9:00am. The train car that was reserved for us was nice. Plush seats,
electrical plugs to charge up laptops. This was my first time to ride
a train, and my first impression of train riding set an expectation
that wasn’t going to last long.
before we take off by train to Serbia then to Montenegro. Some of us
lounged around our camping spot at the train station while others
checked email at a close-by McDonalds, toured the city, or toured the
train station.
There were many travelers passing by or lingering near our camp so at
least four team members stayed to stand (or sit) guard. Later in the
evening, a gypsy family camped close to our camping spot. The Politia
(police) warned us to keep a close eye on our belongings because some
gypsies had recently stolen other people’s belongings.
I don’t know why the gypsy family camped close to where we were. Maybe
their intent was not for evil like the politia may have thought. Maybe
they smelled the sweet aroma of Christ permeating from our lives and
it was pleasant for them to be there. I really don’t know, but I do
know this: that God takes no pleasure in anyone’s death. For while we
were still God’s enemies, Christ Jesus died for us and paid the ransom
for many. After pondering upon these things, I began to write a letter
for this gypsy family, copying Scripture in the Romanian language from
a Gospel tract I picked up on Friday from a missionary couple who
moved from the States to Romania six years ago and who goes out to
Brasov’s city centre (see pics below) every Friday to do street evangelism.
thought needed to happen: bring a peace offering along with it. I was
looking for egg shakers that a friend gave me to give to children I
met on the trip. The family had five children, so a peace offering of
this kind would’ve been perfect. While I was looking for the eggshakers in my
train. I missed my opportunity!
When God says “Go” He means “Go”. Don’t plan, don’t linger on the
thought. Immediately move and go. My carnal logical mind drew
interference somewhere between the commands of “do” and “go”. As a
result, I won’t be the one to bring the Gospel of God’s grace to the
gypsy family. It will be someone else who will get blessed for
obedience. 🙁
But here’s God’s grace at work, a redeeming story.
out to our train. While waiting to board, a crippled man came by our group,
begging for money. I didn’t have money to give him and didn’t know
Romanian to tell him that I didn’t have money, but I had that letter I wrote. I gave the letter to the man
and he looked at it, pointed at it, and looked at me. I pointed at it
and then at him and said, “for you”. He went to another one of my
teammates and made the motion to hand it off to her and he said
something in Romania. My teammate knew how to speak a little Romanian
and read the letter to him. He listened, but his facial expressions
showed he didn’t understand. She handed him the letter after she
finished reading it and he took it and went to other people at the
train station to see if they can read the letter to him. I pray that
as this man goes around the station passing this letter around, he and
the person reading the letter will be saved (Romans 10:9-10). I pray
also that he can get his physical needs met.
