This is a blog from our time in Macedonia. I know I’m in Zambia now but I’m just getting around to posting this one lol hope you enjoy!
When we first arrived in Macedonia we had no idea what ministry would look like (we never really know but this one seemed less certain than usual). Day one, things were no clearer. Our host pointed to a large pile of unchopped wood and told us we had 3 days to chop exactly 3,380 pieces of wood. Each piece of wood needed to be able to stand up on end, this was very important to them. Once they were chopped, tested to see if they would stand up, and counted, we were to pack them into bags of 50 each. When we asked about these very specific instructions we were simply told “it’s for ministry.”
You get asked to do a lot of random things on the Race. Sometimes ministry is more hard manual labor than you might imagine. I have cleaned bathrooms, scrubbed floors, cooked meals, worked in offices, cleared jungle with a machete, painted walls, gardened, and much more. But the necessity for all of these tasks was clear. And God has used the complete randomness of tasks to really challenge my view of ministry. I have come to the conclusion that ministry is not limited to things done in a church. Some of the most rewarding ministry opportunities on my Race have been very tangible, hands-on projects. Whatever your hands find to do is ministry when it’s done in Jesus name!
Now here I was chopping wood. In a very specific, illogical manner. Why does it need to stand up??? Why exactly 3,380 pieces??? Why such a random number??? What exactly is this wood going to be used for??? Was this the typical Macedonian way of chopping wood??? None of it made sense to me. Honestly, the lack of reason and logic to my task left me with a bit of a bad attitude. I like KNOWING. I like logic and detail; it gives me a sense of stability in my life. (You would think that I had learned to let this go by month 8 but it was still there!)
In the 3 day process of chopping our 3,380 pieces of wood, I was often tempted to ignore the specificness of our host’s request. Was it really that important that EVERY piece of wood be able to stand? Would they even notice if our numbers weren’t spot on? Many times I caught myself deciding these details weren’t important simply because I didn’t understand the reasons for them. If it hadn’t been for the true servant’s heart of my teammates, I’m not sure how well I would have accomplished our task. I was ashamed to realize how little servanthood was in my own heart. A true servant’s heart doesn’t need reasons, doesn’t complain, doesn’t question what’s asked of them. A servant’s heart simply serves however is needed.
At the end of 3 days, we had our bags of 3,380 pieces of firewood. Our hosts thanked us profusely, were so excited to have the job done, but still offered no explanation. It was extremely frustrating!
Several days later, a German team arrived to help restore a Jewish cemetary. The rest of our month was to be spent working along side them to honor the lives of so many Jews killed during World War 2. It was in the process of working with this amazing team of young people that we found out about the 3,380 Jews who were taken away from the city where we stayed during World War 2. Every Jew in the entire city was taken away to concentration camps. 3,380 men, women, children, and elderly. 3,380.
At the end of the our month in Macedonia we took part in a demonstration to honor these otherwise forgotten people. We set up in the city square where everyone passes by. As someone read the name of every Jewish person taken away from their home, we set up our 3,380 pieces of wood to give a visual example of their number. The effect was overwhelming. So many people. God’s chosen people.
It was an honor to be a part of this demonstration, an honor to serve in such a tangible way. And because we had followed the confusing instructions in the beginning, everything went smoothly in the end. Every one of the 3,380 pieces of firewood stood and represented a person who’s life had been taken from them.
Thinking back on this now, I have applied it to the many times when God asks strange, illogical things of me. How often do His instructions make no sense at the beginning? How many amazing opportunities have I missed out on because I demanded logic rather than trusting that He has a plan? Sometimes God’s plan doesn’t make sense at the start but every time it will lead to something amazing if we can just trust Him.
