An Abandoned Soccer Game

Teenagers at Youth

There are rare moments in life that we are able to witness an event and it hits you that it is an illustration of Biblical truth. On Saturday evening, I was walking with several of the team members who have been helping to plan the partnership between the Romanian Baptist Union and the Virginia Baptist Association when we ran into some teenagers who I have befriended over the years playing soccer in the street. Danny, Courtney & I were headed to youth group at Providence Baptist Church so when the teenage boys asked what we were doing. We told them & invited them to join us. And then an amazing thing happened: they did! They left their other friends that weren't interested. They left their soccer ball. They left their perfect spring afternoon in the sun to go... to worship our living God & to study His Word with their brothers & sisters in Christ. 

The VA team, Mishi, Oti & I visiting Castle Peles

This past week, the team from Virginia and leadership from Romanian Baptists had been meeting, discussing and planning ways for Romanians and Virginians could work together for others. After a week of these discussions, I was feeling overwhelmed with all the things that were potentially going to happen with the partnership. I was feeling like I don't know enough about youth ministry or anything at all about church planting for God to have me a part of what He is doing for His kingdom through this partnership. Then, I saw those teenage boys literally leave their soccer game and close friends behind and go to youth group. It reminded me of when Jesus called Simon-Peter and Andrew in Matthew 4, He didn't ask about their knowledge, He didn't ask about their skills, He didn't ask anything other than to join Him where He was going and working. What is He asking you to join Him in? What "soccer game" is He asking you to leave to follow Him? He is doing great things in Romania and all over the world... I encourage you to just follow and trust the Master to position you perfectly into where you fit in His jigsaw puzzle of the Kingdom. 

Clean fingernails!

And the fingernails of the body were very clean from washing the dishes--- I think this is a verse that Paul left out when he was writing 1 Corinthians. Let me explain… This week at Project Ruth is the Gypsy Smith School which is a fantastic week of leaders from Roma churches coming together for a week long session comprised of two courses. What does this have to do with dishes? Well for me – GSS week means dishes, dishes and more dishes. In order to help out the kitchen staff who are having to not only prepare lunch for our 200+ students but are now preparing 3 meals a day for 25+ full grown men (boy, can they eat!), we wash the dishes. Today, my mind was running a hundred miles an hour regarding what I needed to get done: reports, e-mails pretty much anything but washing bowls caked in mashed potatoes. So as we washed what seem like the 1000^th bowl today, I thought “just how many more bowls do we have to scrub today?” Then it dawned on me that each of the bowls and each spoon represented a little belly in Ferentari that was now full. After meditating on this for a moment, I didn’t want to the dirty bowls to stop coming because when little bellies are full, little minds can learn better and when little minds learn then little children can transform their worlds.

Back to Paul – More often than not, I find myself wanting to see the bigger picture. I forget that I am just a small part of the body of Christ. I selfishly want to be a cool part like an arm that hugs a child or the feet that bring Christmas boxes to children in villages. Yet, God calls us all to be part of the body and that means that sometimes we have to be the uncool parts that don’t get to see the bigger picture but have to trust in a God that brings all things together for His glory and to accomplish His purpose. So I will rejoice in the moments that I get to be the fingers that scrub bowls caked with mashed potatoes. What are the mashed potato bowls in your life? I encourage you to think about the little mundane tasks that you are doing for the Kingdom that seem small but are essential to the bigger picture of ministry in your community. 

“So whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.”

1 Corinthians 10:31