Our time here has been very
fulfilling for our team. Wednesday and
Thursday we had incredible bible studies at nights with two different house
churches that just became a sweet moment when you’re worshipping and sharing
testimonies of what God has done in your life across the world with people who
have found joy and hope in Jesus; and to do it freely when just twenty years
ago you wouldn’t be able too at all.
People are hungry here for the Gospel, but at the same time are hesitant
because it’s not common, but God has been faithful. I have no doubt that it’s hard for the people
here who start ministries to feel frustration at times as to what seems like
slow growth in reaching people, but they continue to persevere and stay faithful
like Marina, Vika, and Egert have done here.
They are changed by God, and their lives are evidences of that.
Yesterday our team was able to go to
a near town and was able to meet a couple of hundred students in an auditorium
welcomed with applauses as we entered and walked on stage. Here in a public school our team was able to
freely and openly share the gospel of Christ through songs, about our trip, and
even about believing in God when Egert shared about our holiday of
Thanksgiving. There’s no doubt that this
coming Thanksgiving I’m going to be thankful for A LOT of things, not just what
I’ve seen God do, but when you’ve seen poverty and hard realities across the
world, you do become thankful of what you do have at home; maybe the excess of
what we have. But I’m more thankful that
I’ve been able to leave it and share love and life with people around the world
this past year who have made numbers, stories, photos, and statistics a true
reality for me and I could never be the same.
And soon when the famous Black Friday comes and people care more about
getting that TV at a “cheap price� I will no way forget about the child in my
arms in Kenya who was dying of TB.
Really, what if we took all the money we spend on Christmas and gave it
away to those in need; the church alone?
What if we celebrated Christmas by giving life like God gave His
Son? How different our world would be
and how different the meaning of Thanksgiving and Christmas would be. And so I sat there in that auditorium after
doing our songs and the students all clapping and hollering while Egert spoke,
and I thought, “God, thanks for this moment.
I’m in a school where Communism used to reign, atheistic beliefs, all
the students wear black, but You always prevail, You always do, and now we
share the Gospel freely in a public school compared to home where you can’t but
have enjoyed more blessings from God period.
Thanks for this time.�
On Thursday night in a large group
bible study of a really small apartment, hardly any more room for one more
person I opened up by bible to a passage that really spoke to me back in
Hungary; all because of three words.
John 13 is known for the incredible story of how the Son of God got on
his knees and humbled himself to wash feet of His disciples. And as I began to read the beginning I came
across the end of verse 1: “he loved them to the end�; “to the end�. Those last three words revolutionized by view
of love. “To the end� meant two things
to me. First, Quantity. Never was there a time limit on Jesus’ love
for his disciples and us too. He didn’t
choose to love us until a certain age, or a certain time in his life, but He
was willing to love His disciples to the end of His life. Second: Quality. He gave completely of Himself and to the end
of Himself when there was nothing left to the point of the cross. Jesus never held back love, but he loved
people to the fullest extent of all overflowing. Even as he was about to wash the feet of one
who would betray him, disciples that would forsake Him, and the cross coming
up, the spiritual pain coming, he still loved and it wasn’t conditional.
Then later Jesus tells His disciples
that if we are to call Him our Lord and Teacher; then we must do what He
does. I began to think about myself and
if my love is like that. Do I truly love
people to the end? Does my love have a
time limit? I can’t proudly say that I
have loved people all the time or that it hasn’t given up; and safe to say most
of us would say the same. But do I love
people even if they don’t love me back?
Do I love people no matter if they hurt me, forsake me, betray me, or
even if it will hurt me much? Second, am
I willing to love people completely.
That to the end, meaning that I would give up myself no matter how much
it would cost me? If Jesus would
willingly love me to the end for the rest of my life to the age to come, and
die on the cross for me; shouldn’t I be willing to give all of myself to others
emotionally, spiritually, financially, time, and energy no matter at what cost
it is to me so that they can see the light of God and taste what real love
is? And that when I’m empty, I would
trust Him to fill me up again.
I know there’s a lot of questions,
but I truly challenge you to read John 13 and see where in your life you could
be like Jesus.
* Photos provided also by Tash (teammate) and title written by Tanya (Ukraine friend) means the region of Ukraine we are in!
