Disclaimer:: I read The Shack today. And it was so full of applicable wisdom, which will litter this particular blog. Fair warning 🙂
Mozambique. It's rough. It's hot. It's rugged. It's beautiful.
About a week after arriving in Incaia, AIM and the ministry we were with decided to pull us out due to various instances of mis-communication. Turns out we weren't actually intended to be in Incaia. We were supposed to be in Maputo, with another Antonio whose last name was similar to the Antonio we stayed with. Funny how that works. So, on Sunday the 18th, we went to church, preached, prayed again with the man who had the stroke and can't use the left side of his body, came back to the house, ate a delicious lunch, packed up all our gear, took some family photos, hopped in the back of Antonio's truck and headed into Macia to catch a bus that would take us to Maputo.
It was SO HARD! Ridiculously hard. Transitioning from being alone as a group to jumping into minsitry with two other groups of people who have been there for a week and have already built connections with one another and the ministry contact is HARD. Going from being in a ministry that is completely relational to one that is purely hard, hot, outdoor manual labor is HARD. Choosing joy when you're not able to go outside after dark, when you're hot and sweaty, when you're sleeping in the living room in a tent and have to go to bed after everyone and wake up when other people start moving around is HARD. Not having a space to call your own is HARD. Sharing one bathroom between 20 people is HARD. Everything about this journey is hard. But, everything about this journey is absolutely worth all that is hard.
Disclaimer:: I read The Shack today. And it was so full of applicable wisdom, which will litter this particular blog. All italicized parts are from the book. Fair warning 🙂
Mozambique. It's rough. It's hot. It's rugged. It's beautiful.
About a week after arriving in Incaia, AIM and the ministry we were with decided to pull us out due to various instances of mis-communication. Turns out we weren't actually intended to be in Incaia. We were supposed to be in Maputo, with another Antonio whose last name was similar to the Antonio we stayed with. Funny how that works. So, on Sunday the 18th, we went to church, preached, prayed again with the man who had the stroke and can't use the left side of his body, came back to the house, ate a delicious lunch, packed up all our gear, took some family photos, hopped in the back of Antonio's truck and headed into Macia to catch a 3 hour bus that would take us to Maputo.
We arrived to at our new minsitry laster that night. We got off the bus, hopped into 1 minivan that held the 10 of us. 7 from my team and 3 people who came to pick us up, plus all of our big packs and daypacks. It was a tight squeeze, but we made it 🙂 Coincidentally, we are staying about a mile away from where we stayed the first night we arrived in Mozambique, near Dave & Ann, a missionary couple that John Michael & Ashley Bonasso know. Small world I say. Arriving to our new location, my entire team was very overwhelmed.
It was SO HARD to leave there and come here! Ridiculously hard. Transitioning from being alone as a group to jumping into minsitry with two other groups of people who have been there for a week and have already built connections with one another and the ministry contact is HARD. Going from being in a ministry that is completely relational to one that is purely hard, hot, outdoor manual labor isHARD. Choosing joy when you're not able to go outside after dark, when you're hot and sweaty, when you're sleeping in the living room in a tent that you set up every night and tear down every morning thus having to go to bed after everyone and wake up when other people start moving around is HARD. Not having a space to call your own is HARD. Sharing one bathroom between 20 people is HARD.Everything about this journey is hard. But, everything about this journey is absolutely worthall that is hard.
But I have decided to choose joy daily; I have to. Often many times during the day. I choose it. My teammates embraces it. My squad embodies it. We're here not because this journey is fun, easy or enjoyable. We do it because we were called to this. Jesus asked me to die to myself, which means loving him. And loving him means that I love others. And loving others means that I give up my comfortable life to pursue them. To serve them. To love them. So, in loving Jesus, I choose to submit to him, to give up my desires, my will, my hopes and anything that doesn't include him or focus on him.
Just like love, submission is not something that you can do, especially not on your own. Apart from my life inside you, you can't submit to anyone in your life, including Papa.
