Taste and see...

Therefore, putting aside all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander,
like newborn babies, long for the pure milk of the word, so that by it you may grow in respect to salvation,
if you have tasted the kindness of the Lord.
-1 Peter 2:1-3

O taste and see that the Lord is good; how blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him!
-Psalm 34:8

Have you tasted of the Lord's kindness? Have you tasted and seen that the Lord is good? Today I did, and it made me long for more. I feel like I don't taste enough. Or when I do, I choose to use one of those pink little Baskin Robbins taste-tester spoons rather than a snow shovel. I choose to feed on other, lesser things that are not satisfying, when God is the only thing that will truly satisfy my hunger and thirst.

Today I experienced sweet fellowship with my brother Danny, a new friend from Germany who is staying in the same apartment that I am here in Amman as he studies Arabic for the next 3 months. Danny and I got the opportunity to talk with a guy (I unfortunately forgot his name) about Christ, the first opportunity I've had here in Jordan since most don't know English well enough and I certainly don't know Arabic. Wow, what a blessing it was! Later on, we had a meal together at the "Cairo Restaraunt" in downtown Amman, and extended our conversation tonight on the balcony of our little apartment overlooking Amman. It is so refreshing to talk to someone relatively close to my age (27) about God, girls, martrydom, John Piper, and Saudi Arabia, even if his English isn't the best. I believe that he has been saved for only three years, and yet his spiritual maturity is both challenging and humbling for me.

It occured to me today how peculiar my actions are when I meet someone here in Jordan who knows good English. I'm so excited to actually have someone that I can share the gospel with! Why? Well, I suppose its because that's just what I'm supposed to do while I'm here on this trip, but I'm generally frustrated by the language barrier. However, I certainly don't act like this in the States. There, everyone speaks English, and yet how few of them I talk to about Jesus with! Why should my passion to talk about my Savior change when I'm in a different country? The stark truth is I need to be sharing the gospel in every situation, not because I'm supposed to, but because it is my joy and my passion that consumes me: Jesus died and took my just place of punishment so that I could eternally be God's child! The stark truth is that I fail so often that it has become the norm.

Preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and instruction.
-2 Timothy 4:2

Ask, and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and it will be opened to you.
For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.
Or what man is there among you who, when his son asks for a loaf, will give him a stone?
Or if he asks for a fish, he will not give him a snake, will he?
If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give what is good to those who ask Him!
-Matthew 7:7-11

My God is a good God. He provides exactly what He sovereignly knows to be best for His children. I have been discouraged by the language barrier and loneliness among other things, but today He gave me His Word, and opportunity to share Christ, and a deeper relationship with Danny. I am understanding better why Jesus sent out his disciples in pairs!

Please pray for Rican, he's a guy my age who grew up in the States but moved to Jordan about a year ago. His family is from a Christian background (Christian being a relative term), and he admits that his own Christianity is merely cultural, but seems open to talking about the Bible. Friday night I will have the opportunity to "play" basketball with him and some other guys (the quotes are for those who are aware of my true athletic, um, abilites), and hopefully open up some conversation.