The Day After

Dear Readers,

This will be a more personal post. Before leaving, Scott encouraged us all to write, to help us process the firehose of life that just got dumped on our faces. In previous posts I tried to give you a glimpse of the shared experience of the team and an understanding of Romania--so if you keep reading, know these are words that God has given me to make sense of all He walked us through. 

But how can you really leave a trip like that behind?  Each of us will have a different way to merge our lives back with all that God has done in and through us. 

Here’s what my day looked like yesterday after loading my weary bones into my truck that had been parked in the church lot.  Gave some team members a lift home.  Received a text from sweet Amber.  Gave my kids massive hugs; they grew again. Tried to thank my parents who made it all possible but I don’t know if that was even coherent (I hope you two are reading this because I have no words to express how grateful I am that you made this possible). Made myself shower off the airport carpet where we played Phase 10 on our 5 hour layover and hit the pillow.  A deep sigh emerges from within.  I can rest now because all the things that mean home surround me.   Yet things aren’t quite the same because of “them.” 

Before drifting off, scenes dance across my memory.  The girl who cried when she didn’t understand how to play duck-duck-goose.  Eager eyes choosing among my crude drawings for face paint.  Tears in a young girl’s eyes as she goes under the water, emerging bathed in the hope of new life.  Watching Jaxson grimace with pain and delight as he gets dogpiled by kids just wanting to play.  Palpable longing as we enter homes, longing for prayer--the peace that passes understanding alights like a dove. Soup set on a table by humble hands.  Bread broken like the body of our Lord.  Looking out a forehead-smudged window, seeing prostitutes and a native red fox-both trying to make their way in the world.  

I’ve been told that Romania is the poorest country in Europe but I disagree.  It is rich in the tenacity of the human spirit.  We are made in God’s image and He gave a hearty dose of His heart to the people of a country that has forever changed me.  A desire that all would know His grace and a better future-now and in the world to come.  A compassion and generosity to those that have not. A spirit that the American church would be remiss to not notice and adopt.  

All of us will come back to you in different ways.  Ask us about our trip now and later, when God has allowed the seeds that fell on good soil in us to germinate and bear fruit.  For I have no doubt that the work God begins in His people He will finish. He is always faithful for He can’t deny Himself (2 Timothy 2:13).   For He is in us and those in the church we left behind.  

Thank you dear readers for following this journey.  I think I can speak for all of us when I say that words alone cannot express our appreciation for all you did in allowing us to go on this trip.  Maybe you prayed, maybe you gave financially, maybe you cared for homes or children while we were gone.  No matter how big or small your contribution was, you were part of this trip and the person that God brought back to you is forever changed.  The investment you have made in growing God’s kingdom has not gone unnoticed. He is El Roi, the God who sees.  

Remember you don’t have to go around the world to live on mission.  Whoever gives one of these little ones even a cup of cold water because he is a disciple, truly, I say to you, he will by no means lose his reward (Matthew 10:42).  So look for empty cups and fill them with the water that does not run dry.  The woman said to him, “Sir you have nothing to draw water with, and the well is deep.  Where do you get the living water?” (John 4:11).  The living water is a gift of the Spirit given to every believer that trusts in the victorious work of Jesus.  It can’t be contained; it is meant to be poured out into the lives of every broken person you see.  If this never-ending fountain lives in you, don’t keep it to yourself.  Look deeply into another’s eyes and you will see they are thirsty.  Don’t forget that God wants to continue the work He has started and that through you He alone can satisfy. 

To my team, no one but us can understand what it was like.  Amazing grace in the chapel.  Hearing Romanian and English words mix and mingle as we worshiped.  Devo’s around the table as we ate watermelon each morning. Braiding hair. Untying shoelaces. The back sweat. We are forever bonded in the fellowship of believers, along with those we have left behind.  Look forward to heaven with me, to a place of no goodbyes.  I think we will all get to ride together in the red van, with Roli driving and Nate playing DJ.  Remember Jesus is your friend (I hope a melody comes to mind when you read this). I think He’ll be in the van with us, in the backseat so Kennedy won’t get sick.  He loves like that, doesn’t He.  Oh wait, He’s making a place for us, where we you can drive along mountain roads with nothing to think about but beauty.  Can’t wait to hang out in “the yellow bead” with all of you.  

To Him who is able to do far more than we ask or imagine, to Him alone who is worthy of praise, to Him who sees the lost and forgotten, to Him who will use all you have given, to Him who makes me unbroken, to Him be the glory!-Rayna