Still, I want to tell you all about a morning that became the highlight of the trip for me….
On Wednesday mornings Bethany Christian Centre puts on an outreach intended for toddlers and their moms. Every Wednesday the church floods with over 150 screaming kids. Our outreach team was simply asked to interact with the toddlers and their moms, and to put on a little puppet show about the 10 lepers. Before that day I wasn’t overly excited about the morning. Toddlers are high-energy, high-emotion, non-stop screaming machines with the endurance of a world-class marathon runner. Not exactly my cup of tea. I walked through the church doors Wednesday morning with a horrible perspective that was self-centered. I thought there was no way I was going to leave the church that day learning/seeing/experiencing anything that was going to be of personal significance.
I learned very quickly that God has a sense of humor. And that if we think we have ourselves figured out better than He does He’ll show us that we don’t. Within minutes of the outreach beginning, I met a 3-year old boy named Elijah. Something was special about this kid. I’m not sure why, in a gymnasium that was full to its limit with toddlers, I was drawn to this particular boy, but there is no doubt in my mind that I was. He beamed radiantly. We played with hot wheels and action figures that kicked up awesome memories (my guys, ha), but more importantly; I saw God’s character in this little boy in a way that I foolishly never thought I could. Joy, gentleness, peace, selflessness.
It didn’t take me long to realize that he had a speech deficiency. Also, the entire left side of his body was under-developed, and he had a constant stream of spit dribbling out the left corner of his mouth. His mother came over to where we were playing and explained to me that Elijah has cerebral palsy. For him, it means he can’t be a part of the games he sees his friends playing on the playground, he’ll never be able to play sports, and he will never speak correctly. And yet, his smiling never ceased and his laughter seemed to have no end. He was so happy, so content to have someone to play with and little action figures to smack each other with. I ended up spending the whole morning with him; playing silly games with him, laughing with him and showing God’s love to him as best as I could.
At the end of my time with him, I felt so heavy-hearted. So much of me wants to watch Elijah grow up, mature and become a man and be there for him to tell him how much God loves him. Its sad to think its more than likely I will never see him again, and yet God is faithful; because I have the opportunity for a life-long commitment to Elijah through prayer. Even though our paths may never again cross, I have the ability to encourage and support him all throughout his life.
Elijah and me.....
'We must go through many hardships to enter the kingdom of God' (Acts 14:22)
The best things in life are the result of being wounded. Wheat must be crushed before becoming bread, and incense must be burned by fire before its fragrance is set free. The earth must be broken with a sharp plow before being ready to receive the seed. And it is a broken heart that pleases God.
Yes, the sweetest joys of life are the fruits of sorrow. Human nature seems to need suffering to make it fit to be a blessing to the world.
Beside my cottage door it grows,
The loveliest, daintiest flower that blows,
A sweetbrier rose.
At dewy morn or twilight’s close,
The rarest perfume from it flows,
This strange wild rose.
But when the raindrops on it beat,
Ah, then, its odors grow more sweet,
About my feet.
Often with loving tenderness,
Its soft green leaves I gently press,
In sweet caress.
A still more wondrous fragrance flows
The more my fingers close
And crush the rose.
Dear Lord, oh, let my life be so
Its perfume when strong winds blow,
The sweeter flow.
And should it be Your blessed will,
With crushing grief my soul to fill,
Press harder still.
And while its dying fragrance flows
I’ll whisper low, ‘He loves and knows
His crushed brier rose.’
If you aspire to be a person of consolation, if you want to share the priestly gift of sympathy, if you desire to go beyond giving commonplace comfort to a heart that is tempted, and if you long to go through the daily exchanges of life with the kind of tact that never inflicts pain, then you must be prepared to pay the price for a costly education-for like Christ you must suffer.
Frederick William Robertson
Becoming servants to all, so that through faith, love and courage we may proclaim the Light of the world.
