On arriving, Aaron checked his e-mail and found a note from Summer, one of the women on our team who had had a dream she felt she needed to share with us the night before describing a person we would meet and needed to share Christ with. She didn’t understand the dream entirely nor exactly why or when we’d need to hear it, but knew that God wanted both Aaron and I to know. I read the e-mail and immediately felt that the barista was the person in her dream.
Aaron and I decided to tell the barista, whom I will call Dan, about Jesus, letting him know that we felt he was the reason we were in Bosnia. And after praying, we shared with Him that we wanted Him to know about the love of Christ. Surprisingly, Dan said he knew there was something different about us. The locals were skeptical of our foreign presence. And yet he saw something different. And in Dan, there was a tenderness, a heart that longed for something much more than the hopelessness of the people in Gornji Vakuf.
Dan very quickly offered us his place to stay…and then soon decided it would be a sweet idea to spend the night in the mountains at his cabin. So, he quickly marched down to the grocery store and the bakery to buy food with his own money for us, insisting that we were his guests. And then we set off on the three hour hike into the highlands.
For the next day, we had the incredible opportunity to find out more about Dan’s heart and his experience in the war growing up. We hiked through some of the most beautiful flowers I’ve ever remembered seeing as he talked about his father fighting to protect their city during the war, now working as a baker. We overlooked vistas I never imagined existed in Bosnia towards snow-capped peaks and to the entire valley below. For hours, we were able to share our common love of hiking in the mountains, swapping stories and desires. And we were able to share Jesus the entire time. Every longing Dan shared that time pointed at his deep desire for Christ. That night, we stayed warm and comfortably inside, awaking to the clouds blowing through the pine forests outside. We met one of the local shepherds guiding his sheep from the pasture, threw rocks down a huge valley, and marveled at the incredible beauty in God’s creation all around us as we quickly forged a friendship in an event God clearly orchestrated in so many ways!
I don’t know how God intends to work in Dan’s life, but if He comes to know Jesus, He will be an amazing brother and an incredible joy! Keep praying that God will reveal Himself to Dan! The morning Aaron and I departed Croatia for Bosnia, Summer clearly made sure we knew that God was leading us to Bosnia for a reason. And I can clearly see Dan was that reason!
I love being able to see how the power of God transforms people. Although I think war may sometimes be necessary, it ultimately is the result of sin. And ultimately the only solution is the love of Christ. The first few days we spent in Croatia, we prayed everyday for the region with people from different churches from the city of Split. And it was absolutely powerful to me to see the Holy Spirit working to unify people in a land that has so often known war.
My desire more and more is to lead the way into countries where Jesus is hardly known. Into places that are war-torn or tough; places where the Gospel is opposed like the people of the Himalaya. Anytime someone says it’s a tough area for Christians to be, like say Somalia, my ears perk up. Places like Nepal, Pakistan, India, and Tibet make my heart race just hearing about them! And I think our time in Croatia and our trip to Bosnia was a gift for me from God to give me hope and keep my desire alive to possibly soon share Christ in these places. No division is too great, no walls are too high because the love of Christ melts away hate!
