When God Brings the World to You

We've known and loved a lot of kids over the past 18 years.

Many of them are now married with kids of their own.

Many are serving in their local churches---some in the U.S. and some across the globe.

So many fill our hearts with joy and thankfulness as we see how God is using them to make His name known.

This past school year we experienced a first. We had not one, not two, but three foreign exchange students actively involved in our youth group.

One from Chile. One from Ghana. One from Thailand.

And our lives are forever changed.

God used these students to expand our worldview. So often we can become focused solely on the here and now and the immediate needs we see right outside our window.

But these bold, courageous teenagers are in-the-flesh reminders that God is actively building His church around the world. I have loved hearing these students speak of their home countries. I've loved hearing their hearts and their passion to make Christ known in their homeland. To be honest with you, their boldness and courage often put me to shame, and I'm thankful for the challenge their lives posed to each one of us.

Tonight we (somewhat reluctantly) bid them farewell. It wasn't easy. We want them to stay. And yet we must release them. And so we do so with confidence and assurance (and pain), fully knowing that God is going to continue to use these young people to bring the gospel to their world. And whether or not they were better equipped to do that through their time with us, I don't know. But I do know that because of their time here, I am changed and challenged. Through watching and hearing them, I want to boldly, unashamedly share the Reason for the hope that I have.

As God brought the world to us this past year and united our hearts to dear ones we otherwise would not have met, we've clearly seen it's His love that unites us. It's the bond we share in Him that keeps us close. And that bond remains whether we're loving and serving side by side in the U.S. or on the other side of the world.