Thoughts on Italy

A Word from Habakkuk:

Habakkuk complains to the Lord about all the bad happening around him and asks why the Lord does not work. The Lord answers Habakkuk:
"Look among the nations, and see; wonder and be astounded.For I am doing a work in your days that you would not believe if told" Habakkuk1:5

I think of our trip to Africa back in November and how hard the ground seemed. It reminded me so much of how we labor in northern Pisa, Italy year after year and it seems to us like nothing is happening. But after you read this newsletter you will see that the African ground has changed and ground in the south of Italy has changed. You see the harvest of 75 in 2 weeks in Gambia and the harvest of 41 in 5 weeks in Salerno, Italy. As I look at going back to Pisa in the north for 3 years I am hopeful that God is working like Habakkuk 1:5. I am reassured that God is working even in spite of my frequent unbelief and doubt. It's crazy that God says look even if I told you you still wouldn't believe me. So I must learn to trust. I have to take God at His word and choose to be obedient to the call. Habakkuk 2:3 gives me guidance and a hope for the future of Italy. It is God's answer to Habakkuk's second complaint about the evil among the nations. The Lord answers" Write the vision; make it plain on tablets, so he may run who reads it. For still the vision awaits it's appointed time; it hastens to the end-it will not lie. If it seems slow, wait for it; it will surely come; it will not delay." I am told to run, to write down and display it among the nations what God has shown me. It gives me a vision for what we seek to accomplish in Italy. We want to make the Gospel clear to Italians so that when they read it, when they get it , and when they have Christ in their hearts they can run. I long to see the day when Italians run. But until that day I will hold fast to God's call to wait for it and His promise that it will surely come. It may not come in my lifetime or my days serving in Pisa but it will come. I am anxious with great joy adn energy to move to Italy. I dream about my days there meeting with students over an espresso in the early afternoon at a lone table in a sidewalk cafe. As the day of my move draws closer, image after image of my time in Italy 3 years ago flash through my mind. The faces of lost students, the words spoken, the seeds sown and the hope granted.