me basic foundations of walking with Jesus. We dissected Ephesians 2:8 and I asked them to paraphrase the verse in their own words. When I asked what it means that we're saved by grace, one girl responded oh so matter-of-factly, "Oh grace. Kori, you love to talk about grace. Grace is unmerited favor!" I asked what she meant by unmerited favor and she said "grace is not getting something that you deserve. [pause] Wait... that's mercy. Grace is getting something that you don't deserve."
Every now and then, I think that if I have to wait for thirty minutes for a girl to show up one more time or if I get brushed off by one more Indian student I'm going back to America. More often, though, I'll listen to a girl tell me about how she finally doesn't feel like she needs a guy to make her feel valuable. Or that she really wants her friends to know Jesus. Or how she just doesn't know if this whole God thing is really worth it. Or that the Lord is creating in her this desire to read his Word. And holy smokes. I can't believe I get to talk to students every day about how the gospel fits into real life. So I talk about grace a lot. Because it's impossible to begin understanding the intensity of the cross without grasping grace. So when my girls start to get grace, I get to see unmerited favor shift from a mental definition to a heart that moves to the rhythm of the gospel a little more closely.
And then I seriously wonder if I don't have quite possibly the coolest job in the whole world.
You're doing a great job Kori. It's such a blessing to have you here and I pray that God will continue to bless you and your ministry.
ReplyDeleteOh my, you move me, sweetheart.
ReplyDeleteLol, ok that sounds so 1965, but anyway . . . man, Kori, I am actually moved. Seriously, I usually wonder to myself how you actually find life here in Fiji, like for real; beneath the smiles and laughter...I wonder what each day for you stinters is like... being an ambassador for Christ on an island, where pretty much everyone around you is bronwner than you (hehe :D just sayin'), and how you manage to stay so godly. I even think to the extend of having this visual picture in my head where you guys could possibly be barbie-rorbots who just have the right face to put on and the right thing to say, etc...
Like, everytime I'm with you, I think of how your day has 'really' been so far... and sometimes, it's just so hard to read you. Thank you so much for sharing your heart here in this blog... cos at the end of the day, you realize that maybe you do have the coolest job in the whole world.
I'm so blessed Kori & no word could describe how your simple acts of obedience are so meaningful to the Lord and to those around you, like me :)