4,000 Roses and Enough Love to Go Around

We apologize for the lateness. And for there probably being more typos than normal. We got a little lazy on the editing... But here it is! :)

Peter:
    There was a guest speaker today, who was, I think, perhaps the best speaker to date for chapel.  I won’t spend much time on this blog, mostly because she had a simple and straightforward message, one heard before, but still meaningful: God’s gift was meant to be given away.  She stated that God’s love was unfathomable and that it is meant for us to give away.  You could reference Matthew 5:15, you don’t light a lamp and hide it under a bowl.  I’m shy, and I don’t like talking to people I don’t know, but if you let God work in your life, situations for you to display God’s love to your fellow man will present themselves.  There are two specific ways which God has blessed me with being a witness to others.
    First, He has blessed my life as a whole.  Just living in God’s love is visible to others, and I live with no regrets.  I leave nothing on the table, and I live as much for others as I do for myself.  I’m not perfect in this respect, but I try, and God uses what he can.  Multiple times in my life, and as much credit should be heaved upon my parents as possible, but multiple times either I or my parents have been approached asking why it is that I or my siblings are different.  In a Japanese culture lacking God’s witnesses those of us who live for Him do stand out, and it is a way to spread the gospel.  As the saying goes: ‘preach the gospel, and if necessary, use words.’  Lest one uses this as a cop-out for actually talking about God’s love, you should know that when you live for God it usually involves communicating directly with others at some point.
    God has, especially in recent years, blessed me with opportunities for this as well.  There’s the story of when I was in Lithuania and I was sitting at a table in a bar, and I had a cross necklace on.  A man came up to me, and because he knew I was an American, and because I was wearing a cross he assumed (correctly) that I was Christian.  He then started talking about the various experiences he’d had with Christianity either through going to a catholic church or through reading part of the Bible.  We went outside and had a great ten minute conversation where I told him why I believed why I did, and why he saw what he saw in the church and in the Bible.  Another time, also in Lithuania I got into an hours long conversation with a confessing agnostic about life, the universe, and everything, really.  It started out merely as me editing a paper, and from there it exploded into a conversation of philosophical, ontological, theological, and any other –icals you can think of topics.  It was there that I was also able to share the reasons for my beliefs, and I don’t know how God’s used that conversation in particular, but it’s this and many other instances like it which convince me that yes, God indeed does intend for His message to be communicated in Jerusalem, Judea, in all of Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.  Knowing this is what my parents do for a living makes me that much more proud and blessed to have them as my parents, and I thank God for them, for His Word, and for His boundless love.

Tim:
    I walked into chapel today wondering who was going to speak. I still am not really sure who the speaker was, but she was possibly the coolest ever! Her name was Lisa, and I didn’t catch her last name. I think she was somehow connected to the Urbana missions conference. Before I talk about that, though, I want to say something about the music and some observations I made during the worship.
    I am probably the least musical person in the history of the world. I cannot sing, I am essentially tone deaf, and I can’t even clap to a beat. Thus, in my years at Bethel, I have proven incapable of learning new songs. Apparently the only songs I can remember are the ones I grew up singing. So, when we sing songs I know, I get excited. Hence, I was absolutely thrilled when we sang “Be Thou My Vision.” I don’t know if it’s because I grew up singing hymns in church and it brings me back to the old days, but for some reason, I just love them. They’re great and there’s something about them that seems so profound. Anyway, this got me really excited, and things were only to get better.
    The speaker was phenomenal. I will confess that my opinion is probably rooted more in my excitement about the speaker herself than over what she said. I think she could have said almost anything and I would have loved it, though. Why? Well, after she uttered her first sentence or two, I thought, “wow, she sounds like she could be Filipino!” And a few minutes later she revealed that, in fact, she was. I don’t know what it is about hearing Filipinos speak, whether in English or their own languages, but somehow it calms and excites me simultaneously. It just makes everything feel right. I guess the sounds of childhood can do that. So, I slipped into my happy place and soaked it all in. Not only did she have good things to say, but she was funny and engaging.
    She told the story of how her son purchased, I think it was, 4,715 roses for his girlfriend when he proposed – one for each day he’d known her. She thought her son was crazy and wondered how much this cost him. But she didn’t ask him because she knew he was in love – “crazy love,” she called it. People do crazy things when they’re in love and they just have to share it. It doesn’t matter how much it cost because he was expressing something more important.
    She brought up the story of the woman who washed Jesus’ feet in perfume. This, I thought, was quite refreshing. I feel like (and I realize that this is not the intended message) a lot of what we hear at Bethel often echoes what the disciples said when they condemned the woman, suggesting that her money would have been better used to help the poor. I have felt like I’m being told that I don’t love Jesus if I don’t devote all my time and resources to helping the poor. I’m not trying to say that the poor don’t matter, I’m just saying it was nice to be reminded that Jesus values other expressions of love, too.
    Anyway, she essentially called us to spread the gospel – God’s version “crazy love” – with the world. Just like it seems a little crazy (yet awesome) that her son would by 4,000 flowers, it seems crazy that Jesus would give up his rights as God and die for us. We, in turn, are meant to show his love to our neighbors, no matter who or where they are. It was really a simple message, but refreshing. I really enjoyed it. She seems like someone who has embraced God’s love. It emanates from her and this whole chapel inspired me to strive for the same thing. It was just a spectacular experience. Another excellent chapel.
    By the way, does anyone else want to go to Urbana?