Festivals, Faces, and Feelings

This last week and a half has been full of some many different things, places and emotions.

The festivals have started and when we arrive at the square there are always kids waiting for us. They run and hug us and ask what craft we will do, or what games we will play. The square is always filled with laughter and screaming, and no matter what we do, the kids go crazy over it. Whether it’s a painting contest, making bracelets and hats out of newspaper, or water balloon fights, they all want to do it over and over. They don’t just paint one picture, they paint five. Over a hundred kids come out to the square and most of them come back every day. One little boy, named Rei, comes to the square out of breath from running the whole way there. He is so happy when we do crafts that he does them as fast as he can, then runs to give it to me and then runs back to start a new one. These kids glow under the love and attention that they get from us and in turn I am filled with joy because of them. A lot of these kids come from the community center that Courtney and Tolis started to give kids a place to come and grow and just be kids. They have built amazing relationships with the kids and love them as their own.

 In the mornings we divide our time between helping at a homeless ministry and helping at Nea Zoi. At the homeless ministry we boxed up lunches to pass out and gave clothes to people. One of the biggest impacts it had on me was the attitude of the lady I was helping hand out clothes. She wanted to make sure that anything we gave out was clean, with no holes or stains. She even tried to put together outfits for the women. She would not give anything that she would not wear herself. She treated them with such dignigty and respect that it challenged me to do the same.

Nea Zoi (New Life) is a ministry that seeks to build relationships with girls that work in prostitution. We were given an orientation yesterday and we were able to get a lot of information about the problem of trafficking in Greece as well as how Nea Zoi seeks to help the girls in it. It is completely overwhelming just to hear the information. We saw a map of an area and it had dots where all the brothels were, the map was covered in dots. Today, we went out on an outreach. Beth and I went as support for the groups actually going into the brothels. We stayed outside and prayed while the groups went in to talk with the girls and give them tea and cookies. My heart hurts for them, I was reminded of a line in a song that says “Break my heart for what breaks Yours” and that has definitely happened.

At the orientation Vicki reminded us of the parable of the lost coin. The woman searches her whole house and turns it upside down to look for a small coin, because it had worth and value. Then when she finds it she invites all of her neighbors to a party to celebrate her finding the lost coin. Vicki said that the thing about a coin is that it has two sides, one side with an image and the other with its worth. We are all image bearers and we all have worth that cannot be taken away. That is why we give the best clothes we have to the homeless person, because they have value and worth. That is why we build relationships with girls who are being prostituted, because their value is not a price that can be bought with money.

I am overwhelmed by the thoughts and feelings going on inside me, but God is working and is chipping my heart away so that I see people as He sees them so that I can love them as He loves them. 

Two weeks later.

The Akropoli. The view from our apartment in Athens.

Two weeks after arriving in Greece I still have to remind myself to take deep breaths. There are so many things that threaten to overwhelm me but so far I'm holding on. When we arrived, Beth and I got a brief introduction to Athens before we headed to Volos, Greece for a week an a half. Volos is a beautiful coastal town with beautiful people as well. My time there spent learning, learning and more learning. 

Volos.

I learned so many things from the pastor there, Meletis. I the first thing I learned  about was service and the difference that picking up trash can have on a community. We picked up trash on the highway and in a neighborhood and Meletis told us about the impact that the simple act of picking up trash has had on the community, it has opened doors with the Greek Orthodox Church that would be unheard of in other parts of Greece. I am so thankful that I got to be apart of it, we would be sweaty, filthy and exhausted each day but we were joyful because of what we were doing. Their approach to picking up the trash captured my heart: God created this world for His own glory and the trash represents our glory and our materialism. Creation groans because of the way we treat it and picking up the trash is a redemptive work and honoring what God created.

Inside an Orthodox church.

Another thing I learned, and will keep learning about for the rest of my time here in Greece, was about the Greek Orthodox Church. Greece is a very dark place spiritually even though it is considered a Christian nation. There are roughly 8,400 Greek Orthodox churches in Athens. There are roughly 5 Greek Evangelical churches in Athens. The more I learn about it, the more my heart aches for the Greek people. Everyone is Orthodox here, to be Orthodox is the same as being Greek for most people. Evangelicals are considered heretics. Orthodox people want to become holy through good deeds and kissing icons, and then they can have a relationship with God. A few days ago, I went in an Orthodox church and I watch one man kiss about twenty icons and cross himself and my heart hurt for him because he thought that kissing icons was a necessary step to become right with God. Another things I saw was the "Holy of Holies" where only the bishop can go. The doorway was covered by a black heavy curtain and an iron gate. It shook me up that they have a physical barrier between the people and communion with God. They don't understand that the curtain has been torn. 

On a lighter note, our days in Volos were filled with wonderful food, wonderful people, and wonderful sights. We ate our weight in fresh peaches and cherries from Meletis' village, amazing salad with whole slabs of feta on top, fresh bread, and ice cream everyday. We spent so many hours around the table talking, laughing and building relationships. The people from the church were so kind and welcoming and invited us into their lives to take part in what every they were doing, like watching the Euro Cup, going on walks, or taking us to the mountain villages where there are no cars, only donkeys. They taught us some Greek words, and were so patient with our mispronunciation of it. Beth and I now know about 15 words, but we are learning more everyday.  Volos is absolutely beautiful, it has a port with fishing boats all lined up, each with a Greek flag waving in the breeze. It also has amazing beaches with water so blue, you can't tell where the water ends, and the sky begins.

The sea. I jumped off of that big rock!

Laiki (market)

Deep Breath.

