Obedience

Hey! It's Andrew here. I want to share an experience with you to encourage you. The Lord prompted me to take the guys that I coach out for pizza about a month ago. I knew I wanted to do it, but kept putting it off. It ended up taking me a whole month to obey what Jesus' Spirit put inside me.

Fast forward to this past Monday, I finally took the team out for pizza after practice (a group of 9 young men ages 14 to 16). The Lord spurred my heart to share with them about my Jesus. I felt as if this time God would give me an opportunity to share. Towards the end of our time at Bonita (a pizza restaurant near the center of Strumica) I shared the story of the Good Samaritan using images that would be meaningful to them by substituting the man who got beat up with a Roma. Romas (also called Gypsies) are a minority population in Strumica that is looked down upon similar to the Samaritans. Some of the guys seemed concerned others maybe a little guilty. One guy replied that they want to help but can't because they can hardly help themselves. I considered addressing his statement, but thought that doing that would unnecessarily distract everyone.

I then told them about my journey with one of my teammates this year. I shared that this teammate does many things that make me think very poorly of him. I told them things I want to say to him and how I want to treat him, and then I explained what I should do with him. Luke 6 came to mind. It says that we should bless those who curse us and pray for those who mistreat us. Basically, do good even to our "enemies." 

I thought that this was the last story that I would tell, but a few of the guys wanted me to tell another story. The Lord brought to mind some experiences I had while playing for the AAU basketball team Martin Brothers. I played for this team as a young buck, 16 and 17 years old. It was a collection of some of the best basketball players in Iowa in our age division. We traveled all over the country and spent a lot of time together on the road. For almost the entire first summer I was on this team, I was thought of as kind of weird or at least a little different. I said that I was looked at this way because I would not do some activities my teammates were doing and I didn't talk about things that they talked about. By the end of that summer and into the second summer we were together, my teammates began asking me questions as to why I acted the way I did. The Lord produced so many opportunities for me to share about Jesus and his effect on my life. I then concluded by saying that 2 or 3 years later, when we were all in college, I found out that 2 of the guys had also become "weird." The boys got a laugh out of that, and realized that when I said "weird" it basically meant I was following Jesus and it just seemed weird to my teammates.

After that we all left and as I was walking home one of the boys waited and walked home with me (he lives near us). He shared that he goes to church and that he believes in Jesus. He is Catholic and said he has read through the whole Bible. I encouraged him and he said his pastor has used the same words that I used to encouraged him with. He shared that he gets made fun of sometimes because of what he believes. Pray for Flesh; that is his nickname.

Halee and I thought that I should share this. I pray that it might encourage you to be obedient. It is another example of the Lord's blessing when we step out in obedience. The amazing thing is that I wasn't obedient for a whole month. Despite that, God still used me.

Praise be to God, His son Jesus, and the Spirit that He has given us! To Him be the glory always and forever!

Much love