We’re in Montenegro and I can hardly get over the paved sidewalks. It’s quite the change from living in Africa the past three months. This month we are in the city, Podgorica working with one of the three registered churches of the country. The pastor has given us the assignment ‘to go out and make friends.’ As many of you know, I have some of my mom’s love for talking to strangers, so this is something I got excited over. It’s been a new type of ministry, coming off of our African months being very structured ministry to now focus on roaming the city to make friends.
This past week we have tried new cafés, walked through bookstores, have gone to the mall quite a ‘few’ times, bowled and have gone on countless walks around the city. I really enjoy this city, although it’s quite small, it seems that every day is a new adventure and there’s something new to see or taste! We’ve gotten to revisit people and begin to build more of a friendship and have moved passed “your English is really good.”
Something I’ve come to see while being in this country is the sense of everyone searching for something. As we were in Asia, majority of people had a belief in gods and were spiritual with the family rituals. In Africa, Christianity was a basis to practically everyone’s understanding of religion. But here, there seems to be a missing component. Although Orthodox is widely known and followed; there’s not a personal connection nor a drive of anything spiritual. As we have talked to individuals you can almost sense a longing for something, as if they are desiring a deeper connection but don’t know where or what it is. Not to say I’m an expert but there’s something between our conversation that seems to be stirring into uncharted territory. I haven’t taken part of any deep deep theology or spiritual conversations, but even talking about people’s pastimes and dreams, I sense this longing for hopefulness. It gets me jazzed up to be honest, wondering what lives could look like who’ve never been exposed to their ‘spiritual man.’ What will it look like when they let it free and wander into new depths. As we roam the city, I try to keep this as the forefront of my mind.
It goes back to being told to ‘wear Jesus’ on my skin back in Thailand. It’s neat how this desire I have for my life manifests itself in different ways in the different environment. In Thailand it was much more about the passionate freedom I experience through my relationship with Our Heavenly Father over their desire to know all and feel nothing. Here, it feels like the joy of the Lord having more for my life is what is my tool to show others the opportunity there is with a relationship with God and the excitement of it. It’s a blessing to get to shine light on the attraction that is Christ in any and all environments. He has deep deep power and ability to speak to people’s desires and to shine into new spaces and it’s fun to get to witness as people discover newness.
This attraction is powerful and something I hope I continue to unpack and greater understand in order to share it more. There are definitely new depths to discover all the time and I hope that it’s something I can encourage you with also. How can we ‘wear Jesus on our skin’ to bring greater light to the enjoyment there is with Christ? Maybe it’s through a smile to the Starbucks barista, maybe it’s to bringing ‘hope’ into a conversation or maybe it’s to inquire about people’s future dreams. Whatever it maybe, I hope that we can all continue to discover how to be aware of the missing pieces and be readily available to shine God.
I gotta get back to roaming, and seeing how he can shine greater here! Hope you have a blessed day with whatever comes your way! Thanks for reading my thoughts and tidbits of what I’m learning!
*Also, my next blog I’ll be answering any questions you may have. If you have any, let me know!
