I am currently in a small Romanian village called Arcelia. It is in the Northern part of Romania right in the middle. The village is beautiful and quaint, nestled along a river at the base of forest covered hills. It is the kind of place where the cows take over the street every morning and night as they go back and forth between the grazing field and home. We get our water from a well, bathe out of buckets, and eat from the garden. Life here is simple and difficult. It was a really hard adjustment for me because I was spoiled last month in Ireland (not to mention for 24 years in the States!). We complained about having to pay a euro for showers and now they are not even an option! But becoming part of our host family, learning about the village and the challenges they face, working in their fields and prayer walking have all helped me settle in and come to really like being in Arcelia. I know that God has big plans for this place and I am so grateful to be here.
I recently spent an afternoon picking beans from the garden. I first started looking for the pretty green ones but was quickly corrected by my host dad, Nalu. Using gestures and broken English, he explained that those weren’t ready and that I needed to look for the dried-out bean pods. I couldn’t help but wonder why I had to pick beans that looked dead and gross. Then I started thinking of the spiritual truth that can be found while picking beans. That’s what happens on the World Race….daily tasks become conversations about Jesus. Anyway, like the beans, God doesn’t call us to come to him all fresh, green, pretty and perfect. He wants all of our ugliness, dried-out, sinful and dead selves. Then he will pick us up from where we are, maybe dry us out some more, peal away the old pod, soak us in his spirit, turn up the heat, and then reveal something beautiful that brings him glory… like the amazing bean soup that Nalu made from the dried out beans! I am okay if my ugliness gets exposed because I know that I will become something beautiful in the hands of my creator for his glory.
