and for him to feel at home with christian friends.
