This past week team Soul Graffiti has been taking to the streets to hand out flyers advertising our ‘Free American Club’ here in Odessa, Ukraine. We stand on street corners, near bus stops, across from popular food stands calling out a couple of very direct questions to those passing by:
‘Do you speak English? Want to come practice your English at a club?’
It’s a pretty straight forward task but somehow that still doesn’t make it easy. Just as you might expect many people give us a quick glance, grab the flyer, quickly glance at the heading then toss it. Some walk right on by as though we were invisible. Others hear the question and answer in perfect English – No, I do not speak english – or my personal favourite – No, I do not speak english, I speak german. Some say yes and keep walking. Occassionally we get those people who see us, smile a little bit, take the flyer and actually read the whole thing through before continuing on with the day. A few times we have even had people come up to us and ask for a flyer. All in all we deal with a lot of rejection in the brief hour and a half to two hours we stand out there beating the pavement with our hands full of flyers.
Before we left on our first trip to hand out flyers we were told not to worry about rejection because 90% of the time our invitation would be rejected. That, we were told, is a successful campaign.
Wait…what?
90% rejection is successful? In essence I guess it really comes down to how you define success and where your focus lies. Is that glass half empty…or is it really half full? While we were out getting a cold reception on the streets, (literally – Ukraine is cold – and figuratively), we would encourage ourselves with the expected rejection rate and keep going because somewhere out there lingered that glorious 10%.
Maybe that sounds kind of silly or perhaps it seems, well, frivilous and unimportant. In reality I believe it’s a Bible principle; you see a shepherd once had 100 sheep and 1 of them went missing so he left 99 sheep to find that 1 lost sheep…
All year I have been going from country to country working with different organizations and becoming familiar with different social issues. Most of the time the needs I have seen are what can easily be described as ‘God Sized Needs’. Things like human trafficking, povertry, HIV/AID’s, genocide… The list just goes on and on. If I had super powers none of these things would be a big deal, I’d just swoop in and save the day. But the truth is I’m just me. I haven’t found any kryptonite or a radioactive spider to change that simple truth.
But there is another, far greater truth. I serve a super sized, all powerful God capable of solving ‘God Sized Problems’ and providing for ‘God Sized Needs’. Not only that but he loves this crazy, messed up world and he is always reaching out to us with grace, hope and love even though 90% of the time we reject him, ignore him, mock him or totally don’t care one way or another about him. He takes our icy reception and he keeps scanning the crowds holding out for the 10%, the 1 lonely, lost sheep.
Last night at our ‘American English Club’ we were priviledged to meet a few new comers from the streets. We laughed with them, spoke english, played a few games and shared a brief gospel presentation. All in all it was a really good night. Maybe they will come back and maybe they won’t – the point is they were the 10% we were waiting for. For an hour and a half we got to pour into them, love on them, get to know them and allow them to get to know us. In a world that can be so desperately lonely, where strangers pass each other by without a second thought, we were able to connect with just a few of the beautiful individuals that God loves so dearly.
We saw faces on the streets not just cold strangers and when that happened a few of those cold strangers turned around and saw, not just our faces, but a picture of the face of God.
We really only have until Saturday to continue pursuing the 10% that God has set aside for us here in Odessa before we move on to our next location in a nearby village but every second of it is worth it. And, who knows, in pursuing the 10% God just might send the other 90% our way.
As always it is a priviledge and an honour to serve here in the Ukraine. I am looking forward to coming home to share everything that God has been teaching me these past 10 months but I don’t want to wait to remind you that God has given you a 10% to pursue as well. In Quesnel, in BC, in Canada and the US there is a great need. People are lonely, lost, hurt, confused, and angry. They wear icy stares and believe that they are completely invisible to the entire world and perhaps they are but they are not invisible to God. The Bible says he collects our every tear in his bottle and he numbers the hairs on our heads. He is intimately acquainted with his creation and his love for them is far greater than anything that we can ever imagine.
There is a 10%, (maybe even an entire 90%), waiting out there for you.
My question to you is, what are you going to do about it?
