The Dunns in Romania

This post is a bit overdue, but better late than never!

The last two weeks of October I (Scott) had the opportunity to travel back to Romania. It has been our plan during this year in the USA to make these periodic trips in order to maintain our relationship connection with friends and colleagues. So this time it was my turn (Paula went in August). During my flight over the ocean I was reading a new book by Bill Hybels entitled, “The Power of a Whisper” (you can click on the book in my reading list in the lefthand column of this webpage to check it out and even buy it). Basically this book talks about how God often directs our lives through spiritual “whispers,” those subtle nudges that we get from time-to-time as God’s children. So I had this focus on God’s personal whispered leadership freshly in my mind when I landed in Europe, and I decided that I would make a special effort to listen for God’s whispers each day during my two week visit.

Needless-to-say, God honored my effort to listen more closely for His direction, and each and every day during my two-week stay I experienced one, two, or even three instances where I sensed God’s clear and practical direction. And each time I heard and did as directed, I found myself in situations and conversations that were clearly God-created moments. To give a couple of examples, one day I was driving across town in Arad to visit someone, but when I drove into a major intersection in the center of town, I sensed a “whisper” saying, “Turn left here and go see ____ at his office.” So I did, and the person “just happened” to be in the office and available to talk. Two hours later it was so clear to me that God had created that moment and the conversation that resulted. On another night, I arrived back in Arad after an out-of-town trip and decided to visit the evening worship service of one of the church plants that I’ve coached. As I was cruising the parking lot looking for a place to park, that now familiar “whisper” came again and clearly said, “I don’t want you to go to this church tonight. I want you to go to ____,” which was another newer church plant in town in which I had preached the previous Sunday. So I turned the corner and went. Their service started earlier, so I was over an hour late getting there, but it turned out to be God’s timing anyway. I arrived in time to hear one of their leaders giving his first-ever sermon. He did quite well, and afterwards I had the opportunity to affirm him and have some other important dialogue. I also had the opportunity to go out for pizza afterwards with others from this new church, and God was clearly “in” that time as well.

These are just two of many examples that I experienced during those two weeks. I enjoyed preaching in three different church plants and teaching about leadership at another church with whom we’ve worked. And the conversations I had with people over various lunches and dinners were treasured and God-directed times as well. I was pleasantly surprised with how my Romanian language came back (it was very rusty the first day in country). And I was especially thankful for my friend Jim and his willingness to host me at his beautiful home in a village outside Arad. Having my own room there made my time like a personal retreat as well as ministry time with others, and I will not soon forget how God met me there in a special way one afternoon. If you happened to have remembered to pray for this trip, thank you! God was definitely answering, each and every day. Here’s some pics I took along the way…

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