namesake post

i have never even considered writing a blog before.  but there was one moment that happened to me, and after that, i thought, i want to document this.  so out of that moment came this blog.  i want to share it with you: 

i work with refugees, and i absolutely LOVE my job.  

a refugee is "a person who flees for refuge or safety, especially to a foreign country, as in time of political upheaval, war, etc" (dictionary.com).

one sunday i went over to a refugee's home to visit.  she is from eritrea, a small country to the north of ethiopia.  some other refugees were there as well.  like bereket.  he is a 23 or 24 yr old eritrean who doesn't speak more than a few words in english.  back in africa, he was an ordained orthodox priest. here, he is often a disrespected, "uneducated" foreigner.

and this sunday, after church, we both had our Bibles with us.  i motioned to his, and he showed me the tigrinya script.  then i showed him mine.  "Christian?" he asked me.  i nodded and said, "Christian."

then he began flipping through my Bible, obviously looking for something.  he said, "john".  so i showed him john, 1 john, 2 john, and 3 john.  but just john.  then he flipped back a couple of books from john to matthew.  (i think what happened here is he wanted to find matthew, but didn't know the english word for matthew.  but he knew john, and he knew where matthew was in context to john.)  then he gave me back the Bible and said, "11.  28."

i looked up matthew 11:28.  and it says:

“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

then he acted it out, pointing to heaven, and taking the yoke off of his shoulders.  and then with his fists and arms in the air like he was showing off his muscles, gave a victorious smile.

as we went back and forth sharing verses that meant the world to both of us, i was struck by how universal God is.  he loves all.  and gives victory to all.  and he asks me to love all.

in that moment, i realized that love - God's love - speaks any language.  God's love speaks every language.