Now when Jesus saw a crowd around him, he gave orders to go over to the other side. And a scribe came up and said to him, “Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go.” And Jesus said to him, “Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.”
I remember reading this passage in Matthew 8 almost two years ago, when the World Race was still future tense. I had yet to experience the reality of giving up comforts from home. Yet something about Jesus’ words lodged inside of my heart. I couldn’t relate experientially to this passage, no, but I cringed inwardly at the implications. Jesus Himself had no guarantee of a bed and roof over his head on any given night; what ever made me think that in following Him, I could demand and expect those things? I was left feeling a little inspired and a lot shaken.
Almost two years later, I am reading this passage with completely different eyes! Its amazing how my experiences these past 9 months have shifted my perspective and attitude in response to this passage that the ESV Bible entitles “The Cost of Following Jesus.” I understand that to truly follow Jesus is a daily adventure; its living life on the edge … Unentitled to American comforts, completely at the mercy of the One you depend on fully, willing to risk the unknown because Jesus probably has an exhilarating, surprise-filled adventure waiting on the other side of “Yes.”
Doing Unsung Heroes this month has shown me just what it means to have no other choice but dependency on God’s provision. I have never experienced Jehovah Jireh (the Lord Provides) quite as I have this month.
For instance, our team was in charge of finding our own in-budget lodging in each city we visited. In Arequipa, our first stop, God provided a hostel that was right in budget. It was a pleasant experience, and we give Him praise for it, but we wanted to pray bigger and step out in faith! So, for our next stop, Puno, we decided not to book a hostel ahead of time. We were praying for free lodging! If we went ahead and booked lodging “just in case,” that would limit God and distrust His ability to answer our prayer. We hopped on the bus, and I could say with Jesus that I had no clue where I would lay my head that night. But I trusted the Father to come through for our needs. We were praying for God to connect us with someone at the bus station.
When we stepped off the bus, I was feeling kind of sick. I fought against deadly thoughts about how it could be hours until we had somewhere to stay. But we prayed all together in the bus terminal, and then stepped inside to wait expectantly. I kid you not, in less than five minutes a man approached us with information about a hostel that would actually be UNDER budget! God had told Mary to look for a man with a blue ball cap, and she didn’t even realize until after checking out the hostel and recognizing God’s provision that the man who had approached us was wearing a blue hat!
Once again, we praised the Lord for His provision, but continued to pray that in our last city, He would provide free lodging. Through several connections back home, I was given the contact information of someone who could possibly host us, and so I reached out to him, letting him know our lodging budget and asking some basic questions. Within a half hour of messaging him back and forth, he had offered us free lodging at his church, which also came with a hot shower, mattresses, and a kitchen (things you never take for granted on the Race)! God is so faithful!!
A lot of people on our team, myself included, are reading a book called “The Circle Maker,” this month. This book has revolutionized my prayer life, and I strongly encourage you to get your hands on a copy. The basic concept is this: “Bold prayers honor God, and God honors bold prayers. God isn’t offended by your biggest dreams or boldest prayers. He is offended by anything less. If your prayers aren’t impossible to you, they are insulting to God. Why? Because they don’t require divine intervention . . . The goal is glorifying God by drawing circles around the promises, miracles, and dreams He wants for you.” We can do this by writing down big prayers (once we know what we want), and circling them in prayer again and again. “Intercede until God intervenes.” The author even goes so far as to say that God does not answer vague prayers! What’s the point of praying something if you can’t even tell definitively when God answers it?
God’s timing in having us read this book about bold prayer is perfect. We have all been praying for specific, big things this month, and it has been SO encouraging to be able to pinpoint when God actually answers something!
Some more examples….
Kate prayed for someone to invite us over for dinner. Later that same day, we met a 26-year old American missionary who invited us over for pizza. Because God always answers with leftovers (see the story of the 5 loaves and 2 fish), we were also invited over for dinner to the house of the American missionary family who has allowed us to stay at the church this week for free!
Mary prayed for an opportunity to do kid’s ministry this month, since most of our ministry has just been meeting with people and finding new contacts for future teams. Last Saturday, while the rest of the team was at Machu Picchu, Mary and I were invited to help with the kid’s ministry on Saturday!
One of the goals we set up as a team for this month was to be able to encourage and help out a church plant. This church we are staying at in Cusco is a church plant, and we even got to celebrate their 2nd Anniversary with them on Sunday.
I actually prayed, kind of half-heartedly, for the Lord to provide me with a French Press this month. Coffee is one of my favorite things ever, and it is not always readily available. I have been looking for a french press for a while now, but they are always too big. My alumni Squad Leader Jenni had encouraged us all to ask the Lord for something during this month, and so this is what I came up with. To be brutally honest, I don’t think I really expected Him to do it. But friends, our God is a God who likes to bless us in even the smallest ways. When we arrived at this church in Cusco, we found out they are hoping to start up a little coffee shop in the near future to raise money. They have like 5 french presses sitting in their kitchen! It wasn’t how I expected God to answer my prayer, but I have had access to a french press for the past several days and its been awesome!
But it doesn’t end there; they said that I could actually buy one from them for like $4! And they are the perfect size! So, I was planning to do that, until…. Last night, this wonderful team I have been with all month threw me an early surprise birthday party so that they could celebrate with me, and guess what they gave me as a gift… The French Press. 🙂
I could go on and on, but I think you get the point. Because of all the unknowns this month, and a need to rely only on God’s provision, I have seen God move in bigger and cooler ways than in a long time. Dependence can be hard, but oh man, it is SO worth it! Give God credit for how BIG He is!! The size of your prayers reveal the size of your God!
Stay tuned for a blog very soon about the wonderful people and ministry we have gotten to know this past week in Cusco!
All my love, Ash
