Have you ever been on a journey? Maybe a weekend getaway, field trip, family vacation, honeymoon, or even when your running late to work and everything around you is going wrong. Yeah, life can be filled of journeys with ups and downs or even circling downtown, lol. I have to say within this last leg of the world race journey, it has encouraged me to be so thankful for the sweet seasons. No doubt we all have experienced sweet, bitter, fun, and challenging seasons within the journey of life. With this season changing I want you to know what I personally got out of this journey and what’s next…for both you and me.
Identity
Central America was the first season of this journey where I was given the word “Identity”. You have to understand, that when I was first saved I encountered Jesus and the Holy Spirit very quickly but my impression of God the Father took a back seat in my heart.
I learned about Jesus’ unending mercy and unfathomable deep, deep, deep love. I also learned the unstoppable power of the Holy Spirit and how it changes lives within an instant. But the aspect of God being my father was still was a mystery to me. I knew I was a child of God, destined for greatness; but I didn’t view Him as my Father.
A lot of the first five months of the race was experiencing that I am His son. This is especially meaningful to me because my dad died when I was 14. I had a great father in many ways but he was more of my friend instead of a dad and he was far from perfect. Many of you may, or may not be able to relate to that but one thing I know to be true is that God is a perfect Father for you and me.
Integrity
The second season was in Asia, where God worked on me being a man of integrity. Doing the right thing at all times, even when no one was watching. I really felt an incredible responsibility to honor my Heavenly Father. Now I wanted to honor God in a Father-son relationship instead of just obeying Him because he is God. He is the Lord of my life and I deeply care to honor my Him.
I walked in integrity by never giving up on people and loving them to the full extent they would let me. Some of my teammates remained guarded and didn’t choose to see our team as a family. This was one of the hardest challenges within this journey, because we are called to love everyone, including our enemies. It can be easy to forgive offenses but it can be a challenge to love them the same way after an offense. Maturity in God calls us to love everyone as we love our own family.
Authority
I was put in team leading for the all the men in Malaysia for the month. Loved leading the men, had 12 men in total including our friend who was the host grandson. Then I led another team, “Team Hungry” (Steve, Katie, Jhacky, Dorien, Liz, and Taylor), four months after that. I learned a lot about authority both in physical and spiritual. Serving them in my leadership to have the best outcomes for their growth. God grew me in delegating opportunities to each one of them, both in the strong suits and ones to grow in. I wasn’t always the one to be confided in but I was privileged in leading them and my heart grew immensely for everyone I led. As long as I was their leader I remained faithful in prayer over their lives and in tune with the Spirit for clarity on each month and season God was leading us in.
Next
I will be moving to California and be working with an incredibly loving ministry for orphans called Mustard Tree. I know the next step and it’s going to be life changing…and so is yours if you trust God for what He is speaking into your life. God can and will move powerfully in your life, the secret ingredient is having an open heart. So, what’s next for you? What’s next for me?
I love you all and thank you for joining me in this journey.
