THEIR FORMATIVE YEARS

We had finished cleaning and closing the Coffee Bar the Thursday night before and arriving at our
accommodations at midnight. It is now 8 am Friday morning and we are riding the Lokalbahn, a light- rail train, on our way to help with the German Course.  Helping at the OASIS is both challenging and rewarding. This morning we face many familiar faces from the night before. The scores of 15-20 year-olds who make up the majority of refugees in Traiskirchen, are attentive, eager to learn, and yet ever anxious about an unknown future.


They speak so many languages, occasionally English or German. They are from so many countries no longer hospitable to their beliefs or values. They come to the OASIS for comfort, sanctuary and refreshment. But we and they share the same spiritual questions,  direction for our lives and answers about self worth. As vessels of God’s love we share a common bond. For the first time many refugees experience the grace of Christ’s redemption and the promise of the Holy Spirit in their life.


If you have never served at the OASIS it is can be hard to understand the impact of these encounters. It is difficult to imagine days at sea in a sinking vessel, being smuggled in a cargo container by a human trafficker, only to be rejected by local citizenry for arriving in their country in the middle of the night needy, spiritually and financially empty.


The name over the door front is OASIS. It expresses what the refugees can expect: they find the living water of God through Christ. The very presence of the staff and volunteers here transform the lives of the forgotten, despised and broken. We may never know where we planted seeds, or cultivated seeds formally planted. But God knows. A call has been answered. God’s love is being manifested.


After a weekend of worship, private time and reflection, each Monday starts a week of new
opportunities and challenges. Indeed no man is an island; we are all part of the life God breathed into
mankind. We serve youth in their formative years but they give us so much more in return. Blessings and peace!


Bob Davidson