This week was pretty much gone in a flash…The weekend was sick, so that’s what I’ll kind of focus on for this particular post. I had my second Greek quiz this week. That was a little rough, but hey, waddayagonnado. I’m not gonna worry about what I got on it now. The time to do that was prior to the quiz, so that time as come and gone already. Other than that, the week was uneventful, and filled with the routine of school, hunting for the internet and winding up at the café, watching movies at night, studying, and also mundane tasks like laundry and grocery shopping.
The weekend, however, was sweet. We had a few visitors from the BCA England program (they go to Messiah back home) and that was a nice change of pace. We got to show them around “our city” and do the tourist thing on Saturday, then we went out at night and had a blast with them. Today (Sunday) we went to a soccer game together, which turned out to be an even crazier fan base than the basketball game. Three metro stops from the Olympic Stadium, the fans on the metro started chanting and singing loud enough to shake the train itself. We all knew from that point on, we were in for quite the experience. Turns out, the use of smoke bombs with your respective team’s colors, flares (bearing the same color), and cannons being fired throughout the game are completely normal for European soccer. Just as normal as the smoke bombs was cursing out the other team, the other team’s fans, and the referees. My Greek vocabulary expanded to twice its previous size in a matter of just 90 minutes.
It was a great time and the game wasn’t half bad either. It was also great to see the Olympic Stadium and the entire complex from the 2004 Games. It was impressive to say the least. Prior to going to the game, though, I went to church today at St. Andrew’s International Church. It turned out to be one of the best decisions I’ve made in ages here. The church was a breath of fresh air and it was refreshing and uplifting to have some fellowship with other Christians. I went with my friend, Alyssa, from Messiah and we both said at least half a dozen times that we wished we had found the church sooner. The service is held in The German Evangelical Church, but it’s in 100% English and the people who went all speak it fluently. The building itself is really sweet, too. It’s super old and has some awesome stained glass going on in the front. It’s a decent sized church and at a glance you’d think it was a very stiff, traditional church. However, it was a pretty modern service and it was great to sing some hymns and modern worship songs as well. I really, really loved it and can’t wait to go back. This church really seemed to be focused on the gospel and it was great to get my own focus back on how awesome Jesus’ work on the cross is.
The speaker was a guest speaker this week and he spoke on how universal the gospel is and how it applies to every person in every nation of the world. I’ve been reminded several times through nature, sermons, and other ways of how big God is over the course of this trip. However, I’ve made on huge mistake. I’ve gotten wrapped up in God’s enormity (which is worthy of getting wrapped up in), yet I’ve stopped at that point. I’ve neglected to realize that the reason that God’s enormity is so great is that He, in all of his huge-ness and power, sent his Son to earth to redeem and save me and anyone else who wants to follow him. Wow. THAT is what I should have been focused on. The fact that the gospel of Jesus transcends borders and cultures every bit as much as God’s creation and power and might is mind-blowing to me. Tom Mahairas, the speaker, broke it down really simply today and just used John 3:16. He emphasized that God so loved the WORLD. As I sat there and looked around, it gave me goosbumps. It really did. There had to be probably 20 different nationalities in that church. Everyone probably came from extremely different backgrounds, but had one common bond. They all realized that Jesus came to save them and it didn’t matter what they had done, where they were from, or anything else. All that matters is that Jesus came to save them. Tom also spoke on God’s value system. His point was this: We need to remain humble, but realize one fact. That fact is that God values one soul more than anything in the world. And if His gospel and value applies to you, it applies to the person living next door, in the next state, or in the next country. Heck, it applies to the person living in the next bedroom over in my case. That was very sobering for me. It’s so awesome to think that God’s power and might and strength is so infinite and unfathomable, but the fact that he sent His perfect, blameless Son to bear the weight of MY own sin (and anyone else’s as well) PROVES that his love is just as great as his might and power. That carries with it the conclusion that we should be loving people as Jesus would and seeing that they matter to God more than anything in the world. That’s tough to do for me a lot of the time, and honestly, I have to remind myself of that constantly. So yeah, that’s what’s been on my mind. It’s definitely something for me think about and try to live out more effectively.
It’s been a great weekend for me and I really did love that church and got a ton out of the sermon. However, it’s 3 am and I’ve got a research proposal to do tomorrow, so I need to peace. Hard to believe I’ll be back in the states in less than 4 weeks. This semester really keeps flying by. Crazy stuff.
-Ryan
p.s. More pics are up on facebook (from this past weekend)..Feel free to check em out.
