Language Class

Her eager, sweet demeanor is the first thing to great us at the airport terminal. 


"Hola Marta. Welcome." How meek I feel speaking this simple greeting to our foreign exchange student, hoping she'll feel welcomed into our town, our home, our lives.


"Hi. Thank you for coming to get me." She speaks in her fragmented spanglish tongue.


"We are happy to have you!"


I already admire Marta's courage to travel thousands of miles, into a foreign land, a vision carrying her: learn a new language, experience a new culture, and encounter a new place, different from home.  To get to this point she had to be open, willing to leave her comfort zone, and trust the process to bring her to this place. With that same determination, she must daily confront the wobbly disposition of being a foreigner in a new land.  Constantly humbling herself as a  learner literally moment by moment, sentence by sentence, new experience upon new experience.  


But despite the uncertainty and insecurity that must come she steps....one step, two steps. She speaks...one word, two words, a sentence upon another sentence. At at each bend, movement happens.  She buys groceries on her own, purchases a new phone, makes it home from downtown, all the while learning a way of life and trusting she's learning. 


Little by little.


Step-by-step.


Moment-by-moment.


Day-by-day.


I am Marta.


Staring wide eyed and overwhelmed at this new life, new tongue, new way of being.  I remember my old way, my words, my comfortable life.  Now, how daunting it feels at times to face a new way in a new heart tongue I barely understand?


A foreigner stepping into a new land.  


Learning a new Kingdom.


Studying a new language...the language of the Spirit.


Being taught by the Master Instructor and the unique course He's prepared for me.


Each day requires courage in the face of the many fears that try to keep me from walking.  


Doubt. Nothings really changing. 
Pride. Seriously, I have to learn that again? 
Fear.  Go back, you know that terrain.


Old companions die hard.  


But I choose to face the day and recommit myself to the new course. Believing that the One who invited me to join, the One who helped me take my first steps into the land, will be the One who teaches me this new way of l i f e...


A foreigner in this world, 


A citizen of His K i n g d o m,


An ambassador of His L o v e, 


A bearer of His H o p e.


2 Corinthians 5:20
We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God.


Ephesians 2:19
Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God’s people and also members of his household,


Philippians 3:20
But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ,