It has been a week now since I departed from Istanbul and my thoughts are finally coming together. We werent the only ones commuting to Istanbul two weeks ago. We stood out like one of the 130,000 Syrian refugees that fled to Turkey just a day into our stay. Notable events during our stays have consisted of traveling to Rio de Janeiro two weeks after the World Cup, S. Africa during the Oscar Pistorius verdict and miles away from the Nigerian church bombing, and now the Middle East during huge conflict with ISIS and a bombing order on Syria. While these historic and significant events are commencing around us we are just navigating around the streets of Istanbul, shedding the light of Jesus Christ. As I spent two weeks studying the Islamic culture, literature, and language with my classmates a few distinct culminations of memories stuck out the most: 1. The day-to-day habits and paradigms that have been shaken from my travel has been the notion of anticipation. I am not able to anticipate my schedule or plan out what the rest of the day encompasses for me and my teammates. Through this I am more aware of my ability to genuinely humble myself before I walk into someone elses country. This humility allows me to view the culture in front of me as a guest. Similar to walking into someone elses story we must take off our shoes and be humbled before we can experience everything they have to offer us. 2. Messengers and prophets have two distinctly different descriptions in the Quran. A messenger tells the message and a prophet brings new revelations. In a weird and ironic correlation between Islam and being Christian I view myself as a messenger (or vessel) that brings light to this world, only to emulate the message of the gospel and Jesus, the prophet, brings new scripture or new revelation to our hearts. 3. What are you living for? Dr. Norton presented this question as we studied the Quran. This question brought me back to the battle of Jericho when Joshua is confronted with an angel of The Lord. As Joshua asks the angel if he was for them or for their enemies the angle responds in a way that illustrates his remarkable intention to do the will of the Kingdom: Neither. I have come now as commander of the Lords army. I am living for The Lord and I am a part of His army. This notion of having a Kingdom centered intention has been a constant struggle on this trip and I feel as if the commander of the Lords army just confronted my intentions to expand HIS Kingdom. We must start with faith then hope then love. We must give others hope in life before we can bring them into a relationship of love—the greatest of them all.
Posted on: Thu, 09 Oct 2014 09:53:02 +0000
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