Part of being a missionary overseas involves sitting through church services performed in some foreign language. And if you're on The World Race, that language changes every month. I've heard church services performed in Russian, Romanian, Hindi, Nepalese, and Swahili. I'll admit, at times sitting there hearing foreign words and not understanding anything that is going on can be tedious. And not being able to sing along to the worship songs is hard because I like to be able to sing along.
At the same time it blows my mind experiencing these foreign church services. It has served as a great reminder that God is not limited to how I view Him, how I worship Him in my church with songs that I like and am familiar with. I have done a very good job of sticking God in my familiar, American church. Seeing people from different parts of the world come together to worship God and study His word has changed that. The styles of worship have been so different, and yet it's all been pleasing to God. The way that prayer has been approached has varied dramatically, and yet God hears each and every one of those prayers. I have been to a big, beautiful church in Romania with neatly arranged pews to a small room with no chairs in Nepal. On my recent trekking trip a church service randomly broke out in the little church we spent the night in with just a small handful of people, one bongo, our Bibles and our headlamps. This morning I had my first experience with church in Africa. I have never before experienced such lively, vibrant worship.
Despite how uncomfortable it has been at times to sit in a foreign church and be surrounded by the unfamiliar, it has allowed me to see that I can be anywhere in the world, from the small Eastern European country of Moldova to the mountains of Nepal to Kenya where zebras wander along the side of the road, and God is still present. And He always remains the same.
