A People Person

Neither Michael or I love crowds or big cities. There's traffic, noise, smoggy air, and people everywhere! We aren't really the type of people who love being jostled on a busy subway or bus. We don't particularly enjoy crazy traffic with cars and people on foot going wherever they happen to find a way. Yet, this is where we live. We have to remember that trees make up a forest and people make a city. People. That is why we are here.

We cannot yet speak the language, and we are endeavoring to wait and train for at least a year before jumping into ministry. So, I could just live my life, and it's easy to do with our small family. I can easily get caught up in trips to the grocery store, keeping the yard clean (this means keeping the neighborhood children out), and raising my boys. -But we are here for the people. People for whom Christ died. Seeing the people around us in bondage feeds our burden and heart for reaching Georgians with the gospel of Jesus Christ. 

-A sad, empty face sitting in the corner of the subway, devouring an orthodox doctrinal book, just hungry for truth and answers.

-A young man who will not pass a church or a Nino's cross without crossing himself.

-An elderly woman who has no one to care for her and is left to beg on the streets, only to use the money to buy candles to pray for her loved ones instead of paying bills or buying food.

-Children who always have a cross, saint, or other orthodox sign hanging around their neck or attached to their clothing, hoping to ward off the evils of the world, sickness, and injury.

-An orthodox family that prays for their meal, after we bless ours, with a long ritualistic prayer that has been rehearsed so many times that it lacks meaning or intimacy. It is not that they are insincere, but that there is no communion between the Holy Spirit in us and their spirit.

-People who are superstitious to the point of not buying a certain house or making some business deal simply because it would violate superstition. They wouldn't tell you that they believe it, but they won't dishonor or disobey it either.

This is why I strive to become a people person, and to see them as Christ does. These people heighten my burden, my desire to learn the language, and my heart to know God more intimately. I'm so glad I know who Jesus is and how that relates to my life! Oh, how I long to share this real, caring, and personal Jesus with these people!