"Romania 2008" Team Summary

I know that I often start out with this word but...wow. The past week and a half are a blur. The team that came was incredible. I don't know how to better state it. They were such an encouragement and support. It was such a lift for me, mentally and emotionally. They were a blessing straight from the Father himself. Perfect timing. It's funny how just when we think God's forgotten us, he lavishes blessings and love on us as if to say "Ha. And you thought I didn't know what you needed." Of course he knows, come on. Psalm 139, anyone?
I can't even tell you all that we did together. It ranged from planning and throwing elderly parties, to doing construction in 3 different locations, to working with kids here in Sighisoara, to going out to Tsigmadru for kids and teens program, to playing soccer with the kids from Baragan school, to hanging out and singing with the teens here in Sighisoara...and more. If you want the "full report" just head over to the team blog at www.sighisoara08.blogspot.com.
By the end of the week, the whole group was exhausted inside and out. I think I can say with certainty that they felt like the trip had changed them in many ways. Although they came wanting to "change" Romania for the better, I think they left themselves changed for the better. It's also safe to say that a lot of missions work goes that way. Many people go in expecting to make a difference for the people of a specific country and come away with the people and country making a big difference in themselves. It is a very cool thing to experience (as I have been over the past few months), but it's possible that it's even more fun to watch others go through that. It is a humbling that is rare to come by and absolutely beautiful.
After planning for so long, it's strange that the "event" is over. One of our major "checkpoints" in our ministry here has come and gone. For me, it's left a little bit of an unease at the fact that June is coming quickly. Another side effect of having the group here has been that I have fallen even more in love with Romania, if possible. Everything feels fresh and vibrant, bright and welcoming. I feel like I know this place, I'm comfortable here. I feel like there is so much more to learn and not enough time to do it in. I know all of this may sound like a bunch of contradictions, but I don't know how to describe it.
It could be that the late-night fog is settling in and my words are beginning to tumble over one another, one thought unable to decipher or connect with the next. It's time to let that happen and accept the sleepiness, so I think I'll take another shot at explanation later this week. I wouldn't want to leave you hanging in the mist, but there's no way it's clearing out now.
Key point of today's entry: I loved having the group here and I am so thankful that they could come. I am so excited at the work that God has done and is doing in them and through them. I am sure that work will continue even long after they are gone. Praise God for that.
So thank you for sending them here with love and encouragement. Thank you for your gifts, both materially and in prayer. Thank you for everything.

What is love?

I don't claim to be an expert on love. In fact, I'm clueless. However, one thing I feel God speaking into me over these past couple of weeks is love. Love in it's most pure, most simple form. I have been attempting to embrace that. Not only am I learning how to love others, but also how to love myself. And of course, we all know that this is essential in life. A friend once said "The secret to life is love" and in a lot of ways I agree. If we could all learn to love a little better, a little more, a little purer...the world would certainly be a better place. So on this Valentine's Day (which I agree is a completely fabricated holiday, but let's ignore that fact) let's delve a little deeper into real love and ask ourselves, "what exactly is love?."

*"Love is handing your heart to someone and taking the risk that they will hand it back because they don't want it." -Rob Bell
*Vulnerability
*"echad"- being one flesh
*Forgiveness- even when it hurts.
*"carrying each other's burdens" Ephesians 6:2
*Agape.
Putting others before yourself. Giving, giving, giving. Not expecting anything in return.
*Exploring another person in respect and wonder of who they are.
*"Builds up" 1 Corithians 8:1
*Humility- Considering others better than yourself.
*Purity.
*Having faith. Putting your trust in someone else and in God to watch over you and that "someone else".
*Confidence. Not pride.
*"Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails."
1Corinthians 13:4-8
*Allowing yourself to think yourself beautiful.
*"For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord."
Romans 8:38-39
*The ultimate love is being willing to give your life for someone else.

PS: The pictures at the top are just random. They are from gospel choir. A group I'm a part of that gets together each Wednesday evening for an hour to sing. It's just plain fun.
Double PS: The Pearce team leaves America today to join us here in Romania tomorrow! WOOHOO. =]
And that my friends, "is all I've got tah say 'bout that."

