Yesterday night our team was heading out to the pub to have some team time and just enjoy the Irish culture…on our way there we were stopped by a group of 5 Irish girls (ages 14-15) so enchanted with America and our accents that we just had to stop and talk to them. We were able to sit and chat with them about God and about how what we are doing, the God we serve, the love we want to share is different from the indoctrination, the laws, the submission that they have been subjected to. We shared the love of Christ, the joy of a relationship with our Lord and Savior. After we dropped them off at their homes at curfew (10:00pm) we continued on to a pub and were just hanging out. I was sitting back and drinking some water out of my Nalgene and enjoying my pre-made mix of peanuts and raisinets…when Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believing” came on over the sound system so as you can imagine we all began to scream it and dance around! People in the pub were laughing and clapping with/for us, some even sang along! It was amazing, but more than that…a woman named Mandy came over and offered to buy us all drinks. She didn’t, but she did stay and talked with/debated/taught us over the course of 2 hours.
Mandy asked what we were doing in Ireland, we said missions, she started to walk away. That’s how most of the conversation went, we pushed, she either pushed back or shied away. She told us that we were too young, that we weren’t going to accomplish ANYTHING in this country. There was no way that we could possibly do anything here, too many people had been hurt too many times by the church. Her words meant for discouragement and a return to apathy, just fueled our fire. If nothing else she helped us in knowing how to talk to adults here in Ireland. At one point Mandy needed to use the bathroom and went away and as she was gone we prayed as a team over her, that she would find freedom that God would speak through us and that she would be enticed rather that disenchanted by God. Most of all we just prayed that God would give us the words to say what she needed to hear. Mandy came back from the loo and said to us that she had had a revelation, that when she had started looking for religion after her mother died she was really just looking for someone to blame. Someone to BE angry at because her mother was taken from her. Mandy is a 43-year-old, lesbian, former believer with a HUGE chip on her shoulder, who knew she would be one of the best speakers I’ve heard all week – she taught me more about what is REALLY needed in the Kingdom than a lot of the Sunday School lessons I’ve ever received. And you know what…God used Journey, each of our stories, 1 Timothy 4:12, a trip to the bathroom, and Mandy to influence Kingdom in the country of Ireland. Mandy may not have been “saved” last night, but we BELONG before we BELIEVE, we are FORGIVEN before we REPENT, we are LOVED before we are LOVABLE, we are ACCEPTED before we are ACCEPTABLE. The Kingdom of God was CRASHED into Mandy’s life, and I know that she will NEVER be the same. God loves her, I saw her in His eyes last night and my heart broke for her resistance. It’s not that life gets easy with God, but I can’t imagine going through life without the LOVE of my Creator. I don’t deserve it, but that is what makes it so worthwhile.
My conclusion – LOVE, that is what God has for us, wants from us and needs from us. WE are God’s hands and feet, we are called to SHOW LOVE, not sit in our church pews and evaluate whether or not we are enjoying the worship. Church isn’t for the believers, hospitals aren’t for the healthy – we as the Church are supposed to LOVE the poor, the sick, the orphaned, the gay, the widowed, the imprisoned, the hypocrite, the liar, the cheat, the WORLD – why? Because Christ has already taken all of that on. We NEED love, but more so, we need to SHOW love to others regardless of how they have hurt and wronged us.
