This post is a sequel to the previous – “Romania Part 1: Brasov.” Check out that post for a little more context into my time on the Race during this post 🙂 And without further ado…
One of my favorite things that took place in Brasov was a super unexpected conversation one evening that left me saying, “THIS IS WHY I CAME ON THE RACE!!!” It felt like I just walked straight into a script that God was already writing in the lives of 3 men I met in the basement dining hall of our hostel. I was coming back from a walk with my teammate Genna and decided to see if I could find some water downstairs ’cause I was parched…no water to be found, but some squadmates of mine were hanging out at a table, so I pulled up a chair. There were 3 guys playing cards at a table nearby – they were around my age, seemed welcoming, and I love cards, so I invited myself over and joined in. They were super kind, spoke a little English, and were clearly overjoyed that I came to join them. The card game easily broke the ice and one of the guys coached me through our first round of a game that I can’t remember the name of. They were from Israel and spoke primarily Hebrew, but whatever we lacked by means of initial understanding, we made up for with the help of Google Translate (download it, y’all! It’s a game changer! 😉
During the game, I started talking to one of the guys (on the far right in the pic above) about our jobs – we’re both therapists! He does hydrotherapy and showed me some videos about different techniques he uses to help bring healing and relaxation to his clients. He asked what I was doing in Romania, and I got to share a bit about the World Race. He started opening up about his soul and how he feels connected to God. He asked me about my relationship with God, so I started sharing my heart for Jesus with him and even some of my vulnerabilities and struggles in connecting with Him all the time, telling him that my desire is to always stay connected to Him throughout the day. He told me he could feel the passion I have for God and my desire for Him, which opened up the conversation for me to share even more of the Gospel. He asked if all of the people on my squad felt the same way about God that I do, and he was floored when I said yes!
I found out that all 3 of these guys come from a Jewish background, but only the guy who helped me with the card game (to the right of me in the pic) is a practicing Jew. As my conversation continued, I got to share with him that Christians believe that Jesus is God – he seemed genuinely shocked, almost as if he had never heard that before. As our conversation went on, I could tell that the guy sitting in front of me (Sagi, to the left of me in the pic) was paying close attention, and even chimed in at one point, “I can hear everything you’re talking about, the conversation about God. I’m listening.” Sagi began joining in on our conversation and asking me questions about God. Thankfully, I had my Bible with me and pulled it out of my backpack. He immediately made things interesting and said he was going to open the Bible to a random scripture, then ask me to tell him what God was trying to say to him through it.
In the past, this kind of thing would have made me really nervous (what if I messed it up?!), but the Lord has grown me a lot in trusting that He can use ANYTHING to make Himself known to others. I’ve grown so much in confidence that the Lord is actually really jealous for His name to be known and that if I’m just willing to be a vessel, He’ll do the rest; and that’s exactly what happened.
Sagi opened up to a random verse in the book of Daniel, which was hard to give insight into without reading before and after for context. I wanted to give him some understanding into the Bible as a whole, so I turned the conversation to explain the Old Testament vs the New Testament. I shared about how the entire Old Testament is filled with a few people living for God and following Him and His ways, even more people not following after Him, priests who came to atone for the sins of the people, prophets trumpeting the need for and coming of a Savior, then bridged into Jesus’ entry into the New Testament. My discipler in college always described the overall message of Jesus in the Old Testament as “HE IS COMING!” and in the New Testament, “HE IS HERE!”
Eventually the other 2 guys left to go dancing, leaving Sagi and I alone at the table to talk.
Sagi asked such great questions about the Bible, Christianity, and about my relationship with God. He shared with me several times in his life when things happened that he didn’t think were a coincidence – times when he had prayed and asked God to make Himself known to him, and ‘answers’ that he had received. He didn’t seem fully convinced that the answers weren’t from God, but he also didn’t seem convinced that they were. I told him a great place to start learning more about Jesus is in the book of John, and also got to share some things from 1 John that my World Race squad had talked about earlier that day. Sagi eagerly wrote down all the scripture I referenced and told me he would go back and read it.
He then began sharing about some emotional heartache from a broken relationship that took place only about 6 months ago. It was the perfect segue to go deeper into conversation, because the details of what he was heartbroken over were uncannily similar to a heartbreak I had also experienced and lived to tell the tale. He told me he went through some really hard days, unsure of how to heal, and what to do to make the aching go away. I shared my story with him and invited God into the conversation, assuring Sagi that God is the best Healer – that He can touch deep deep places that no one else can, and bring levels of healing to a broken heart that don’t even seem possible.
Sagi seemed so incredibly grateful for our conversation, and once again wanted to test my ability to hear from God for him by having me randomly pick out a scripture and relate it to him. God went easy on me and my finger landed on a verse in one of the Psalms, which was perfectly fitting to our conversation – thanks God 🙂
The Psalm was about crying out to God, the only God, in your pain and anguish, early in the morning, looking to Him for help. I wish I had written down which Psalm it was, but no matter, Sagi wrote it down for himself, and that’s what matters.
At the end of our conversation, I could tell that Sagi was beyond grateful for our meeting. He said he didn’t think it was a coincidence and that he and his friends were just on their way through Brasov, ready to leave in the morning. He said he never would have imagined that he’d get to have this kind of interaction before they left.
Then I got to pray with him. I asked God to make Himself known to him in any way He wanted. I asked Him to heal Sagi’s heart and to fill in all the broken places with His Love. I thanked Him for Sagi’s openness to learning and hearing about Him and asked Him for help, that he might learn more. Then Sagi shared a beautiful Jewish saying with me, which I wrote in the front of my Bible – because I need these kinds of reminders…
“Life is beautiful. Everything is okay. You can enjoy.”
I’m SO grateful for the World Race! My time in that hostel basement made my heart come alive and helped me realize how much I love sharing with others about the Lord. My discipler always told me that I’m an evangelist at heart, and sometimes that’s been hard for me to see when I’ve felt awkward or shy. My time in Brasov, however, proved to me that she was right!
*And in case you were wondering, I did send this blog to Sagi before posting it, just to be sure he was okay with everything I shared. He seemed happy with it, so I am too* 🙂
Stay tuned for an update on the second half of my time here in Romania!
