God of the Nations

Three weeks from today I will be in the air, on my very first plane ride, going around the world, to a gypsy village in Romania to be the hands and feet of Jesus to a people who may not even know He exists. Wow. I have so many emotions getting ready for this trip it's unreal. I had the initial excitement and anticipation, but currently I am a.) terrified to fly, and b.) just beginning to realize what I am about to do.

Why has the Lord chosen me, a total scrub, to be the one to go? The reality of that is mind boggling to me. Out of all the people in the world who could go to Romania and do the very same thing, He has hand chosen, before we were even born, that the 130 of us would travel to Romania to be Jesus to a lost, outcast, and desolate population of people. I am in awe.

I know I am so unprepared for what I am about to encounter and the reality of that is just hitting me. I have never ever experienced the extremity of the poverty I will encounter, the lack of hope I will encounter, the filth, the unjustice, or the screaming outcries of a population so desperately in need of a Savior, a Lover, a Friend, or a Comforter.

When I think about the children there, with parents who are just children themselves at 9-12 years old, who are left abandoned, abused, and neglected- my heart just aches. I know the picture I have in my mind at this moment, is not even close to what I will encounter, and yet I am still in awe that I get the privilege to experience it all.

I have nothing in common with a gypsy. I have no idea what their life is like, no idea what it's like to live like they do, no idea what it feels like to be rejected and condemned for being born, no idea what it's like to never be embraced, and no idea what it's like to experience rejection like none other in this world. But I cannot wait for the first opportunity to embrace a gypsy child. I know that in that moment, when I hold them(perhaps for the first time in their life!) we will have everything in common. We will both be who we are first and foremost in our lives, and who at are very roots were meant to be all along. A child of God, accepted and saved by the One who was rejected and condemned for us, embraced by the One who will never let that embrace go, and loved ultimately and wrecklessly by not just the God of America, but the God of ALL nations.