The Uncapturable Moments

There are always transient moments in time that are so beautiful and true that they are impossible to capture. It's those instances that you just wish you could bottle and save for the times when life is not so easy. Things like summer sunsets where the sky is painted so radiantly that no camera can catch the vividness, or find those colors that no one has ever been able to paint. Mornings where you wake up to a blue sky, bluer than you think it's ever been before, and shining sun. Times where life seems completely at ease and comforting in every sense. Sitting against a warm "sorba" (heater-thing) in the middle of winter in a Romanian household. Laying under a blanket with pillows piled high, watching a movie with the boys. Sleeping in at a friends' and waking up laughing and then sitting down to enjoy a delicious brunch together. Cooking with Mama Maria early on a Friday morning. Communicating in "perfect" (not really) Romanian and the enjoyment of a fluid conversation in another language. Walks in the the coolness of a day when the sun shines just enough to warm the top of your head and your shoulders.
It's as if God gives us glimpses of what he meant life to be like. The perfection he had wanted for us all and the beauty he had hoped we could live in. And when I am struggling with life's minor difficulties, this is what I try to focus on. The fact that there is more. This is not it! Those "uncapturable moments" will eventually be what life is like. I will get there and God will bless us tremendously with unimaginable joy and that peace surpassing all understanding. That day will come. I can see it even in my ordinary, little life. Praise God for that.
All I need to do is trust in Him. Trust that this is true. Push on and know that "the best" awaits us all. God will bring us through.

Being all that you can Be

Cliche, I know...but hear me out. Being at the age I am, in the place I am, I have been forced to come to grips with who I really am. I'm not talking surface stuff, I'm talking soul stuff. It's a time for me to explore if I am really being the person God has made me to be. Am I really doing what God has asked me to do? Am I living up to full potential, or at least trying?
I'll tell you now...there are all sort of opinions on that one from all sorts of people. And for a long time, I was intimidated by that. Big time. I thought that I wasn't measuring up to others' expectations, so I must not be measuring up to God's. I felt lost and confused for a long time, wondering who I really was. I read Psalm 139 over and over trying to imprint it on my brain. It sounds ridiculous. It sounds lame. Ask a bunch of therapists and they'd say "that's normal for your age".
But don't stick me in that mold. I really hate that mold. People of all ages face this question every day and people of all ages struggle with it. Although what I've learned may sound "typical" or like something you've heard before, believe me when I tell you it's unique. Because it's specific to me. God is doing this one-on-one thing with me right now, that is teaching me wonders. But sometimes it's painful. In fact, a lot of the time it is. And I know what your response to that is too..."Well, you know what they say! Growing pains!" True. As always, I know that I'll end up learning an infinitely valuable lesson and continuing to build on the foundation of faith God has built up with me. But again, still painful.
Right now I'm reading a plethora of books and the one I just finished was really good and completely played off of this year-long lesson God's working on. I'm still digesting it and I'm considering reading it again just to try and absorb a little more. If any of you have the time or opportunity, read Velvet Elvis by Rob Bell.
Here's an excerpt that describes my feelings very well, in better form than I could manage to string together:
"The problem is that the image of God is deeply scarred in each of us, and we lose trust in God's version of our story. It seems too good to be true. And so we go searching for identity. We achieve and we push and we perform and we shop and we work out and we accomplish great things, longing to repair the image. Longing to find an identity that feels right. Longing to be comfortable in our own skin. But the thing we are searching for is not somewhere else. It is right here. And we can only find it when we give up the search, when we surrender, when we trust. Trust that God is already putting us back together. Trust that through dying to the old, the new can give birth. Trust that Jesus can repair the scarred and broken image. It is trusting that I am loves. That I always have been. That I always will be. I don't have to do anything. I don't have to prove anything or achieve anything or accomplish one more thing. That exactly as I am, I am totally accepted, forgiven, and there is nothing I could do to ever lose this acceptance."
So I am trying to trust and each day I wake up and have to make the conscious decision to do so. Such is faith, right? How incredible is it though, that just as I am is good enough. I mean, all of us recieve opposite messages constantly from all sorts of sources. But don't listen! Only listen to the Lords still, strong voice. The one that has been and will be forevermore.
Amen.