He’s not safe.

Well I’ve made it to month 8! Romania! The last country in Eastern Europe before my squad and I head to Africa. Europe has been incredible. I’ve loved the people, the culture, THE FOOD and all the ministries we’ve been blessed to serve alongside. To say the last two months have been a dream would be an understatement. The Lord has been wrecking my heart for this region in the best ways.

Romania has had a different feel than the other countries I’ve been to. I feel the heaviness. I feel the brokenness. I feel an actual darkness here that brings tears to my eyes. Our ministry host asked us on the second day if we were feeling okay and had slept well. We all hesitantly answered ‘yeah..?’. He shared with us that it’s not uncommon to feel oppressed, sick or even spiritually attacked entering into this environment. The darkness is tangible. The region we’re in is reported that 0.2% of people know and follow Jesus. So 99.8% of people do not know Him. Some have never heard His name, some have but choose not to believe. I still can’t seem to wrap my head and heart around that statistic. 

That’s devastating. 

Where do I begin?

What do I do?

How can I help?

How can I be effective?

I’ve come to accept I can’t do anything. Spending less than 4 weeks here is a wisp in comparison to these people’s lives. 

BUT GOD. 

He’s been at work here. He’s been loving them even when they continually reject Him. If I stop and look I can see Him everywhere. On the smile of a little old lady on her way to the market. In a sweet young girl playing with her dolly. On the face of a gypsy family attempting to say ‘hello’ as they ride by in their buggy. 

All of this got me thinking and bringing to Jesus the actual cost of following Him. Why do so many people willingly reject Him? The reality is knowing and following Jesus isn’t safe. It doesn’t mean life is all the sudden easier. It doesn’t mean everything is going to go the way you want it. It doesn’t mean all the hardships you or someone else is going through now makes sense. 

But when you do know Jesus you now have someone that’s in it with you. You have someone to rely on and depend on. Someone that truly knows and understands suffering. Someone that can relate to the depths of loss and even death. 

One of my favorite quotes of all time is from C.S. Lewis’s The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe. If you haven’t read the book or watched the movie I encourage you to immediately. One of the most impactful passages/scenes is a conversation between a little girl Lucy and a beaver named Mr. Beaver. Mr. Beaver is talking about a lion named Aslan who symbolically portrays Jesus. The conversation goes like this..

Mr. Beaver: ‘Aslan is a lion – the Lion, the great Lion.’ 

Susan (Lucy’s sister): ‘Oh I thought he was a man. Is he quite safe? I shall feel rather nervous about meeting a lion.’ 

Mr. Beaver: ‘Safe? Who said anything about safe. Course he isn’t safe. But he’s good. He’s the King I tell you.’

No Jesus isn’t safe. He asks us to abandon this world for His Kingdom. He desires a giving, generous heart that would give up anything for Him. Including our lives. What? That’s literally the opposite of safe. 

But He is good. 

So good. 

He promises life everlasting. 

He promises to always be with us. 

He promises to provide for our every need. 

Yes, following Jesus does come at a high price. A price that He was willing to die for. Nah, I wouldn’t call Jesus safe. I would call Him good. Please join me in praying the Romanian people come to know and understand this one day.