Bethany Scattered...

Julie Johnson is a Bethany attender who's on staff here at the school where I teach. It's been great to watch her working as the residential life person, caring for the students, leading a trip to Salzburg, cracking jokes during announcements, checking assignments, helping in the kitchen, and just generally doing whatever needs to be done in order for Tauernhauf to be one of the best 12 week Bible School options on the planet. She'll stay on and teach snowboarding this winter for ski/snowboard camps, revert to the residence life role for spring school, and then be a mountain guide for their summer programs.

I love being part of a church that seems to always have people out and about, living the adventure of the Christian life in obedience to God's calling to cross-over, whether that means crossing the room to talk to a stranger, or crossing the world to lead ski trips - all in order to be the presence of Jesus to some people who will be blessed by the crossing.

I'm also struck, while here, by the power of Dietrich Bonhoeffer's words: "it is so easy to overestimate the importance of our own achievements compared with what we owe to the help of others" In this ministry, the teaching is upheld and reinforced by residence life, cooks, housekeeping, maintenance, administration, finances, and residential teachers. Together, Christ is seen. On our own, nothing happens. This is the case at home as well, at Bethany Community Church. Where there is interdependency, the functioning of a variety of gifts, and blessing of the Holy Spirit, there is life. This is the reality of being the body of Christ.

I'm looking forward to coming home very soon now, but I leave this place encouraged that Christ's "Bethany" body is scattered, in the best sense of the word, around the world.