Worlds Apart

For an hour or so this evening, I forgot that I live here:

Because I was here:

(Here is one of the two new malls in Cluj, a two-hour drive from Targu Mures.)

I was an "Americanca" through and through tonight! I walked to the mall without a coat (oh no, you might die of a chill!). I wore jeans and tennis shoes, and I ate at Pizza Hut.

And I had a tall hot chocolate from Starbuck's for dessert. Just because I could. This Starbucks just opened on Monday, and it's the first one in the country outside of Bucharest.

I never went to Starbucks in the States. Never. Not a single time. And I never went to Pizza Hut by myself; it was strictly a group activity. So, why do I feel the need to go here? Because it's a taste of home. It's a little world unto itself, a little bit of sanity, civility, predictability, a little piece of America.

Preaching to myself, yet again

Yesterday was another one of those days when I had to wonder if the lesson I taught in Sunday School was more for the kids (teens) or for me.

We're using the Firm Foundations curriculum from New Tribes Mission to study chronologically through the Bible. It's taken us 6 months, but we've finally made it to Joseph's story. Last week's lesson left off with Joseph on his way to Egypt, sold as a slave by his own brothers.

One thing that I love about this curriculum: when taught correctly, it doesn't get bogged down in all of the details of some of the Bible stories, but concentrates on the big over-arching themes of Scripture. Don't get me wrong, I'm not at all discounting the details of the Scriptural accounts...but many of our kids (and adults) have heard those details over and over again and can spit them back out upon command. What they can't always do is identify the "so what?", the take away value of those stories.

So, we skipped all of the details of Joseph's troubles, Pharaoh's visions, and even the incredible reunion scenes between Joseph and his brothers. We concentrated on the big picture: the fact that, no matter whether Joseph was at a high point or a low point in his life, every single moments was within the knowledge and control of the sovereign God. It's easy to look back on Joseph's life and understand how God used the hard things - being hated by his brothers, sold as a slave, injustly accused, thrown in prison, forgotten by those he had helped - to accomplish His plan of fulfilling His promises and delivering His people from famine. It's easy for us to say that the end result was worth all of the pain and suffering, because we can see the end result.

I'm guessing it wasn't always so easy for Joseph. I could be wrong, but I think he probably had days when he questioned, even doubted. Maybe he wondered if God had forgotten him just as Pharaoh's servants had forgotten him as soon as they were released from prison. We don't really know what Joseph was thinking most of the time, but we DO know what he did: he continued to be faithful, to be a hard worker, to inspire confidence in the people around him. He continued to live in light of what he knew to be true - that the sovereign God was still in control - rather than living in light of his circumstances, which often seemed to spiral out of control. He trusted in the midst of the storm, when the outcome was still unknown. I don't know about you, but I'm challenged/convicted by his example.

There is one time when we do know exactly what Joseph was thinking, and it's another powerful lesson for me. After God used Joseph to save Egypt (and Israel!) from famine, Joseph's father died, and his brothers got a little nervous. What if Joseph had only been kind to them out of respect and deference for their father? What if it was all just an act? Now their father was gone, and there was no longer any reason for Joseph to pretend. Once Joseph understood their concern, he immediately set out to allay their concerns.

"Yeah, you intended to do something horrible to me, no question about it. Lucky for you, God is bigger and more powerful than you are, and He took your evil intentions and turned them into something bigger and better than any of us could have ever imagined!" (that's the Becky paraphrase of Genesis 50:20). Another statement of Joseph's bold faith in the sovereign God. He didn't let them off the hook by ignoring what they had done, but he extended God's gracious forgiveness to them. A strong faith in the sovereignty of God is a powerful motivator for forgiveness! Because it doesn't matter what someone does to me, even if it is painful, even if it is blatantly intended to be painful, the all-powerful God can take those evil intentions and change them into something good, something useful, something that brings honor to His name. That's a kind of forgiveness that I need to learn to extend more often!

** Relax, I wasn't really preaching. Just teaching. It's ok. Really. I promise :) Teaching in Romanian is hard enough. I'll leave the preaching to others with much better language skills than mine (and a Y chromosome).