New life

Last weekend I was privileged to attend a conference for former drug addicts who are now in the process of resocialization. Some have been out of the rehabilitation centers for a few months and some for years. The common link for most of them was that they had been in a Christian rehabilitation center and had accepted Christ while they were there. I say "most" because not everyone in attendance were former addicts and not all of them have come to call Jesus their Savior.

You may ask how I ended up at this conference. Am I hiding a deep secret in my past that none of you know? No, though there were some who thought that might be the case when I left university and my study of law for a life of Christian ministry. However, I was there to cook and to lend my support to my friends who were organizing and participating in this event.

In the past year, my ministry in BiH has brought me the new (and often difficult experience) of working with former drug addicts. This is because our church of a little more than 40 regular attenders at one time had 12 ex-addicts attending. Five of those former addicts are in my home group. Thus my inclusion in the conference.

Throughout the difficulties of this year, God has blessed me with some new friendships as I have sought wisdom and many times simply encouragement in dealing with the struggles of addicts in resocialization. I have seen some beloved brothers and sisters fall and return to their old lifestyle. Praise God that most of them are now back in the Christian rehabilitation centers and by God's grace will hopefully return to us one day---renewed in His Power. And little by little I have become a strange part of the Balkan circle of ex-addicts turned Jesus followers and the people who are standing with them as they struggle to become a part of the society from which they were once outcasts.

Most of my two days was spent in a tiny underequipped kitchen cooking up something special with my dear sister, Elvira, for a small army of 60 conference participants. However, God blessed me with several opportunities to join the group for worship. But the greatest blessing came on Sunday during our final time of worship and the Word together.

A young man who has only been attending my church for a few months went up front to praise God for the blessing he had received by being a part of the conference. He told how during the conference he had received the 2nd gift of his lifetime, a Bible. Something he didn't have. It is difficult to express the joy I felt at that moment. I decided that even if I had barely slept, didn't eat for two days (too busy feeding everyone else) and was so sick with the flu that I could barely focus on this dear man's face, I would do it all over again just so he could get that Bible. I saw him three days later with his wife at another church event. He was still glowing from the joy he'd experienced at the conference.

As we continued to worship together that day and the pastor shared his message, I realized that as difficult as the two days had been for me, I was abundantly blessed to be a part of it all. The message was about seeing the bigger story that God was telling, beyond our individual lives. We were encouraged to remember that each of us has a role to play in the story God is telling but the story is not about us. We're not the stars. The star of the story was Jesus Christ who died and rose again to free me and you and everyone that was in that room with me last Sunday.

I was overwhelmed that as I played my role in that day's "episode" of His story, I was given the privilege of seeing the many Balkan lives that He had transformed as brothers and sisters from BiH, Croatia, Serbia and Bulgaria joined together to worship His Name. I was seeing victorious lives who were abundantly thankful for all that they had received. It was a blessing that is indescribable with mere words. It will definitely remain as one of the highlights of my first term in BiH!