Saturday, January 22, 2011

Family

As a team we try to focus very deliberately on constantly having an attitude of thanksgiving and praise and stopping regularly to acknowledge God's goodness. One of the greatest blessings that God has given us is family. I am realizing more and more every day that this is what God has created us for. God Himself is the ultimate expression of "family" in His triune nature. It blows me away when I read the words of Jesus as He prays that we all (His body, the church) would be one even as He and the Father are one. Go read John 17 and see what I mean. It will undoubtedly change your life.
But I digress, almost daily we remark to each other how blessed we are that God has brought us together as family. Our greatest desire is to see this family grow and for others to join with us in worshiping, serving and delighting in our Saviour. Over the last few days we've had the cool opportunity to invite one young Swiss guy deeper into our family than anyone else yet.
We met Stefan on our second day on Ko Samui. Immediately one of the girls invited him to join us for a beach volleyball game and since then he has been with us almost constantly. Besides sleeping we've done just about everything together. We've had a lot of good late-night discussions out on the beach, watching the moon cast it's silver beam across the waves as they gently lap against the shore. Last night he even sat in on our worship time and looked very thoughtful afterward. He considers himself a christian but has never given the slightest thought to what that means or whether God actually exists. The concept of a relational God is something that he has never heard of before. We have given him a lot to think about over the last few days. He has expressed interest in reading some of the Bible and we are planning on giving him one soon. Last night while we were out walking he expressed to me how different it is hanging out with us. He drinks less, gets to bed earlier, excercises more and, as he said several times throughout the day, "it's always fun with you guys". It's remarkable how much he enjoys spending time with us even when we are doing the most mundane things. I was particularly amused one night, after a rousing game of Jenga, when the three of us guys spent about twenty minutes playing with the wooden blocks; building towers, creating dominoe chains and other such things that toddlers enjoy. He was quite content to sit there with us and play with blocks rather than go out and get drunk with every other backpacker on the island. Surely he must see something of Christ in us. There's no other way anyone could ever enjoy spending time with me. It has been such a joy to welcome Stefan into our family and each get opportunities to share different things with him about our relationships with God and how that is what binds us together in love.
Pray that God will be at work in Stefan's heart. We've given him a lot of things to think about but only the Holy Spirit can bring true revelation that will open his eyes to see his need for Jesus.
Pray that God will give us direction on when and where to go next. We're tossing around a few ideas at the moment.
Pray that God will give us eyes to see those who are broken and hurting. Pray that He will fill us with love, giving us words in season and out of season, that we may clearly make known the mystery of the gospel of Christ, that we would declare it boldly, as we ought to speak.

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