When asked by a “know it all” religious leader, what the greatest commandment was, Jesus, oh so wisely, answered
“Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.” Matthew 22:37-38
In all my blog writings, maybe you have noticed that I end with “Agenda:Love”. (or maybe more obviously the header of this page, because if you’re like me, you rarely notice details). This scripture is one of the origins, among others.
But in a nutshell, God’s agenda is to love. And that’s the same agenda I want to have.
Love God.
Love Others.
This month has been such a practical, tangible, and clear example of that.
Here at the hostel we have been meeting backpackers who we have been able to love with the love of Jesus, and serve with the strength and grace of Jesus…building relationships…which is what God is all about. And then in those relationships, being able to live out this Jesus life that is so fulfilling.
This is the hard part about blogging, and building relationships. Because I want to tell you guys about all the wonderful things God is doing, and how many hearts He is revealing Himself to, but I don’t want to lose the sacredness of, and the trust of those who we met, that are in this process of searching for Truth.
But, here are some short excerpts of wonderful stories, from some of the wonderful people we have been blessed to meet this month. Perhaps you may find yourself in one of these stories, and in this also find Truth.
One young man, who is agnostic, and has some really great questions about evolution and Darwin, has been on this search since he first arrived about 3 weeks ago. He’s open to learning, and wants to know Truth. We have been loving him and living out what Christianity is all about. He’s a sweet guy, who we pray for daily. That God would reveal Himself in an undeniable way.
Another young European man, whom we met, NEVER met any people who talked about having a personal relationship with God…Then he meets 7 North Americans and well, we “talked” a lot about it! And encouraged him to seek one of his own. He left the hostel and is in the loving, gracious, and merciful hands of God now. God’s got him.
A young South African college student we met came with us to our weekly church meeting at the mall’s coffee shop. We drank some good latte’s ad talked about God things. At the end, she realized that she was further from God than she wanted to be, and asked that we pray that her personal relationship with God would be restored. We sure did.
There is also an older couple recently come to the hostel. They lost their luggage, and when our team found out, we offered them some of our own items. That gesture of God’s love softened their hearts to us, and we have been loving on them, and listening to their struggles, with love that comes from God. We’re constantly praying for them as well.
My team was also able to extend gestures of love to the management here. They are such kind people, who work extremely hard. We wanted to find a way to bless them, the best way our missionary budget was able to.
The woman manager is pregnant, and so the ladies on my team planned a surprise baby shower for her. She had a tough upbringing, and only has 8 hours off a week… yes.. only 8 hours…So you can imagine this doesn’t leave much room for socializing. We met some AMAZING women from His People church, and told them about our idea. They went above and beyond what we were able to afford, and set up a lunch in the cutest restaurant imaginable. They poured the love of Jesus all over her.
At the same time, the guys took her boyfriend out for some guy time, and just poured out God’s love on him.
The horrible part of building relationships with people on the World Race, is having to say goodbye. I will miss each of these people immensely, and the many blessings that have come from watching, seeing, and sharing in their journey to Truth.
Not to mention how badly I’ll miss the friends we made at His People church. They truly are a part of my family, and I love them much.
But I know, more than ever, that God is divine, and has divine timing for all things… and that includes physically entering and exiting individuals lives… The beautiful thing though, is that they can’t leave my heart or the impact they have made on my life.
God is not about religion.
He is about relationship.
Personal relationship with Him
Personal relationships with others
His agenda is LOVE.. He IS love.
It’s His love that changes us. But we can’t give that love unless we spend time with Him, receiving it, and then genuinely spend time others giving it. With no ulterior motive, but to befriend people and then live out who we are in Christ.
Light beats up the dark. I’m not scared to be in this world, and live a life that shows whose teachings I follow… Jesus
I have noticed that there are two things that every person, no matter what language, color, age, or country they are from, is looking for.
Love
and
Hope
The answer is the same for all.
Jesus.
My squad and I fly out to the Philippines on Friday morning. It will take us about a day to arrive. So please keep our travel in your prayers. I should have more details about ministry and stuff within the next couple of days. I’m really hoping we get to work with victims of human trafficking, sometime within the next couple months in Asia.
Thank you for all your prayers and support. <3
Agenda: Love,
Bethsaida
p.s. if you would like to see some pics from my time in Joburg… copy and paste this link:
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1207557236#!/album.php?aid=2110955&id=1207557236
