Yes, I am a Romanian and this is my country, but when you return after 3 years of being away, you will definitely notice whatever has changed and you view the entire situation from a different perspective.
For starters, life is moving forward with or without you, especially without you. We felt it on day one and we feel it every day. Everyone is very nice with us, friendly and helpful, but I feel that distance, that separation. Life moved forward for everyone and we are now just simply guests, but I am not blaming anyone, as this was caused most likely by us – as we are the ones that left them. It was for the cause of Christ, but we did leave them.
Than there is a concern on our minds, a situation we all have to deal with – the danger of allowing the comfort to distract us. This is a demon we fight with in Malawi and it is a real problem here in Romania as well. Things have changed here and, for the most part, everything has improved. People are comfortable and, sadly, this has infiltrated the Christian culture. Those that are willing to leave their comfort zone – when called by God to do so – are becoming increasingly rare.
Lastly, I want to talk about a need. In our only 6 days here in Romania we couldn’t help but notice the need for the Christian leaders to have visions worthy of Him. In a pure African example, a leader needs to be like a giraffe and not like any other creature in the savanna. You see, in Africa grass grows very tall and any other land animal sees only as far as the grass allows him to. A giraffe, just like a leader, should look above the tall grass, above the current situation and into the future. Romania is not going to be reached for Christ by default, but we need to labor. Sinners are not going to come to church, we need to go to them. Ministries are not going to grow if we don’t actively pursue growth. Complacency and comfort are some of Romanian’s worst enemies right now.
Would you pray for us and with us regarding this situation? We know there is work to be done and we feel we want to do something ourselves. There is no point in observing and writing about the problem, if we weren’t ready to do something about it.
