“What are my giftings? How does the Holy Spirit work through me so that when people see me, they know that I have Jesus in my heart and that I am a disciple of God? What makes me noticeble to people so that people can experience Jesus?”
These questions essentially drove my entire month in Haiti. Several people on my team and squad confirmed that the Holy Spirit resided in me in an amazing way but honestly speaking, I really couldnt see it in myself. You see, I have always struggled with seeing how the Holy Spirit works through me. I have just never been able to see it and so for the past month I really tried hard to see it and asked God to show it to me. However, it wasn’t until our travel days to Costa Rica where I finally found it out through actually experiencing one of my greatest gifts in action.
Let’s set the scene, the mood, the tempo, and whatever else you might think is important really quick. Travel days are stressful for most Racers. Because when we go through these days, we literally do nothing but traveling ALL DAY LONG, and we sometimes do it for several days at a time with little to no sleep or rest. Traveling from our Month 2 contact in Haiti to our Month 3 contact in Costa Rica we went on a rather large and epic journey.
We began our adventure at 10 in the morning from Mission of Hope for Haiti, outside of Port Au Prince, with a bus ride that last for well over 10 hours to the Santo Domingo Airport in the Dominican Republic. We then spent the night in the airport and caught the soonest plane leaving for Miami the next morning that left at 6am so that we could connect with another flight there that would take us to San Jose, Costa Rica at 9am. After flying for three hours we landed in San Jose at noon and then my team and I then took a taxi to the bus station so that could we could then take another bus ride that was well over six hours long.
While sitting down in the bus a woman and her son got on for the long ride. My father always taught me growing up that if a woman is standing and you are sitting, something is wrong. “See a need, fill a need” he always said and so I graciously offered up my seat to her and her boy which I could tell meant a lot to her. I was happy to oblige. Now Racers already know this, but for those back home, buses in other countries are not like buses in America. The buses that we have traveled in have always been filled to the brim with people. Seat belts aren’t commonly used and all forms of motorized transportation might as well be a giant can of sardines with wheels, as was the case with this bus. Okay, so this is where the story gets fun.
While being shoulder to shoulder with a young Costa Rican named Alex I decided to sit down and write down ideas for blogs that I was gonna write about my experience in Haiti when I asked God what the word of the day was for me. He responded with “Hope”. And then I, in reply, asked the question of hope to myself. “What is hope?” I admit to say that for being such a short word that everyone uses commonly, I truly struggled to find a definition to what it is and how I could truly apply it to my walk with God. And that’s when it happened.
As I was sitting down, a warm something spilled onto my back, over my shoulders, and onto my journal, hands, and shorts. At first, the smell of this mystery liquid reminded me of some strange and peculiar soup made with tripe and the contents that was on my journal made me think it was something with lentils. But as I looked closer I noticed small globs of goo that was more similar to a green colored jell-o and from there the smell started to morph into something quite potent. So being totally calm and collected, but also curious, I turned around to see a young boy, maybe thirteen to fifteen, holding in his hands more of this mystery goo with even more coming from his mouth and then even more overflowing out of his hands, and onto me. Yes. I was puked on.
The look on this young mans face was nothing but horror. He was completely terrified and waiting for me to do something similar to loosing it on him in a fit of rage. It was obvious that he was hoping beyond hope that I wouldnt embarras him anymore than what had already occured. But honestly, I wasn’t even fazed. In fact, I was completely joyful. Sure, I wasn’t quite sure what to do next (who honestly would know what to do next?) but the joy I had was completely unaffected by what had just happened. So in quick order my team and I cleaned me up and I changed shirts. After that, I talked to the kid for a couple of minutes and when our stop came, we got off the bus to be picked up by our contact later that night.
I learned a lot of stuff within those two crazy and hectic travel days that spanned four countries over a fourty eight hour period. First, I learned that I am supposed to be on The World Race. I love being here. From the minute we left Haiti to the second I got puked on and after, I had nothing but joy and thankfulness in my heart for what was happening to me and my squad. I only got four hours of sleep over the entire fourty eight hours and I ate little but I consider it a blessing to be doing what I am doing on The Race. My heart is filled to the brim with humility, thankfulness, and of course joy for being a World Racer and most importantly, a disciple of God.
The second thing Iearned through getting puked on stems from the first lesson. I realize now that one of my giftings that the Holy Spirit gave me is without a doubt joy. For so long I prayed that God would reveal my spiritual gifts to me and it goes to show that God isn’t lying when He says “You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart” in Jeremiah 29:13. In all honesty, I find all of this actually rather beautiful because instead of showing me my gift, God allowed me to actually experience my gift through something that I will never forget. Anyone can be told what their gifts are but to actually experience your spiritual gifts is an event that’s quite special.
So for this blog, the challenge is simple. What is your spiritual giftings? How can you use your gifts to further the Kingdom? How can you use your gifts to bless others by showing them your gifts? And most importantly, how can you be like Christ through your gifts? How do you love God through your gifts?
Thank you all for your prayers this past month while I was in Haiti. Internet was literally non existant and to post a blog was a struggle so I apologize for the lack of communication. Honestly though, internet is probably going to be just as bad, if not worse, while I am in Los Chiles, Costa Rica so I will do my best to keep in touch as best as possible! Feel free to email me often at [email protected] or to send me pictures, videos, audio recordings, and messages through Facebook! Thank you all so much and know that Iam praying for you all often! I love you all dearly and miss you tons!!
Thank you again and God bless!
Your World Racer,
Brandon M. Williams
