The Longest Day

 

The beeping of the alarm at 3 a.m. marked the beginning of the longest day of the trip.  At the airport by 4 a.m. to wait on the 6 o'clock flight, there would still be a 6 hour layover in Amsterdam, a 10 hour trans-Atlantic flight, a long line at customs and security in Memphis before finally seeing our loved ones some 25 hours later in Little Rock.  The trip would leave our minds clouded with weariness but our lives forever changed.

 

Working in partnership with our fellow Romanian believers, the 2009 ROMED team ministered the grace of God and manifested the glory of God.  There were no hidden agendas or pleas for personal recognition.  In every tooth pulled, diagnosis given, and medication prescribed, mercy was displayed simply for the sake of mercy.  Those who themselves had received the rich mercies of Christ worked side by side, whether Romanian, Gypsy or American, to show the mercy of Christ without prejudice to the hurting, needy and oppressed.

 

American missionaries and Romanian preachers handed out tracts and bore witness to the person of Christ.  Seeds were planted.  We trust God for the harvest to come.

 

Words fail to express appreciation to the team for their tireless and selfless acts of Christian love.  Not only the service given but also the heart from which it came has not doubt been duly noted in heaven.

 

It was the longest day.  But every day that came before, every day of service and worship and fellowship, overshadows it and makes the heart willing to say, "I'll go again."