I’m a Hopeful Romantic

I remember myself before joining the community.

I really didn’t know myself and in a way I had no identity. I really didn’t stand for anything and was oblivious to what being a child of God meant. This gradually changed as I journeyed with the Lord with the community.

Praise God because now I stand for something and I’m even known as a lot of things. In the GTA I’m known as the love guru, #guardyourheart guy, the book, and six packs (I don’t actually have six packs) to name a few.

Although I’m known as a lot of things I often ponder on what identity the Lord has revealed to me and more importantly what He has called me to do. Who am I? What is the lord calling me to do?

I firmly believe that the Lord made me to be a lover and in doing so continually calls me to love. Now before anyone tells me to guard my heart I want to put this statement in a proper context. I am talking about the genuine love that can only be found in Christ. The love which is our true heart’s desire. The Love who is our God.

I say this because God is the Love which excites me, the love that allows me to dream and hope for greater things. The Lord has given me the identity of a romantic who thirsts to be an active part of the greatest love story ever told. I have found this love in serving the Lord and others through the community.

I was told by a brother that it seemed as if I was living my missionary life to the fullest. I replied that there is no other way to live it and that it’s such a blessing to be a missionary. There are many hopeless romantics out there that can only imagine the love that is out of their grasp. I am blessed because Jesus has made me a hopeful romantic, allowing me to live out the love that I have hoped for every day of my life, knowing that in continuing my pursuit of Christ no matter what my vocation might be it can lead to true love which is infallible intimacy with God.

To someone who doesn’t know the love of God suffering in the service of others is crazy and doesn’t make sense; however, for those that do know the love of God to suffer in the service of others and further more to be joyful in that suffering is the most sensible and logical thing.

So yes who I am is a hopeful romantic who seeks God through deepening my faith and acting upon the love that God has showed me.

I feel most fully alive when serving others and this is the love that the Lord has revealed to me. So when someone asks me why I am a missionary the answer is very simple.

“It’s who I am because I am loved”.