Last Night in Europe

Well this is the last night. But even as I write that I think to myself, last night of what? This is the beauty of Christianity-there are no lasts. There is leaving behind, there is letting go, but it is always for the infinite joy of what is ahead-the far better thing-Christ himself. I press on to know the lord, Paul says. Not that I have already attained this but I press forward to make Him my own because He has made me His own. I read in Job this morning that God gives and takes away. Who are we to receive good from him and not evil? But actually God gives us Himself. He has made us his own. We fully possess him and he fully possesses us through Christ who had the right to divine sonship. Now we are sons and daughters. So God giving and taking away is completely abolished. God gave. Everything. He gave everything in Christ once and for all. And though he gives and takes from us everything else, we now are one with the One from whom all blessings flow. So what do I have to say at the final evening of such a rich and full journey? All I can do is point to the Crucified One. He is far better than any other thing. Upon him was laid my iniquity. My iniquity EVEN in this trip of serving-my sin is ever before me. It is clear that all good from this is His. But he is never just the indifferent or pitying bearer of our transgressions-he loves us. He really, really loves us. What I have learned is so how deep and fierce his love is for me. How full it is. How passionate it is. For the fullness of who I am-all my pride, all my quirks, all my joy, all my mannerisms, all my ugliness and all my beauty. All my thoughts and all my actions. In Tonia’s words, He is not ashamed to call me His own. Perhaps that’s the message of the trip-

He is not ashamed to call me His own. 

To discuss something as small as my role in the lives of people in Eastern Europe is my natural inclination but I know that the far more miraculous thing, the ONLY thing I can boast in is Jesus Christ and Him crucified and resurrected.