From June until September my schedule will be pretty tight. That's why I started to pray, study the Bible more diligently and get closer to God. I decided to not preach this month. But a Gypsy church from Mizil invited me there and I couldn't turn them down. After the church service, I was invited to go to a wake service in a village 100 km from there. It was pretty late when we arrived. I had never seen anything like it. When we got there, the yard was full of people and the lights were on outside. They had placed some sort of stage where they even had a sound system. There were a lots of people in the streets who were actually worshiping God and listening to the Bible messages. The traffic was blocked.

I had to deliver a sermon and I was very nervous. I had never spoken to such a crowd before. It was like I was in a sport's arena. I preached from 1 Peter 5:6,7, "Humble yourselves, therefore, under God's mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.". I emphasized the idea that God was present in our lives, in our death and beyond death. 1) Apart from Me, you cannot do anything says the Lord in John 15. 2) A life without Jesus is empty and wasted. Death is actually the passage from death to life, John 5:24. No sparrow falls to the ground without God's knowing about it. Therefore, God knows the moment when our journey here ends. In the parable of Lazarus, the Lord says that when he died, he was carried by angels. That's quite a ceremony. As for life after death, that is a reality. The Christians get to rejoice with the Lord.
We have to humble ourselves before God, to accept Him as Lord and Savior and to reconcile with Him. We have to admit our own guilt and corruption and then understand that we need forgiveness as the most valuable gift. That is what it means to humble ourselves and be lifted up in due time. And there will come a special time when he says, "'Well done, good and faithful servant! Come and share your master's happiness!'. If we will accept God' presence in our lives, He'll be with us to the ends of the days.  We are exhorted to accept Christ as Lord and Savior, to humbles ourselves so that he can lift us up .

That was a summary of my sermon that night. I was happy to see they received it well. We left around midnight.

Before leaving, they had invited us to have a meal. That is when I asked a few details about the deceased. I found out he had had a sad life that was full of sorrow and troubles. He was 55. But after he trusted Christ, he turned into a new, happy person. Some said they heard him saying. "Now, I really want to die, because if I die, I know I'll be saved." Two months after his baptism, he had a stroke and died. God granted him his wish. It made me cry to hear all these things. That man humbled himself and got lifted up.  Only then did I realize why the people received my message so well. I had never preached the message before. I believe it was something that was inspired by God. When I got home around 2 a.m. I was tired, but I felt fulfilled. I had been in God's presence and spoken His words. This is what I want to happen whenever I stand up in His Name.