Have you ever read when Jesus summons the twelve and sends them out in pairs? It must have been such a cool moment. He granted them authority over all the powers of darkness and sent them out to be His representatives to the world and ambassadors to the nations. As an exercise of faith and in order to identify with the commoners, they were to take nothing but a walking staff, a pair of sandals, and the clothes on their backs.
This is pretty much how Joel and I went to Bosnia, only our walking staff was a bus ticket.
As of my last update, we had no real plan or agenda, and a very limited budget. The only detail we added at the last moment was to bring along Matko, a Croatian friend who very recently accepted Jesus Christ as his personal savior (if you want to read about his truly
awesome story, start
here). We were hoping to continue to disciple him on the field, so that he could witness firsthand how God moves in our lives. Cool idea, I think, but Matko never showed up to meet us at the bus station. Odd as it may sound, his parents weren’t overly thrilled with the idea. Great opportunity to share about the Fifth Commandment!
So off Joel and I went. We arrived in Donji Vakuf and wandered around in prayer for a while. We scouted out the local centers of religion (one Catholic church and several mosques). No one really spoke English and we had no idea what to do next. Our focused and determined prayer revealed to us that we were probably too focused and determined, so we decided to let loose a bit and follow our hearts. Naturally, we found ourselves hitchhiking with a sniper in the Bosnian army. He drove us through several towns and many gorgeous landscapes. Of course the devastation caused by the war is evident everywhere, but beyond the bombed out buildings remains a natural beauty that is truly one-of-a-kind.
The town we ended up in doesn’t get many visitors. I say this because there were no hotels, motels, hostels, camping grounds, or even couchsurfing communities. I mean, there was simply nothing available. As the sun started going down, the town started coming alive. It was as if the whole town got drunk at night. Raucous bonfire parties, alcoholic bellowing from the streets, and fireworks reminded us to be cautious. We never quite found a Ritz-Carlton hotel resort, but I snapped a few photos for you of our pleasant abode, complete with broken glass, rampant vegetation overgrowth, freezing concrete, and wild animal growls.
As comfortable as it was, I only managed about one hour of sleep. As soon as the darkness began to lift at about 4:30 am, we made a fire to warm up as we eagerly awaited the sun’s gentle warmth. When the rest of the town woke up, God set his plan in action and things started to get really interesting.
We went to a net café to update the girls and ask for prayer. At the café, Joel and I spent pretty much the entire morning and afternoon in deep discussion, prayer, and Bible study. Our server noticed the amount of time we spent reading the Bible, and made a comment like, “it must be a good book, huh?” <smile> The longer we stayed there, the more God was putting it on my heart to develop a friendship with the guy serving us coffee. I started up a conversation with him, one thing led to another, and he invited me to play soccer with him after his shift (he apparently played semi-professionally in Bosnia). Joel and I had planned to leave before that, and we weren’t terribly excited to spend another night in the bombed-out building, but there was something special about everything. I told a friend on facebook that I would gladly suffer another night on cold concrete even if there was only a 1% chance that we would be able to share God’s love with someone who needed it. Still, the debate continued, because we knew the girls were already covering our shifts at the café back in Croatia. I checked my e-mail and God confirmed our hearts. Summer wrote us about a dream she had that night, and was praying we would receive it in time. She saw us sitting together in Bosnia, noticing a guy. Still in her dream, we started to leave the place with the guy because we were too busy, and she thought, “No, you’re not too busy! You have a great opportunity and God wants you to take it!” I think we all could use e-mails like this every now and then…
We waited to meet him after his shift. God was immediately working in the conversation. We connected in a profound way right off the bat. It was almost as if he had been expecting us! His name is Edin. He told us that he didn’t belong here. He shared how his heart was continually troubled by the things of this world and the sin around him. We had so much in common it was almost eerie… same taste in music and sports, same dreams, thoughts, passions, and convictions, and his father had been in the same war as Joel’s. God blessed us incredibly through this relationship. Edin invited us to stay at his place for the night (his family owned a cabin up in the mountains). Not only that, but he canceled plans with his girlfriend to go on a 2.5 hour hike up into the mountains with us! He gave me warm clothes and bought food for us to prepare for our journey. He took care of literally every thing we needed, and graciously continued to offer everything he had. Our trip without details, without provision, and without planning was slowly evolving into one of the coolest adventures of my life…
By far the greatest part was the openness and safety we all felt in conversation. All day and all night we talked about life’s mysteries, the arts, culture, war, God, religion, and Jesus Christ. We encouraged one another and really bonded in ways only God could foster in just two days. He took us to “the most beautiful view in all of Bosnia” at the peak of the 2nd tallest mountain in the country. It was simply breathtaking. I stood in awe and just praised God. We sat down and admired God’s beauty and power and enjoyed each other’s company for thirty of the most peaceful minutes of my life, and then headed back to the cabin for more fellowship.
But right as we got the fire going in the cabin and started to settle down for the night, something unexpected happened. We thought we were totally alone on the hillside, but the undeniable sound of an engine pulled up outside of the cabin. Edin suddenly became very serious and said, “Oh man, uh-oh. We have company. This isn’t good.” Things got a little hectic for a while, and the adventure gained a bit of true Bosnian flavor, but God ended up providing a nice escape for us. We ended up at another cabin, with a friendly but stern old couple, still warm with a roof over our head — safe and sound.
Edin shared with us that we really meant a lot to him, and he also believed our meeting was not by coincidence. He really meant a lot to me, too. He’s got an incredible heart, and we plan to keep in touch through facebook and e-mail. It was really amazing to see how God orchestrated our time in Bosnia. I can’t think of any other time I’ve had a more welcomed opportunity to spend literally hours sharing about my faith to someone I had just met. God really protected our channel of communication because, even when we shared our differences in faith, we maintained a sincere love and respect for one another. Like virtually everyone else in Gonji Vakuf, Edin is Muslim. We really didn’t have any agenda other than showing him the love of Christ, and I’m really thankful for the divine appointment. I miss him, already.
