For A Christian, There Are No Chances

In friendship...we think we have chosen our peers. In reality a few years' difference in the dates of our births, a few more miles between certain houses, the choice of one university instead of another...the accident of a topic being raised or not raised at a first meeting--any of these chances might have kept us apart. But, for a Christian, there are, strictly speaking no chances. A secret master of ceremonies has been at work. Christ, who said to the disciples, "You have not chosen me, but I have chosen you," can truly say to every group of Christian friends, "You have not chosen one another but I have chosen you for one another." The friendship is not a reward for our discriminating and good taste in finding one another out. It is the instrument by which God reveals to each of us the beauties of others."

- C.S. Lewis, The Four Loves

Yeah, it's kind of a long quote. Sorry. But I thought it was fitting for what happened this week. I've been tired and frustrated. It has been cold and cloudy, so naturally, all I want to do is stay under my covers and watch Ferris Bueller's Day Off. At the same time, I've been restless because I can't stay in our little appartment for very long. I want to be able to talk to the people I work with easily and in their native language. Bleh! But, I've also seen how God is taking care of me. The friends I've made, or the friends that God has chosen for me, have met my needs and desires in a way in which I know only He could instigate.

I needed to figure out how the post office worked! It was my

mission for the week. I usually make at least three missions: information to find, places to explore, people to meet, things to get. So I walk into the post office, a rather large one, which doesn't help, and find that there are several booths. People were impatiently waiting, taking numbers and not smiling. Great. I have two letters and all I wanted to do is send them in the standard mail. Nope, nope, nope, nope. Not today! I walked out. I know. A coward. But really, I wouldn't have gotten anywhere. The next day, I shared my experience with a friend from school, Kati. Walking to the post office once again, she showed me which of the billions (exageration) of buttons to push. #3, the one that starts with Levél (letter). Bing! The number we recieved poped up over a sweet looking lady. Simán (standard) mail please! It was that simple. I made a another friend at the post office. Kati and she continued to talk about me. "Was I an exchange student?", "No, an English teacher at Kossuth.", "What?! So young!". Yeah, yeah, yeah. You've no idea how many times I've heard that now.

The whole week was like this. I had a problem and although the answer to my prayers weren't always "yes", they were "not yet", or "na, you don't want that". A friend helped me with more Hungarian words, a friend helped me with a 1st grade lesson, a friend helped me cut out giant alphabet letters and another gave me a hymnal they use. From the picture, you can see they are very small. Everyone brings their own to church, so the size is nice for travel. I met new friends by the end of the week. The Emmaus church was having an anniversary celebration. I was invited. Sure, I'll go! I won't understand any of the Hungarian presentations, but any time I get to hang out with fellow Christian friends, I'm game. It turned out that one presentation was in

English. A man from Iran was there, along with a few friends. It was so interesting. He lived in a refugee camp not far from Nyiregyhaza, escaping persecution from the Iran government. He was a Christian. I learned so much about the lives of people in these camps. Not all, but many, want to freely practice Christianity. Many people in Hungary resent the fact that some refugees just want to live off of Hungarian government money. But, the Emmaus Church was stressing how this was a great opportunity to share Christ's love and friendship with people. I was involved in a Bible study with the youth from this church. The theme was Let Your Light Shine. It fit perfectly with what everyone was talking about. I even met Jiska, a girl from the Netherlands who had just graduated and was working with the refugee camp for a couple of months, teaching English. What are the chances? But hey, for a Christian, there are no chances. God was only answering my prayers.