Cigarettes that don’t Light

As I mentioned in my last blog, the Lord has been moving here in a variety of ways. I wouldn’t say that we have had any supernatural, big incidents, but rather a compilation of several small moments. The following are a few sweet stories of interactions I’ve had with the people where I have seen God moving in the midst of the day to day.

One day my team and I were ATLing in various locations throughout Craiova. The last stop we made was at this really small park next to the town square. There was literally no one in this park except a few older people sitting on benches who I knew would speak no English as well as a few people quickly passing through on their way to the next best thing. the scene was discouraging, as I assumed that I would not get to have any good conversations, yet I went to sit at one of the benches and just prayed that if the Lord had someone He wanted me to meet, that He would place them in front of me. After sitting for about 5ish minutes, this tall young man walks past me and sits down on a bench a couple yards away. I notice that he keeps looking over at me but just continues to sit there and pull out a pack of cigarettes. (side note: smoking has a huge grip on the young population here. There is hardly anyone who doesn’t smoke so we see it as a large enemy stronghold.) Selfishly I prayed that he would not light up the cigarette; partially because I did not want to smell it and I was also so sick of seeing everyone do it. I kid you not, right after I sent that prayer up he walks directly over to me and asks me if I had a light for his cigarette. In that moment I wanted to laugh because in my mind I though, “Heck no but I got a different kind of light that will light up your life!” But I definitely did not say that because it was too cheesy. Anyways, a really cool connection came out of that moment and that guy, ended up spending the rest of the day with us and said that we were unlike anyone he has ever met before (in a good way lol).

Another time, me and my teammate were volunteering for the food bank trying to get donations for 4 hours by standing inside a grocery store speaking in broken Romanian. What started out as a mundane task turned into a celebration by the end of our time. The security guard of the store befriended us and was buying us all sorts of stuff like coffee, chocolate and baked goods while telling us about how much he loved Michael Jackson. We were also having amazing conversation with the customers; one conversation in particular I made this older gentleman so happy that he started crying when I told him I lived near Chicago….ya it was so random. On top of that, the donations were flooding in. The customers even started buying us things which was completely random but very sweet. One guy walked up to us and said, “are you guys part of that group of missionaries?” We said yes and then he proceeded to say, “Ya I can always tell you Christians apart because you just have this certain warmth and glow about you that is rare to find in anyone else.” WOW. To hear those words come directly from a strangers mouth was wild. Needless to say, that night was full to the brim of small blessings from the Lord and was a cause for great joy for me.

A collection of more random moments include: buying a bundle of carnations from a Roma woman who was so happy and started blessing me in Romanian and was kissing my cheeks, packaging and giving out shoeboxes to children in various communities, engaging in multiple conversations revolving around science and God with young people.

To that last point, I believe that in this time I have discovered that one of my spiritual gifts is wisdom and discernment when it comes to having conversations with people outside of my faith. People have told me that I have a gift of planting pebbles in people’s shoes by asking the right kind of questions and presenting random pockets of theology, philosophy and personal perspective. Many young people we have interacted with here are initially drawn to the energy we carry, yet they open up to us and want to have conversation because of the perspective we carry. They know God as a stone figure inside a church, yet we talk about Him as a living, personable friend. Hearing us out in this has put many on the path of seeking out more information for themselves. Some have even come to Christ in our events. Regardless of the level of acceptance, the young people here are hungry for us to give them a good reason to believe in hope. It is beautiful to see their eyes fill with wonder as we speak about the many mysteries of our intimate creator.

How cool is it that not only does God reveal Himself to us in a multitude of ways, but that He also invites us into that so that we might participate in the enactment of our own prayers for the lost being found come into actualization.

These are the stories that encourage me as I reflect on our time here. God is on the hunt for the hearts of Craiova. He sees them, He knows them, He is preparing a way for them whether they acknowledge Him or not. That’s just how good He loves His kids.