I am so thankful for these last few weeks.
They have given me a chance to breathe, process, relax and decompress. I have enjoyed my family in an intense way because I knew I had such a short time with them. I have crammed everything I love about summer into these three weeks.

Morning coffee and reading on the patio.

Family gatherings.

Corn, okra, dirt beans, and so many avocados.

So many pots of coffee and conversations around the kitchen table.

Trips to Huntsville and Chattanooga.

Being still.

Being silly.

Slowing down.

Sunshine.

Watching the lightning bugs coming out at night.

Driving with my windows down. 

Pool time with the Samster. 

And now the time has come...

Time to go.

Time to change.

Time to grow.

I am so incredibly excited. I might just burst. Usually this heart bursting feeling is only reserved for Christmas but Greece has become a huge part of my heart these days and I know the feeling will only explode when I actually go in a few short days.

¹⁰ 

"As the rain and the snow

    come down from heaven,

and do not return to it

    without watering the earth

and making it bud and flourish, 

    so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater, 

¹¹ 

so is my word that goes out from my mouth:

    It will not return to me empty, 

but will accomplish what I desire

    and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.

¹² 

You will go out in joy 

    and be led forth in peace; 

the mountains and hills

    will burst into song before you,

and all the trees of the field

    will clap their hands. 

¹³ 

Instead of the thornbush will grow the juniper,

    and instead of briers the myrtle will grow.

This will be for the Lord’s renown, 

    for an everlasting sign,

    that will endure forever.”

-Isaiah 55:9-13

This is my prayer. This is my strength. This is happening. 

Deep breath. 

It's time!

Leaving, Goodbyes, and Embracing Change

Change has always been a struggle for me. Its something that I fight against with clinched fists. I hide from change and creep out when the hardest part of change is over. This year has been a flood of grace in my life and full of wonderful moments with the people I love and I want to keep them forever, like snapshots. I have been trying savor those moments, savor the time I had left instead being anxious about time running out, or seeing the end of the year as the end of goodness and grace in my life. 

When it came down to the last week, finals were over and I spent all of my time soaking up those moments.  Anna Clare, Emo, Lyss and I made friendship bracelets. We talked about what our hopes and fears were for the summer, read and prayed together.[savor] Sleeping on Jungle's balcony with Leah and waking up to the sound of wind and birds, instead of an alarm clock. [savor] Having coffee under an umbrella in the rain with a good friend. [savor] 

I thought saying goodbye would be hard but I had a whole year's worth these moments, these snapshots to treasure. 

Fall Break road trip to New York, reading Bittersweet, listening to Josh Garrels, and learning how to love each other better.

Advent, Christmas lights with the roommates, and having the perfect Starbucks moment.

Seeing new life[my nephew Sam] come into the world before my eyes.

And watching him grow week by week.

Jungle. So many beautiful faces and beautiful hearts.

Getting lost for three hours and then having a picnic on the bluff.

So proud.

On the last night that Emo, Lyss, Anna Clare and I were together, possibly the last time we would all be together for a year, we read this to eachother:

"I could not have know then that everybody, every person, has to leave, has to change like the seasons; they have to or they die. The seasons remind me that I must keep changing, and I want to change because it is God's way. I want to keep my soul fertile for the changes, so things keep getting born in me, so things keep dying when  it is time for things to die. I want to keep walking away from the person I was a moment ago, because a mind was made to figure things out, not to read the same page recurrently. Only the good stories have the characters different at the end than they were at the beginning.

My prayer for you is that your story will have involved some leaving and some coming home, some summer and some winter...My hope for you is that your story will be about changing, about getting something beautiful born inside of you...It might be time for to go. It might be time to change, to shine out. I want to repeat one word for you: leave. Roll the word around on your tongue for a bit. It is a beautiful word, isn't it? So strong and forceful, the way you have always wanted to be. And you will not be alone. You have never been alone. Don't worry. Everything will still be here when you get back.

It is you who will have changed. " -Donald Miller, Through Painted Deserts

When I left school, I was ready to go home, ready to change, ready to say goodbye. Change is the only way that new life, new growth happens. If I don't change I become stagnant. I will always be thankful for this year, for the friends God put into my life, for the growth that God has done and for the blessings that he has lavished on me. But I am not grieving its end, because I know that the people who have my heart will always be in my life, even if its across an ocean. I know that God will continue the work he is doing in me. I'm excited for the change and savoring the process instead of hiding from it. 

Rain.

Rain brings two images into my head.

One picture is of a light summer drizzle. The kind of rain that comes unexpectedly but is always welcome, even if its in the middle or a picnic. The kind of rain that nourishes the thirsty ground and enables new life to spring up from the ground. This kind of rain is light and constant, and perfect for dancing in. 

The other kind of rain is intense. This kind of rain brings storms and even floods. It overwhelms everything it touches, it grabs life by the roots and if its not firmly planted, it will get carried away. This kind of rain is scary, in a wondrous sort of way. It gets your attention. 

I have had a season of summer rain. God raining his grace into my life in a constant, life-giving  sort of way. I have been growing, growing, growing from the amount of grace in my life. This grace has come through all sorts of places and it's been wonderful. My heart was so full, there were times when I thought it would burst. 

And then the storm came. God's grace was still raining into my life, but it was raining so hard that it hurt. It overwhelmed me, grabbed me at the root and threatened to carry me away. It washed away the things I was clinging to so tightly, revealing my heart and leaving me bruised and hurting. 

Both kinds of rain are necessary for me to grow. There are times when I need to dance in the rain and other times when I need to have the things I cling too pulled out from under me.  Both kinds are good. So I'm soaking up the rain, soaking up God's grace in my life.

"Hallelujah, grace like rain falls down on me"