The Silver Lining

Tom, who lives in Bologna and will be moving with our team to Torino, lined up a reasonably priced bed & breakfast for himself and Team Torino leader Paul in our target area of Torino, when Paul went to visit to line up apartments for our arrival. 

It was a two bedroom, two bath apartment where the owner lived and opened up his home for guests to share the space with him.  When they arrived, the young owner, Mario, introduced himself saying he found out they were protestant ministers by checking online (he must have researched online from Tom's e-mail address) and proceeded to tell them that he was an athiest, but not in the strict sense, but rather in the Italian sense of having rejected the religious God of the Catholic Church.  He said he was into New Age and some Buddhist ideology, and enjoyed being at peace with the Creator through the peace and tranquility of His creation. 

By day's end, it was evident that God was at work in his life as an unexpected event left him rather disturbed and not sleeping for most of the night, as they would find out the next morning.  At breakfast, conversation turned to God and religion, and Tom briefly explained the difference between religion (i.e...man's futile attempt to answer the question, "What must I DO to be reconciled with God?") and the Gospel which declares that God did everything to make it possible for us to be forgiven and reconciled with Him through the sacrificial death of the Lord Jesus Christ.  At this point he was moved to tears and began to open up and share some more.

Mario said that he wants us to keep in touch and tell him as soon as we get into the area and start having meetings, because he wants to come and be a part of what we are doing when we get there! Mario accepted a Bible and was encouraged to begin reading in the Gospel of John.

Praise God!

Church at IKEA

The following was written by Team Torino member Cristi McEwen and originally posted on her blog: When Souls Collide

In Italy it isn’t uncommon to share a table with someone you don’t know. So today at the café at Ikea, when a woman pulled up a chair next to us and set her bags down between Thomas and her chairs, as a divider of sorts, we thought nothing of it. We continued eating our couscous, pasta and very yummy “dolce” (Italian for dessert).

As I was nearing the end of my chocolate crunchy cheesecake bliss, I asked the woman, in Italian, if she spoke English (I had a very important question to ask her). She said, “yes” without so much of a hint of an Italian accent and so I asked her if she knew if the mall next door was open today or not (apparently most things are closed here on Sundays). She answered me with a wonderful British accent, which took us into the next question travelers always ask: “Where are you from?” We exchanged our answers and then began asking (and answering) the next set of questions regarding marital status, children, work, length of time in Italy, etc.

This all spawned our conversation into something of a very spiritual and intense nature. It was way beyond the moment. I knew just by what felt like a force field around our table that this was holy…this was Jesus answering this woman’s cry for help. She didn’t go into detail but told us that she and her (Italian) husband of twenty years were separated…that everything had seemed to fall apart as of late. This very beautiful and kind woman who looked like a friendly sitcom wife said that in the car on the way to Ikea she had been questioning whether or not she was “possessed” because everything in her life had been going so terribly. She couldn’t believe how strange her encounter with us was, given the conversation didn’t start with this intention. Given she was seemingly desperate for some sort of answer to the questions burning in her soul.

We shared about our marriage and God’s redemption and Jesus’ love and abundant grace. At the beginning of the conversation, when it started taking on a more spiritual tone, she mentioned that, having grown up in a home where one of her parents was Catholic and the other a mix between Protestant and Jehovah’s Witness, she thought it was ridiculous that people would fight over little things regarding this one “God.” She mentioned Buddha and Ala in all of this and so we got the opportunity to share the difference between these religions (which was fresh in our minds given we talked with a Muslim man on the plane for about two hours regarding the differences in our faiths). We talked about the assurance of salvation Jesus offers because of his death and resurrection on the cross. The man on the plane said that by doing good works, he “hoped” to get to heaven. In this moment, with this woman, I re-lived my salvation experience, realizing that I really am sure that if I died this very moment, I’d be with Jesus. Not because of anything I’ve done, but because God chose to send His only Son to die for me. It’s because of this that there is anything holy and good that dwells in me and allows me to do “good works.”

At the end of the conversation, Thomas asked if he could pray with her. “Please do,” she said, a woman not too proud to pray in this very unreligious and overcrowded restaurant of sorts. We all closed our eyes and Thomas put his hand on her. We all felt it. I know. It was a rare and beautiful moment of the sweet presence of God. When we opened our eyes, hers were filled with tears. She got up from the chair and we rose to hug her. I felt like I was hugging my sister.

We exchanged information in the midst of all this and I told her that we should keep in touch. “Yah,” she said. “I’ll tell you in an e-mail why this is all so strange.” With that she turned to leave and looking back, she let out a deep breath, as if weight had lifted from her and said, “Well. I’m going to be thinking about this all day.” She smiled, her eyes dry now, and walked away.

I believe she walked away knowing that God is big enough for her questions. Big enough to seat her next to two foreigners who simply wanted to know whether or not the mall was open. Foreigners who God has asked to go to this place, to encounter people like her, to give answers to those who are seeking…to harvest these seeds that have been planted in the hearts of His people. His sons. His daughters.

This is church. Yes, even at Ikea.

Recycled Air

I often feel that recycled or conditioned air stifles Jesus. I know it's not true. But I often feel like it is.

I meet Jesus outdoors. In Chicago I would regularly go to Navy Pier during the winter as it was the closest thing to outside I could get without freezing my fingers and face off while trying to read my Bible.

Days where I've been inside most of the day I get a headache. I feel weird. 

Days which go by without talking to Jesus, I get snappier. I feel dirty. Though it's the days that I'm outside that I end up smelling like "outside" or "sunshine" or, even better, sweat. It's most often those days that I can offer up to God the sweet-smelling aroma of a living sacrifice - myself.

The anthropology (doctrine of man) of the Old Testament is that we are bodies and we have a spirit. Not that we are a spirit and we have a body. The way we communicate with the world is through our bodies. We use our mouths and brains for speech, our bodies for nonverbal communication, our hands to work, our legs to travel, etc. We must remember that we speak to God not just with our spirits in prayer, but our bodies and minds in action. We close our eyes to shut out any distractions. Sometime we open our eyes to keep from distraction. We can pray aloud. We kneel, we stand. We write, draw, and cry out our prayers. This is how we know to communicate. Some need a busy place. Some need a quiet place. I need fresh air. I don't need a beautiful beach or a scenic mountain view (though they are always nice). Usually a park with a handful of people around is perfect. 

So do you have a place where you meet with Jesus? For me, I take my Bible, Blanket, Bug spray, and (Black) journal to the park. Now I have a green journal, but the "b" thing worked before :-) If you don't have a place, or even a time, start. Take ten minutes, the Gospel of John and a pencil. Read from bold heading or number to bold heading or number at a time. Circle things that stand out. Underline powerful verses. Write in questions in the margin. Pray about what you read before and after your read. 

Just make sure you spend time not just talking to Jesus in prayer, but listening to Him through His Word. How else do you expect your faith to grow? Your blessings to increase? Your relationship with Him and others to deepen? 

Go! Go outside if you need to, with a glass of ice water or a warm blanket. Get somewhere with good lighting. And read your Bible and meet with Jesus.