Well, we've been home now for about a month (which is HONESTLY, CRAZY, where does time go?!). Each of us have processed on our own as much as we have had the time for...coming back to "real" life is extremely difficult at times especially when you know around the world there is so much hurt and you just want to do some small part to alleviate it, but alas God calls us back to where HE has us and to the lives HE's led us to, so you deal with that, process through, and return to some kind of normalcy, while balancing the new normal you've grown accustomed to as God wrecks your life in the best way possible.
We know that we have gone through our withdrawals of, the simpler in some ways, harder in others, being on a mission's trip and yet our souls LONG for more. What more can I do? What more are you asking from me, Lord? What small ways can I be helpful here, where I live, between the things that pull at my attention? In some ways, the Lord has also made this clear. Christ has now called us to be prayers, advocates, and doers to shed light on this situation and make Christ's name GREAT.
PRAYERS:
When a crisis of this magnitude happens around the world, what can we possibly do first to help pick up the pieces and clean up the mess, but to join with Christ, intercede on people's behalf, and tune our hearts to our MIGHTY God in prayer? Only this will help to align our hearts with Christ, to see things through HIS perspective and not our own or the medias or the politicians or anything/anyone else, just His. Only then will we know exactly what He's calling each of us to do on an individual level. So He calls us to be prayers to the highest degree, to partner with Him as you lift up so many lives and nations to His throne, the throne that is the highest and most sovereign.
ADVOCATES:
Many people can't grasp what's going on whether that's due to their own inabilities or whether the news portrays it poorly or even that they enjoy staying in their ignorance, but now we see ourselves as advocates on some level to help explain what is going on. I know we only got a small sliver of the entire scope of the "problem", but even with that sliver we got to see what God is doing among the nations. God is bringing the nations that were once held in captivity by their own comfort, worldview, and ways of life to a NEW place. As scary and confusing as the situation is, you cannot help but see the DROVES of people that God is moving. People who have been shaken right out of their former lives and made to move into this new life. People who have put aside their former religious rituals, out of necessity, and a people who are really, actually ripe for hearing the Gospel and accepting it as truth! Even while serving on the island for those very few days, one of our team members was able to lead four young men to Christ!! We must celebrate the way in which God is bringing the nations to our doorsteps, hungry for comfort and for something to call "home". With this knowledge we must tell others, we must advocate for those who are stuck and who are awaiting a better, safer life and explain that these people are moms, dads, children, grandparents, nieces, nephews, uncles, and aunts JUST LIKE US who are all just trying to make it out alive. And so, we tell their stories and we inform those in our spheres of influence, about the realities of the situation, biased only by the love that was cultivated in our hearts as we served them.
DOERS:
And lastly, we become doers. James 1:22 says, "Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says." God calls us to be doers of His word and when He tells us this then we must respond! So whether that is to be obedient in an area of our lives where we haven't, whether it is to give where we know we have been asked, or whether that is to go when He calls us to go, we must DO it. So, I encourage you to ask God about this situation and to listen carefully about what He is asking you to do.
If He is calling you to PRAY MORE, then pray more and pray diligently for those around the world caught in the cross-hairs of this tragedy.
If He is calling you to BE INFORMED, then ask questions, seek out organizations and people doing the work and ask them to tell you what is going on.
If He is calling you to GIVE, seek out ways in which you can give freely and abundantly. I would encourage you to visit our website, if you feel inclined, to give to the church's Refugee Relief Fund that helps to point and distribute monies to the cause of the refugees. This could go toward when Refugees resettle in the GR area or to go towards those who feel led to GO on another trip to help with the triage work being done on Lesvos.
Here is the link:
REFUGEE RELIEF FUND AT CALVARY CHURCH
And lastly, if He is calling you to GO, please know that there are a few (and possibly many more) trips heading out from Calvary to Lesvos in the next coming months. Please inquire about how you can get your name on the list in order to DO as God calls you. (Please also know that these opportunities are mostly for those who attend Calvary, but again, it never hurts to ask!) If you need more information on volunteering and you do not attend Calvary you can try to get a hold of
GEM - Greater Europe Missions,
IRC - International Rescue Committee, or
Starfish Foundation - (grassroots organization stationed in Molyvos on Lesvos Island). We partnered with each one of these in some form while on Lesvos. There are also many different missions organizations who are sending teams apart from GEM.
Finally, I want to thank you all for reading and staying informed. I want to thank you for praying for us as we embarked on a life changing trip and I want to say thank you for all the ways in which you supported us as we went, were there, and came back to our lives here in Michigan.
Blessings. We love you.
Calvary (+ Wellspring) Greece Team
