Empty Sandals.

I've spent a lot of time in prayer here in Turkey. Tired, jet-lagged, and sick with a nasty cold, what else could I do but let God be strong in my weakness...plus suck it up a little bit and get the work done.

I've managed to get some rest and today I have a day off from school, so maybe I will catch up on things soon. I have to plan 6 lessons and write 4 papers in the next 2 and 1/2 weeks, so I will be doing a lot of this praying for the strength to tough this out before I get to go home to the U.S. but I think that without taking the time to pray, I'll end up in real trouble.

Sunday was a nice day. I went to church and I had lunch with a woman whom I met there. It was a nice service but nothing special. No one initiated speaking to me, so as I walked out I noticed that another lady was there solo and I invited her to lunch. I don't think that there are any more protestant churches in the area, so I will try again. I went to the English service and I think that I will try the bilingual service next time, after all how am I going to meet a handsome Turkish guy who is Christian if I go to the purely English service.

After church, I walked through Taksim Square and attempted to find my way home. It was like a really great and strange mall with historic buildings, great stores like Sephora and the MAC cosmetics store, along with street vendors putting on shows to sell you ice cream and little kiosks that sell jewelry and scarves. along the walls of the little alleys that take you back to bookshops and cafes. I wandered into a shop that had a scarf that I liked, looking to see if they would have anything else useful and they sold me a bra that was just the right size at a reasonable price. I've purchased 2 bras here. They keep them packed away in boxes and someone helps you choose sizes and styles. I will wait until I get home to buy anymore. Most bras aren't designed to last well in Korea, they only came in 2 sizes...too small and even smaller.

Church and shopping can be excellent ways to spend a Sunday, my other favorite Sunday afternoon activity is napping. I laid down for a nap and as I closed my eyes, I saw a vision of scarves for sale and they had big, seductive, yet cartoonish eyes...think Princess Jasmine if she weren't a Disney Character...maybe if someone animated the story of Queen Jezebel, she would have those eyes. They were surreal and scary...and it's kinda like if you buy something cool and say that the dress or suit made eyes at you and said "buy me" you might not be rationalizing your purchase as much as you would be telling the truth.

I've had several visions like this while here in Istanbul. The other day, I was on a crowded subway thinking about the small and sorta disappointing church service that I had attended had a vision of empty sandals. The sandals were supposed to be for missionaries and other people who might be in Turkey to tell people about God. This place was once ruled at a Theocracy by the Emporer Constantine, which turned out to be a terrible way to run an empire, but now less than 1% of Turks are Christians and because Turkey wants to be a something like "a Secular Islamic" kind of country, it is illegal to proselytize.

Define this word "Proselytize" in a way that would be meaningful for lawmakers. Define it in a way that is compatible with free speech. You probably can't do it in any way that would ever get in God's way of reaching those that he has decided to love. Inviting someone to dinner is not proselytizing. Talking about God as part of the dinner conversation is not proselytizing. God could seriously get to work here, and in other parts of the world if people were just willing to step into the sandals and go.

When I think of this, and I think of the big church that I go to in America, I feel a little sick. I wish that church would just empty out. I wish that it would make it a goal to put so many people out into the world as missionaries that there would hardly be anyone left to attend that great big church. When the first Christians were persecuted by the Romans, they were scattered all over the place and their faith went with them. American Christians like to talk about how the church is being persecuted in America. They seem to hate the separation of church and state and the fact that we have free speech to the point that we can hardly escape the things that we don't want to look at or listen to. I wish that these people would go out into the world, see what it is really like, repent of the sin that exists in the way that they are looking at the world, and then begin to ask God to use them in whatever part of the world is needed. If they did this, maybe some Christians from India, China, Korea, and other places could reach the lost in America in ways that we couldn't because we were too lazy.