[Jesus talking]: My life was not meant to be an example to copy. Being my follower is not trying to 'be like Jesus,' it means your independence is killed. I came to give you life, real life, my life. We will come and live out life inside you, so that you begin to see with our eyes, and hear with our ears, and touch with our hands, and think like we do.
I find that this journey that I'm on is not really what I thought it was. Signing up, I thought "I'm going to go and change people. I'm going to pray for them and heal them. I'm going to inspire people and change the world" when it's really been a process of growing in relationship with Jesus and out of that doing what reflects who I am, if that makes sense.
I don't want to be first among a list of values; I want to be at the center of everything. When I live in you, then together we can live through everything that happens to you. I want to be the center of a mobile, where everything in your life – your friends, family, occupation, thoughts, activities- is connected to me but moves with the wind, in and out and back and forth, in an incredible dance of being.
Life should not be lived with expectation or entitlement as the lense you view everything through. There is such beauty and freedom in putting the needs and desires of those who are around you before your own. This is especailly beautiful when they are doing the same thing. Unity. Such a simple word but such a complex meaning. When it's implemented and that is what people live out of, it's radical and life-changing. Are you living in an atmosphere of unity? Of true community?
As you grow in relationship with me [Jesus], what you do will simply reflect who you really are.
But I choose joy; daily; I have to. Often many times during the day. I choose it. My teammates embraces it. My squad embodies it. We're here not because it's fun, easy or enjoyable. We do it because we were called to this. Jesus asked me to die to myself, which means loving him. And loving him means that I love others. And loving others means that I give up my comfortable life to pursue them. To serve them. To love them.
Just like love, submission is not something that you can do, especially not on your own. Apart from my life inside you, you can't submit to anyone in your life, including Papa.
[Jesus talking]: My life was not meant to be an example to copy. Being my follower is not trying to 'be like Jesus,' it means your independence is killed. I came to give you life, real life, my life. We will come and live out life inside you, so that you begin to see with our eyes, and hear with our ears, and touch with our hands, and think like we do.
As you grow in relationship with me [Jesus], what you do will simply reflect who you really are.
I find that this journey that I'm on is not really what I thought it was. Signing up, I thought "I'm going to go and change people. I'm going to pray for them and heal them. I'm going to inspire people and change the world" when it's really been a process of growing in relationship with Jesus and out of that doing what reflects who I am, if that makes sense.
I don't want to be first among a list of values; I want to be at the center of everything. When I live in you, then together we can live through everything that happens to you. I want to be the center of a mobile, where everything in your life – your friends, family, occupation, thoughts, activities- is connected to me but moves with the wind, in and out and back and forth, in an incredible dance of being.
But I choose joy; daily; I have to. Often many times during the day. I choose it. My teammates embraces it. My squad embodies it. We're here not because it's fun, easy or enjoyable. We do it because we were called to this. Jesus asked me to die to myself, which means loving him. And loving him means that I love others. And loving others means that I give up my comfortable life to pursue them. To serve them. To love them.
Just like love, submission is not something that you can do, especially not on your own. Apart from my life inside you, you can't submit to anyone in your life, including Papa.
[Jesus talking]: My life was not meant to be an example to copy. Being my follower is not trying to 'be like Jesus,' it means your independence is killed. I came to give you life, real life, my life. We will come and live out life inside you, so that you begin to see with our eyes, and hear with our ears, and touch with our hands, and think like we do.
As you grow in relationship with me [Jesus], what you do will simply reflect who you really are.
I find that this journey that I'm on is not really what I thought it was. Signing up, I thought "I'm going to go and change people. I'm going to pray for them and heal them. I'm going to inspire people and change the world" when it's really been a process of growing in relationship with Jesus and out of that doing what reflects who I am, if that makes sense.
I don't want to be first among a list of values; I want to be at the center of everything. When I live in you, then together we can live through everything that happens to you. I want to be the center of a mobile, where everything in your life – your friends, family, occupation, thoughts, activities- is connected to me but moves with the wind, in and out and back and forth, in an incredible dance of being.
