Sammy in Norway: The big picture

It has taken quit sometime since I wrote last, but many great things have been happening here. It all started with drawing a road map for the next three months of my stay in Stavanger. First doing a stock check for the last months, picking some leasons, dreaming what it should be like from here or seeing the end at the begining and waking up from the dream to the realities of the good challanges. That is not usually a big deal, the job is to make it happen, drawing the line between essentials and non-essentials and waking up every morning fired up or compelled by the vision.

I got up to a normal Tuesday on 22nd Jan, this day is usually the day I work in the University with the Christian students. This was one of those days that I wake up whisteling some melodies of relaxation knowing that there is no much pressure to get going. I was so well on time to get the bus to town and was walking to catch the connecting bus in town to the campus when I got a call form the Laget leader. It was about 30 min to the start of the fellowship, and he briefly explained that the speaker of the day had fallen sick and so he was looking for a replacement and it was good that I share. In normal cases it takes me about six hours to make a sermon. I was on the road and worse still in the relaxed mood back in the house, I somehow forgot my bible and most likely in that meeting it is usually my team mate and I who carry english bibles. I made an effort to get Joe to wait for me at the bus stop so that I could have some time to prepare the sermon in the bus using his bible. On the opposite seat in the bus sat a young man who gave me one of the most strange looks I had ever seen, he might have come a cross a bus preacher before may be. I almost said, ''sir I have no itentions what so ever to do it here''. As I read through some few verses from Joe's big bible, and when I say big I mean exactly that, I decided to assume the looks of any other passagers and I also mumbred a prayer after few checks. In ten minutes the bus stoped and there I was in the meeting. After the meeting one student asked me, ''you must have taken sometime to prepare?'' Another one who new the story just bursted into a loud laughter. Don't try this at home!!!

What amazed me that day is what I had never seen before in two separate scriptures that I had read many times before. The first was from 1Kings 19:9b-18. Here Elijah had run away from Jezebel. On the mountain the Lord calls him, gives him some job to do and also reassures him that he is not alone. In Mark 3:14-16 Jesus calls the apostles so that they can be with him, they can be sent to preach the gospel and that they can be empowred. The correlation here is that in both there is; first the call, secondly the commision or task and then finally the reassurance and empowerment. How unique it is that God has the big picture beyond the insecurities and fear when we come to him.

Before long impuls was here!! I had

looked forward for this time so much and I wasn't dissapointed. It was a confrence where more than 3000 teens gathered for a weekend of praise, worship, fellowship, prayer and teaching. I got a chance to experience the future of Norwegian church in these teens. It is going to be energetic, convicted and enthuthiastic about the gospel. Everyone was fired up and excited about knowing the Lord and relating with him. The first night a bunch of 60 of them matched forward to commit themselves to the Lord, it takes a while to have tears on my eyes expecially in public, but that night I just ''noticed''.

I had a nice time of fellowship with God and people, isn't it amazing how our faith in Christ is personal and yet something we can all share together and celebrate. The joy of being in Christ in someones heart is undesputable, it is only them who know what they feel as a result of being in Christ and them alone know what he has done for them. Testimonies of lives changed, challenged and encouranged all in one place from the same message, is just a show of God's focus on us as individuals and yet as a body. I love it!!