We’ve been living in Antigua, Guatemala for a while now. Some days, especially the days where it’s my turn to go to the market, I feel more like a local, which is one of the best feelings. Antigua is a city full of busyness, beautiful scenery, and a lot of brokenness. God lives here though. His presence is so evident in so many ways, whether it is in the way the sun sets over the roof of our hostel, or the way an elderly woman smiles at you, God is here and He’s doing big things. We have had opportunities to share the Gospel, to spend time and give attention to people that don’t get a lot of it, and have really taken time to be relational as a team.
Both teams here in Antigua this month have said that it feels like we have been here a lot longer than we actually have. It’s true, but not in a bad way.
Community and life here and on the World Race is so different, and very much the way we were designed to live as children of the Lord. We are committed to praying together and for each other, we work towards calling our brothers and sisters up into the things the Lord has for them and out of the things that are holding them back. We are literally sharpening each other, like iron sharpens iron. It’s hard, because we are so used to our selfish alone time and our selfish routines, but day by day more and more of our self dies to the world and more comes alive in the Spirit. We are beginning to choose to prefer others instead of ourselves and to take “loving” the people we live with to a whole new level. It hurts and it’s stretching, but the reward is great, because living in community seeking the Lord is how we were designed to do this life thing.
I’ve had the song “Sometimes” by David Crowder Band stuck in my head the past few days.
“It’s your love that we adore,
It’s like a sea without a shore,
We’re lost in you, we’re lost in you,
Don’t be afraid. Don’t be afraid.
Just set your sails
And risk the ocean,
There’s only grace.”
Just in the past few weeks, I’ve seen that the further you press in to the love of God and all of His characteristics, the more love, the more grace, and the more of Him that you get to experience. His love is so big and so vast and all He wants is for us to take the risk to just jump in it and get drenched. He wants us to soak up all the grace and love that He is giving. And in the end, it’s not really a risk, because the reward is nothing but grace and love and greater intimacy.
It kinda works the same way with people. Living in community here begins with you deciding whether or not you’re willing to take the risk to dive in all the way. Here’s my analogy: sometimes with people, it can be easier to tip toe into the water and really get used to the temperature before you put your head in all the way. But everybody knows that if you just go ahead and do a cannonball into the cold water, the reward comes so much quicker and you can continue to dive further and faster.
This is my challenge: whether it be with the Lord or in community, risk the ocean. Go ahead and get drenched with the things that God has for you. With Him, there’s only grace and love. And with a community of believers, there’s grace and love there too.
The reward of the never-ending ocean outweighs the risk of jumping in. So claim your reward, risk the ocean, and get drenched.
