While in Craiova, Romania my ministry was full time administration work which was amazing and really fit me well. One day we had a day off from admin ministry and were able to do a ministry of our choice. I decided to go with some squad-mates and one of our ministry hosts and evangelize. My expectation of the day was to get a lot of “No’s”. To not see God prevalent in Romania’s people.
For the first hour we talked to this woman who cared more about her dog and talking to him than talking to us. Which was discouraging but I didn’t think much of it because this wasn’t even my ministry and that was my expectation. I totally dismissed the fact that maybe I too could evangelize. We saw that some of our friends were talking to other Romanians our age so I was intrigued and comfortable with talking to them. Too comfortable obviously. As I was looking around this park I saw an old man not too far. Weirdly I was intrigued and the holy spirit was nudging me. I kept looking at this harmless old man and finally told my ministry host that we should go talk to him.
He was all dressed up, sitting at a park, just watching people and observing. We went up to this man and started asking him about his beliefs. He told us about his belief in Jesus and how forgiving, loving, and joyful the Lord is. And without the Lord known of us would be able to have those qualities. This man that I had known for five minutes started reminding me of our King’s goodness and his name was Carp.
I asked him if he had a personal relationship with the Lord and he said yes and that the Lord was a forgiving God and gave us eternal life. This was surprising to me and my ministry host because because most Romanians don’t believe that the Lord is personal. They believe in what the Orthodox Church believes in.
I had noticed he had a bag of vegetables and we struck up a conversation about what he bought and he had these red peppers. He gave me one and they were beautiful and delicious. He started treating me as someone he had known his whole life. Someone he cared for and adored. He constantly kept kissing my head and looking at me in awe just because I had asked him about the Lord.
He was wise but so humble in his words in telling us about his life. Who does this remind you of? After about a hour some of our squad-mates Aidyn and Danny walked over and he also gave them peppers and adored Aidyn and her spirit for the Lord. He told us of his family and his nephews that he takes care of and how important his family is to him and the joy his family gives him. He told us of people that didn’t deserve his love nor forgiveness but the Lord shows us otherwise and that is the only reason why they are forgiven and loved. He told us about his Dad and what he had endured farming and at war. That a lot of his influence came from his Dad and his good character. His father was evident in Carp’s wisdom. I had known Carp for only about two hours and he reminded me of a father figure. Like our Abba Father.
Our ministry host asked for a picture of us three and after I had realized I had gotten lint all over his nice blue suit. I started apologizing frequently and he looked at me with his kind eyes, cupped my face, and gave me a kiss on my forehead. He was forgiving.
I had forgotten how often the Lord wants us to be joyful and kisses our foreheads. How he absolutely adores us and will give us all of his peppers. The Lord reminded me something that day that I still have trouble understanding. How he calls me by name and calls me his child.
