As I have thuoght further on the world, I realized that this is an incredible time to be a Christian - to be a reformed Christian, with a understanding of the Truth that is available to us to be appropriated from other cultures; one of the professors wives was telling us about William Carrey the other evening, and how he went to India and started out studying their natural surroundings, the animals, plants, birds, etc and when he had mastered the language he translated the cultural works before the Bible because he wanted to give them an opportunity to be literate before he handed them the Scriptures. I'm sure there is much more to the story than my one minute blurb, but this inspired me to really think about what it would mean to go out into the world and interact with other cultures, to enjoy them; do we still claim True Truth, to quote Schaeffer? Yes, absolutely! Do we listen and learn, as Paul did at Athens? Yes, absolutely! He quotes pagan poets to speak to the culture he is in... when in Rome?
This has all been inspired by a friend of mine who is in Italy (her home) as she and her husband are ministering there; she wrote to us and mentioned how the way of life she remembered, a friendly and warm community, is no longer existent - too many people are fearful, of what she didn't say, which means their home is suddenly an incredible place to welcome others to and minister to them. And I wanted to be able to do the same thing. I wouldn't necessarily want to be a "missionary" per se, as in a called missionary, but I'm more and more excited to think about just living life and seeing what God does!
btw, "world Citizen" comes from a class I took at school - a world citizen is one who loves God with their mind, heart and life (and soul). This means that the gospel pertains to every last area of my life and equally should be working there to change me and I should be active to love God in each area of my life, no matter where He has called me. The class was essentially a call to the students to not believe that just because they are/are not in a religious/spiritual position that God does/does not affect what they are doing. It was probably the best class that I took in college.
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