Being inconvenienced for the gospel

In order to best understand this post, you need to imagine yourself in this situation: It's winter in Belgium, which doesn't necessarily mean a cold winter or even a snowy winter (which is what this Chicago girl really looks for in winter!)  But it does mean a dark winter, and often wet and rainy, and for sure the color grey is involved in the winter mix.  Having lived in Belgium for 8 years now, I've accepted grey as my new favorite color and have even learned to appreciate the nuances in the color grey as it presents itself in my world here in the heart of Europe.  But don't add gray and/or rain to the mix when I need to get to the airport, especially to an airport that I'm not familiar with, and leaving in the dark at 5.45am from home!

This is the situation that I plunked myself into a couple of weeks ago, just after Christmas, as I was helping a new friend here transport her family back to the airport to return to their homeland. They had come to celebrate Christmas here in Belgium.  They had come to celebrate her big birthday.  They had come to celebrate love and family.  And anytime there's a celebration like that, it's always hard to say good bye.  Especially to say good bye in the dark.  And even worse, saying good bye in the dark and trying to be quiet so that we didn't wake the little boy who is still asleep in the apartment.  Trust me, this wasn't an easy morning.  And it was happening at 5.45am, to be precise.

As we continued south to the airport, I was at least 6,000 miles away, transported back to a morning worship service that we attended in MN.  The pastor, who was incorporating part of our story of working among people who are still waiting to know the truth about Jesus, gave a challenge to the congregation that morning.  I never figured that his words of challenge would accompany me all the way to the airport on that dark rainy morning here in Belgium.  Pastor's words:  be prepared to be inconvenienced for the Gospel.  God needs us all, those who claim to be followers of Jesus, to be willing to be kicked out of our comfort zones (or our beds on a cold wintery Saturday early morning!), to be inconvenienced for the Gospel.  This story rang true for me in a really unique way this past Christmas, as I finally "got it".  Mary, the mother of Jesus, was one who was inconvenienced for the Gospel.  There wasn't anything convenient about being a young woman engaged to be married, a virgin, and then showing up pregnant.  Yet she walked into that inconvenience for the sake of the Gospel, in order that Jesus would indeed be born into our world and become the Redeemer that God had promised a long time ago.  Somehow, my inconvenience at 5.45am going to the airport paled greatly in comparison.

Sweet end to this story:  my husband Steve decided to accompany me on the airport run, since I wasn't so sure of the route to get there and it was dark after all.  Between the gps, Steve navigating and a carload of passengers eager to get back to their homeland, the trip ended up being quite uneventful.  As we said our good byes (which was about the only word to say since both Steve and I don't speak any Bulgarian!), tears were shared.  I'm not sure what those tears meant, but they were speaking to this heart of mine that was pondering about being inconvenienced for the Gospel.

When we returned to Antwerp, I went back to my friend's apartment.  Her son was still sleeping (okay, by now it's light out, but it's still grey....because this is what Belgium does during the winter!)  We had time to share a hot cup of tea and reflected on all of the joy that had been celebrated in her tiny apartment during the last two weeks.  Her Christmas tree still lit up, her eyes sparkled as she remembered all the fun and laughter and people who came out to celebrate with her and her family for her big birthday.  And my heart was touched once again by what it means to be inconvenienced for the Gospel.  Sometimes it's living halfway around the globe, far from my own family and friends.  And sometimes it's just an airport run to help my new family and friends in the heart of Europe.

I'm already looking for the next chance to be kicked out of bed!