Romania surprises again

Thursday, October 25, 2007 – 2:49PM EST - Oradea, Romania (9:49PM)

 

It seems that it’s always with a little uncertainty that we travel to Romania.  We’ve been here each year since 2005, and every time there has been at least one end left untied when we arrived.  This year was no different.  Dani Raducanu, the mayor of the small village of Baru Mare that we met in 2005, was very eager for us to come and teach on the biblical worldview of politics and how to do government “Christianly.”  We talked to him about bringing some local politicians from his county (equiv. of our states) and from his political party headquarters in Timisoara.  Things were set pretty well for that before we came, and then for about two weeks before we departed the states, silence.  We had no more contact from Dani.  Things went great in Belarus, and I wondered if we would flounder our way through the first couple of days through Romania.  Of course, God had other great plans for us.

 

We arrived just after midnight Tuesday morning and stumbled to bed about 2AM.  On Tuesday, we gave Dr. Bom the nickel tour of the sites of the Romanian revolution that began in Timisoara in 1989.  That afternoon, we met with Corneliu and Cris from Elim Theological Seminary.  It was a very satisfying meeting sharing what we do in our ministry and learning of their desire for more training for local pastors and lay leaders on biblical worldview basics and church/society interface.  Bruce knows both of them from his studies at Oxford, and our hearts were really united immediately.  Following the afternoon meeting, all of us went to the Areopagus Center, sort of a Christian cultural think tank.  Dr. Bom and Bruce gave a presentation on biblical worldview, European politics, and human rights.  We took questions from the attendees at the end, and I shared a bit about my experience using both biblical morality and solid analytics to solve problems and make recommendations from a sound business and moral footing.  I was also able to give a few examples of biblical economics regarding taxation and private property to demonstrate that the Bible does indeed speak to economic matters.  Good stuff and fun!

 

So we came to Wednesday when we scheduled to meet with Dani Raducanu and teach a political seminar.  We finally reached him midday on Tuesday and found out that his village had flooded from the recent rains and that he had to play mayor and couldn’t leave to come to Timisoara.  Certainly a worthy reason for not meeting us but it was a little frustrating since keeping our commitment to him was the primary reason that we came back to Romania this year!  Nonetheless, God had other plans for us that were beyond what we could have thought, and today showed us that.

 

Before I get to Thursday, however, I want to share a little about Dr. Philip Bom.  He is a professor at the Regent University School of Government.  He is Dutch-born but a resident and citizen of America for the last 50 odd years.  Dr. Bom will be 70 next year but remains a spry and hilariously engaging chap.  It was a delight to have him travel with us through Belarus and the first couple of days in Romania.  On Wednesday night, we met with members of the Christian Democratic People’s Party in Timisoara.  At the meeting were the vice-mayor of the City and the Vice President of the county (again, like our states) who is a candidate for the European Parliament.  Dr. Bom’s specialty is International Politics, specifically Europe, and he really had that rapt with an hour long presentation.  It was fabulous.  I thoroughly enjoyed his company the whole trip—he reminded me very much of my grandfather—but was especially struck by the stories he shared at lunch on Tuesday about growing up in Holland during WWII, the liberation of his town by Canadian troops, and the Christian witness of his father.  One of the more meaningful moments of the trip for me was when Dr. Bom, over a lunch of grilled chicken breast, choked up and couldn’t speak for a moment as he recounted how his father would give up sure and more profitable sales as a fisherman on Sunday in order to faithfully observe the Sabbath.  It was a tremendous testimony and a touching moment of watching a son, albeit one of 70 years of age, show genuine love for his father.  Moments like those are among the most cherished of my times ministering here over the last several years.  More to come…