Church was incredible! Took place in a small quaint building and began with powerful praise music. The songs were familiar so I was able to sing in English while they'd sing in Greek. Did I mention that I think Greek has to be one of the most beautiful languages?! Anyway, there's an incredible bond that is like no other on this earth when you are unified in belief and praise to the same God with others around the world. The songs that I didn't know, well I was able to agree quietly in my heart with their praise and it was a beautiful thing.
Then, a pastor from Germany was in town and gave his talk in English (wow, imagine that?) and he had a very powerful message about self righteousness v. God's righteousness. Basically, that we are free to succeed and free to fail but that God's love for us will never change...it's unconditional. As humans it's difficult for us to imagine this kind of perfect love because we are so conditional and performance-based. But God is a different Being and He conveys His love strongly through the Bible (not a message to often relayed in church these days). When we look around at others, even those who we love and give love in return we can see flaws in how it is expressed. God is the perfect lover of our souls and when we understand even a glimpse of who we are to Him we will be less oriented on what others think of us and more concerned about what God thinks.
YANNIS
Six months ago there was the youth of this church were traveling to Thessonicki (a city that's in the Bible...pretty cool) for a youth retreat when a car swerved their way and one of their vans rolled off the road and down a hill. Many were injured but one 16 year old boy Yannis was in a coma for two months. My sister Erin received many updates over the past half year and had her WNBA San Antonion Stars team praying for him. They prayed faithfully together as a team during the summer months. As time progressed (he was intubated for much of the time) they were gearing up to "pull the plug" one day. Suddenly, they explained that the doctors saw a "flutter" in his brain waves and decided just for the sake of it to wait for two more days. His parents stood by and prayer was being offered fervently. He awakened.
He made slow progress and miraculously was at church yesterday in a wheel chair, able to converse and praise God for his life. I saw him and tears flowed as Erin got down eye to eye with him and told him of all the girls in San Antonio who prayed for him...he became teary too. His parents were standing behind him and thanked Erin dearly and it was apparent to me that this truly was Erin's home, this Greek church. The love there was strong and radiant and I cherished every moment there. Yannis is a very attractive young man who used to be active in a music band and Erin knew him before the accident. The Bible says that God hears the prayers of His children and in this case He granted the continuation of life for Yannis and we praise Him for it!
God doesn't always answer "yes" to our prayers. Erin and I will be visiting a girl today who is from Hawaii and whose younger sister died two months ago in a car accident in Seattle, WA. While we cannot answer why God says yes to some and no to others, we can know that an absolute truth is that He created every person on earth and loves each one beyond our imagination.
I was so touched by this church service.
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