Lord of Heaven and Earth

Men of faith rise up and sing

Of the great and glorious King

You are strong when you feel weak
In your brokenness complete

Shout to the north and the south

Sing to the east and the west

Jesus is Savior to all

He's Lord of heaven and earth

Rise up women of the Truth

Stand and sing to broken hearts

Who can know the healing power

Of our awesome King of love

Rise up Church with broken wings

Fill this place with songs again

Of our God who reigns on high

By His grace again we'll fly

We've been through fire, we've been through pain

We've been refined by the power of Your name

We've fallen deeper in love with You

You've burned the truth on our lips

We sang this song on our first Sunday in Lesvos at Oasis, the Mennonite community center and church where the majority of the other volunteers and many refugees go weekly for a service done in English and translated into Arabic and French.  I've sung this song a thousand times, but singing it in a room overflowing with men and women from all over the world, the majority refugees who have experienced tragedies beyond my imagination, left me with a sense of awe and humility.

Do I even have a right to sing such words?  What do I know of fire and pain and brokenness? 

And yet, Jesus is Lord of heaven and earth, Savior to all.

We look at this tragic refugee crisis where thousands upon thousands of people are flooding into Europe and we cry:  Why, God?!!

"The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth...made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place, that they should seek Him and find Him.  Yet He is actually not far from each one of us" (Acts 17:24-27).  

This past Sunday we went to the only Greek Evangelical church on the island.  This service was translated from Greek to English, and there were a handful of other volunteers and 4 refugee men present. As we worshipped next to a refugee from the Middle East, a fairly new follower of Jesus, I prayed that God would fill this man with the Holy Spirit and praised Him that He is the God of every tribe, tongue and nation; this man does not have to have a lot of knowledge to worship the One True God.

"For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison" (2 Corinthians 4:17).