“Quo vadis, Domine?”

A few months ago, I read again a favorite book of mine, “Quo Vadis” by the Polish writer Henryk Sienkiewicz. The author writes about a time when Nero was the emperor in Rome and the Christians were persecuted and even killed. At one point as the story goes, the apostle Peter was encouraged by the Christians in Rome to leave the city, seek safety and save his life. Peter left Rome a few days latter while his fellow Christians were killed and burned alive by Nero. As Peter was departing the Lord, appear to him along the Appian Way. The Apostle bowed down, kissed his feet and asked “Quo vadis, Domine?” translated “Where are you going Lord?” Jesus told Peter, “If thou desert my people, I am going to Rome to be crucified a second time.” Peter was ashamed and returned to the city to be with those that needed him most.
We do not know if the legend is true but there is a great lesson to learn from it. We need to always ask the Lord about his priorities in the world and be part of them; we at times are too much preoccupied with ours.

As some of you might remember when we decide to go back to Romania in 2003, our goal was to work with students and well educated young Romanians. Our desire was to train a young generation of leaders. We still dream on doing that but we needed to reevaluate our plans. Shortly after our arrival, we sensed that God had slightly different plans from ours. For a few months, we struggled with His plans and the open doors God placed before us. We had right in our face, a large population of orphans and the greatly impoverished and uneducated Gypsies. We came to a cross road and we had to choose between our plans and God’s. Looking back, I think we had great ideas but they were not His, at least not for that moment.

Today, every time we finish a church service in the Gypsy villages of Tinca or Sabolciu, I know God is pleased and I drive home knowing that I am where God wants me to be. Every time I return from ministering to the teenage orphans at CP2 (Placement Center 2) I feel the same.

A few weeks ago, I asked my self this question, “Where would Jesus go to church on Sunday? Would He go to a traditional Romanian church or in the poorest Gypsy village to bring the Word of God to people unable to read the Scripture and without access to medication or a doctor? I had no trouble finding the answer.

When we struggle with our place of ministry, we should ask the Lord like Peter did “Quo vadis Domine?” I believe the Lord would meet us on our Appian Way, point to our lack of love for the people that need us and encourage us to turn back and go His way. We need to be willing to alter the course of our lives and align our compasses to His. While His road it is not always an easy road to travel, we discover God’s love, peace, and joy. The real Pathway to Joy is doing His will.

We at PTJM are determined to continue our journey with Him, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, (Luke 4:18)

Thank you for being our partners on this journey and making it possible through your prayer and support.

Serving Him together,

Cornel & Karen Bucur


PTJM Prayer Requests
Please pray for:
† Orphan Mentoring Program: our staff, patience and love for the 115 teenage orphans
† Foster Care Ministry: the foster families that care for the 33 children
† Oradea Children’s Hospital Ministry: the abandoned orphans and our staff working there
† Church Planting Ministry: to finish the church building in Sabolciu as soon as possible
† The Bucurs: protection and strength to oversee all the ministries
† More partners to join our prayer and support teams



Quote of the Month:
“I grew up in Romania in an orphanage for 18 years... I don't even want to remember the times we went to bed hungry and punished.” (Georgeta Swartz, California)