The Work
We work in Romania. First it was in the county orphanage, then the hospitals, then the villages. That's half the story.
The other half is not being in America. We had no idea how we needed our home, church, and children until we had them no longer. We expected it to be hard. It was worse.
Homesickness is the ache we feel when we no longer have an impor-tant part of our self. The death of a loved one is the ultimate homesick-ness: part of our self is lost forever. There is a deep lingering ache. The phantom pain of an amputated leg.
If homesickness is a 3 and death is a 10, leaving home was a 9. But it was necessary. The only way to do it was to simply pull out the needle.
paintings on the outside wall of a monastery in Suceava, Romania
going from step 1 to step 2
is the best thing you'll ever do
hardest
I
never
I
Studying Scripture, reading commentaries and theologies, and going to Bible college and seminary are all good. We need to know what the Scriptures say, what people throughout the ages have believed, and how things work in God's world.
That's step 1. Step 2 is doing it. That's where the learning truly happens.
Just like anything else—engineering, law, IT, firefighting, sports, bricklaying, surgery—you don't know how to do it until you do it. For a long time.
And just like anything else, once you've done it you know a person just starting out has a long way to go. Just like you did.