The Lord’s been doing crazy things this month through our team. We’ve been all over the place with ministry – from revivals with African dancing crazily in the villages, to preaching the gospel in villages that are centered around witchcraft, to loving on orphans that crave physical touch and affection more than I’ve ever seen, to speaking in schools where the kids have asked some of the best questions I’ve heard this whole race regarding our faith and about God’s character, to speaking life and encouragement into the men and women in the church we’ve been working with. The Lord truly has given us His words to speak, extra energy and excitement to go into each day, He’s taken each one of us into more intimate places with Him this month. He’s created such a strong bond within our team that has been oh so good, and He’s kept each one of us completely free of malaria, parasites and amoeba’s when they’ve nearly taken over the entire squad. Man, God is SO GOOD!!!
We’ve been wanting to climb a mountain since we got to Africa but it hasn’t worked out…until last Friday! We got to ride bikes to the bottom of it which was soo good (and quiiite the workout), and what seemed to be half the battle as far as strenuous trek’s go! This would be my first mountain climbing experience (Michigan isn’t really the place for that hobby as most of you know haha), but my teammates love it, SO Pastor Amos and our security guard took us to what we have named Mount Sims. We don’t know the real name of it, so we decided whoever got to the top first and wrapped their headband on the cross at the top would have the right to name the mountain after them. Jessica was a trooper! J It took about an hour and a half to get to the top, and man oh man, what a sight that was! We made some pb and j’s, and each found a spot to just be. Man, what a great thing to experience with my team, too. I can’t tell you how much I love those guys! They have quickly become some of the closest friends I could ask for and I have learned so much from each one of them.
starting out with our p90x power up! haha
God blows my mind. During the climb and once we reached the peak, all I could think of was how far He’s taken me in the past year…not just literally, but in my understanding of who He is, in my relationship with Him, and in my understanding of who I am in His sight and not just my own. I think a lot of people, definitely myself included, have come to the point of believing in the Lord and believing the gospel, but leaving it at that. By doing so, man, we miss out on probably the most important part of being a follower of Jesus. The Lord has SO much love to pour over you, He has SO much to teach you about who He is and who you are in HIS eyes, He has SO much planned for your life. If we simply stop at the cross and never move past it to actually KNOWING God, we’re missing the boat, my friends. If this sounds like you, take some time, even right now, and tell the Lord you don’t to just know about Him, but that you want to KNOW HIM. I can’t promise He’ll take you to Africa to climb a mountain, but I can guarantee you that He’ll take you to the depths of His heart which is one amazing destination you can explore as much as you’d like and you’ll never have to leave.
