As the words were coming out of his mouth, I felt my heart pound and my mouth break into a smile. I couldn’t believe it. He was saying almost the exact same thing I’d written in my journal more than two months ago.
“My dream– I believe that if we all knew each other’s stories there would be no hate. I want to tell everyone’s stories to eliminate the barriers.” -Sept. 20, Brasov, Romania.
The president of the organization and the rest of our contacts this month are visual peacemakers. They unite humanity through visuals, whether it be photography or videography.
I want to do the same, but with words.
But I get it. I get what this secular organization run by believers is trying to do when they say that they, “use their craft to breakdown stereotypes of the “other,” to display the dignity of cultures, and to show the common humanity amongst peoples of the world.”
They are living out my kingdom dream already. In Turkey. Where I am living this month. And God is letting me be a part of it.
Our contacts, who are referred to as “workers,” believe that peacemaking is what Jesus preached. I agree.
They are in the culture phase of their life in Turkey, learning the language and immersing themselves in Turkish culture while they start the organization. They’re allowing me to help them with some of the content on their web site and to prepare a press release and find possible media contacts for when they officially launch the site early next year.
To say that this has been my favorite ministry this far is an understatement.
In the past when I’ve thought about giving my life over to God, I’ve imagined it looking a certain way. You know, what you’d think is the typical missionary life…long skirts, long sermons, and building churches and orphanages…or something like that. But none of that ever moved me.
And as Mr. Seth Barnes said in our Kingdom Dream session at The Awakening in Brasov, “if it doesn’t move you, God’s probably not calling you to it.”
This moves me. Oh, how it moves me.
I’m learning that, just like our contacts, I can use the passions God has given me to connect the soccer mom in the suburbs to the Muslim mom who is covered from head to toe.
And he’s using this month to confirm that my dream is a legitimate one– a dream he has for the world and one that he‘s already carrying out.
