Entrance to Wawel Castle in Kraków — Latin: “If God is for us, who can be against us.” (Romans 8:31)
Sometimes a simple Facebook status update, or tweet on Twitter is just not enough to express exactly what compels Alexis and I to serve in Poland. What does it mean to “serve” anyway? I’m sure many of us have read books, heard sermons, and done plenty of talking about the topic of servanthood. But what does that all mean for us, going into the field where, quite honestly it may be years before “things” happen, certainly we can’t anticipate the first conference, worship gathering, or any other “event” to happen before we have “arrived” and can be called “leaders”. Rather we need to focus on one thing, one thing alone – being in the presence of Christ at all times, not just during our prayer, devotion, quiet times. Of course though, we are human, we sometimes (gasp!) get distracted and being in a foreign land, numbing our brains with learning a new language, raising our children, and trying to figure how to serve our new community, we’re liable to seek the low hanging fruit and “score some points” by doing things rather than being who we are.
So, I am thankful that today I was reminded by this blog post that we are also one of the sheep, we are one of you, and one of “them”, we’re here to serve and cheer on the things of God. I have long believed that encountering God is truly the only thing that changes people, it isn’t events (though sometimes we encounter God at events), and it it isn’t having really great worship gatherings every week (though of course people can encounter God there too), encountering God can actually be an everyday experience. This is our prayer for our soon-to-be new friends in Poland, that we all walk to encounter God in new ways and that it be daily, not driven by events. Leading people into encounters with God is far more exciting than doing “things” to conjure up…. something?
There’s something very natural about resting with God and encountering him in that peace, Jesus is the prince of peace, peace in our souls. As we encounter this peace we begin to become energized to live as His children, free from the worries of the world and empowered to love the world with a compassion that only comes from encountering Him on a regular basis. In fact as one of our dear mentors and friends, this is “so natural, it’s supernatural!” People in Poland have had more than their share of disturbing events, and so we aim to serve our Polish friends by being with them, making disciples by encountering God alongside them and sharing new life together. We don’t have anything special or new to give, but we are compelled to serve, love, and cultivate relationships with God so that we may all serve as agents of the Kingdom.