A couple of weeks ago, a few friends invited me to tag along to a Sunday morning church service in downtown (ha) Carnforth. Carnforth Free Methodist was the name. As we walked in and took our seats I felt a bit uneasy, for all the wrong reasons. There was no stage, there were no fancy electric guitars, there was no 15x18 foot video screen, no auditorium style seating, no comfortable seats; Carnforth Free Methodist meets in the cafeteria of Carnforth High School. It didn’t take more than a couple quick scans of the room to recognize that the majority of the congregation was comprised of (very) elderly members. All the aspects of a “church” that I had grown so accustomed and comfortable with were either absent or present in opposite form of what I had known. Worship started, led by two older women on acoustic guitar and vocals and supported by a couple of middle-aged men on piano and bass guitar, and I still could not get my mind off of how different it all was. However, as soon as I was exposed to the heart of the congregation, something smacked me in the face like a brick wall: what makes a church isn’t the walls of the church themselves, but rather it is the heart of those who worship within those walls. I saw people worship God with passion I had never seen before. I didn’t recognize any of the songs played. I didn’t know any of the people I was worshipping alongside. I didn’t feel particularly comfortable; and yet I sensed God’s presence in that room in a way I never had. How could I have been so misled to pass judgment on a church before meeting the people who call it their home? The church is the people, not the walls that surround them.
That same day a few friends and I ventured to the Lake District, a region considered to be the most beautiful part of England. We spent the afternoon walking around the city of Windemere. It was gorgeous outside, and we had a blast stopping in on different shops. I even had my first legitimate ‘fish and chips’ experience….
Later on in the evening we attended a service at a church that is pastored by a man who lectured here last term named Russell. The service was unlike any I had been to before. For starters, there were 10 people in attendance, which brought back premature judgments that I thought I had conquered earlier in the day. However, again I was overtaken by the passion of the people in the congregation. It gives me goose bumps thinking back to that evening. ‘Small in number, big in passion’ as Russell put it. Afterwards my friends and I had the opportunity to talk with Russell, and he even prayed over us, specifically for our upcoming outreaches.
The past couple of weeks have been full of outreach preparations. We’re starting to get really excited about the trip. Our team has blended so well over the past couple of weeks and its been beautiful to see such a diverse group come together and be unified in purpose and mission. We leave on Friday, and a lot remains unknown about what exactly we will be doing, but whatever it is that do, we are confident that God will use us to bring glory to His Kingdom. Becoming servants to all, so that through faith, love and courage we may proclaim the Light of the world.. I can’t wait.
Sorry its been a while since my last update. I’ll get better, promise
God Bless you all.
Welcome to my blog. I hope that you find it a useful way to keep up with the exciting things happening here in Europe. I’ll do my best to keep it updated every couple of weeks or so. Sorry it has taken me longer than I had originally planned to get this site up and running, but as you could imagine its been nonstop the past few weeks.
Where to begin? It’s a bit overwhelming attempting to shrink all that I’ve experienced into a blog post….My time here has been incredible. I was talking with a friend of mine from Toronto, and we agreed that this could be one of the “weirdest places on earth”. In the best way possible, of course. But where else can you find a group of 180 students from every corner of the globe living in a castle on a sheep farm? Its truly unique. Its special.
One cool story: My flight from O’hare to Newark had gotten delayed and the delay meant that I was going to miss my connecting flight to Manchester….so I was rerouted into London Heathrow. It created a bit of stir when I realized I had no clue how to get from London all the way to Carnforth. I was feeling a bit uneasy about it until, about five minutes before I boarded the flight, a guy came up to me and asked if I was headed to Capernwray. “Because you’re carrying a guitar and a Bible” is what he said when I asked him why he thought I was going to Capernwray. This was SUCH a blessing. He knew a bit more than I did about how to get from London to Capernwray. We still had our troubles though…my customs officer nearly rejected me entrance, luckily an extended phone conversation with my mother convinced the man that I had sufficient funding for six months stay in Europe. Thanks mom.
This weekend has been a quiet one around the castle. At the end of February every student will leave for a 10-day outreach. Most teams will be serving in churches in the UK, however there is one team that will travel to Kenya for 15 days. This weekend most teams are on a vision trip for their 10-day outreach. Nearly every team has left to go visit the church/community they will be serving come the end of February. My team is one of five or six not on a vision trip this weekend. The pastor of the church we are going to be working with is out of town and they decided it best for us not to come. Its unfortunate not to get acquainted with the church before the 10-day outreach trip, but at the same time this weekend has been such a blessing…..
It has provided time for rich interactions with students, quality time to myself, and a chance to get out and soak in the scenery. Its been pure blue skies the past three days, which if you know England weather, you’ll understand just how rare seeing the sun is. I’ve been able to get out on a couple of walks with some friends and get my first real glimpse of how beautiful the scenery is. Our God is pretty creative…
God Bless
