Tim's thoughts of the week- God is a BIG God

Greetings from Romania. We’re on the fifth day of our trip so far and you would hardly believe some of the experiences and situations that we have all been presented with! It couldn’t be any clearer that God has big plans for this trip. Even before we got off the train God put seven of us (me included) in one of the most unique situations I’ve ever encountered. I am sure you’ve already heard how we had a 3km hike through the middle of nowhere, and how the seven of us and two farmers rode in a rickety horse drawn cart no bigger than a dinner table (btw it was filled with lethal tools such as sickles and pitchforks) on a road with speeding traffic on one side, and a 2-5 foot construction ditch on the other.  It was ever so clear that God had meant for us to depend and rely upon him in this trip, and, as usual, he did not fail to deliver!

After the interesting trip to our host families, the first evening of hanging out was significantly shortened, as it was very late and we were very tired.  (not that this excursion would tire a group like ours out). Fortunately, we met our host family for real the next day.  WOW that was quite the chat, and I liked them all very much. The father of the family is named David, and I have got to say he has showed me some of the greatest characteristics of God’s love and some of the greatest desires to serve God that I have ever seen. David and his wife, Rodika have a daughter named Sabrina (please note that in my mind I’ve already messed up by calling her “gibz” which is my nick-name for my own sister, also named Sabrina =/) Unfortunately we did not get to talk for long due to the fact that David and his family were traveling for the weekend, resulting with Rodika and Sabrina staying with Rodika’s sister for the remaining portion of the week. All was not lost because David’s neighbor, Relu (one of God’s servants that saved us from the streets of our first night), and family became our surrogate host family.  Their friendliness has been a great comfort to us, and even though I am very shy and am quite the introvert, I’ve had an absolute blast. (it does help that Mike and Aaron are staying with them, well it helped other than when they were getting their fingernails painted – something I absolutely would NOT do).  My dad, Victor and I spend half the time with our the host family and half at Relu’s house.  Mind you that we spend a good deal of time in the yard with David, and Relu’s family having all sorts of fun. I am very grateful for all of them, and although I have admitted to being jealous over the exotic experiences of my fellow team members, I would not have it any other way!

Sunday was a very unique day, as my grandparents (one from Germany during WWII, and one who escaped Hungary during their revolution) warned me how long a European church service could be, but I can’t ever remember enjoying one more! (no offense intended pastor Wally, I do also get a lot from your sermons as well back at home =p)  As you might have read in other blogs, Nolan got baptized in the Church of the Nazarene here in Romania! I admit I am a little jealous of the experience. The service did have its own challenge (no AC, WOW was it HOT), but all went very well. The sermon was actually held by our own Maurice Hopkins, and he was quite the preacher, but for me, the real treat was the music. Abby and Beth both played their instruments, flute, and harp/piano respectively, and they sounded fantastic together. We all sang the songs in Romanian as well as English (sometimes at the same time).  I left wishing I told Karen that I play the Euphonium/Baritone, as I love performing on it, and wished I could have contributed to the music (although I must say I’m glad I didn’t have to carry it with me, as it is quite big and oddly shaped, and we do a LOT of walking). It was so nice to see how even though we come from different countries, speak in different languages, and have totally different ways of life, we all can come together to worship God.

As a few of you may know the predominant reason for me feeling called to go on this trip was to teach a five day karate class for the kids in the sports camp.  So, it’s been a few days and I hadn’t really seen an obvious sign from God about my mission trip calling so I almost felt as if I was in the wrong place.  Oh how wrong I was! You see, my plan was to get some experience teaching white belts prior to karate camp (they are usually chaotic and very frustrating, so I would have a good feel for the worst case scenario when I started in Romania). However, for some reason, I never got around to it, but I see now that the Lord used my laziness =).  The first day came, overconfident in every way, and as you can imagine the first class was probably best described as a fiasco. I stood in front of the class, and my words failed me. I stuttered, my voice was probably quite a few pitches higher than usual, and I talked very fast. I was so fast in fact, that my translator couldn’t keep up (even though I failed to notice) and no one really knew what I was talking about. In full panic mode, I took a breath and asked for some sort of help, and my prayers were answered when my father took the lead.  He’s use to this kind of stuff, and I’m not, we are quite different in our personalities. He led the class through the remainder of the day, and began to fix the disaster that I set off for the first part of class. Throughout the day, and later that evening I put on fake smile as I laughed and joked about how badly it went, but in reality I was really beating myself up over my failure.

When I went to go to do devotions before bed, I was in such a bad mood, I just took my Bible, and said to myself “I don’t care what I read, so let’s just get it over with” and I just opened my Bible up, and the story I found was in Luke, chapter seven, which was the story of how Jesus heals the Roman Centurion’s servant, and Jesus remarked how his faith had saved him. That stuck out to me, and I figured that I should find another story; perhaps God was trying to speak to me through his word. So I flipped to a completely random page, and I read a passage from John, chapter two, which was a bit more obvious about what God was trying to say. It was titled “Jesus Knows All Men”, and it spoke to me in conjunction with the first passage, saying that Jesus knows your heart, and I should trust and depend on him.  So I prayed about it and decided to do just that.

So the next day I went to teach my class, not nervous about it at all, and I could tell that God was with me. I was calm(er) and more collected, the students seemed to understand what I was teaching, responding enthusiastically, and it looked like they had fun. I talked with several of them during lunch, and when I was helping by watching some kids during Abby’s Photography session and during Aarons (American) football and baseball sessions, and really feel that God had answered my prayers.  He helped me get past my concerns and gave me fantastic relationships with the kids and teens there. I really couldn’t be happier with the trip so far, but even more so than before I feel that the Lord is watching, and is with us all the way, as he is really a big God.

There is so much more I want to tell you all about, but I am afraid that I have already crushed you with a wall of text already, so I apologize for any rambling on in my story. I do miss home, but I have been pushed so far out of my comfort zone, and met so many new, wonderful people, that I really do not want to go back yet. I see now that many of God’s reasons for bringing me on this trip did not involve me teaching Karate, but to show me how much he loves me, forgives me (for my pride), and is in control of our lives. So, I have to say is that my God is truly a BIG god!!!

Your friendly neighborhood black belt,

                                      Tim Kovach