Before coming on the Race, I got asked “what are you most excited for?” more times than I can count. That question may sound simple at first, but think about it: how am I supposed to concisely describe my anticipations and aspirations for spreading the love of Jesus and seeing the world for 11 months? Not so easy anymore, huh? After spending a lot of time really analyzing and thinking about what I was looking forward to in the Race, I came up with a multitude of things, some external and some internal.
For my own growth, the biggest hope I had was for my view of God to expand exponentially; yes, I believe with everything in me that my God is a sovereign and powerful God, a God that can move mountains and part seas, a God that makes everything possible, you know, the miracle-working God that we read about in the Bible. But being that my world was small before coming on the Race—this is my first time ever being out of the country—I knew that in turn that subconsciously made my worldview and my view of God immeasurably smaller than it needed to be and than I wanted it to be. This was one of my biggest prayers-for God to destroy the walls of the box that I indirectly placed Him in and for Him to actually reveal the power I believed in, but had yet to truly witness. Our faithful and loving God answers prayers, my friends.
I guess first I should tell you this: my team and I ended our first month’s ministry a few days early because Jenni and Felix, our contacts from last month, left yesterday to go to a conference in Harare (Huh-rawr-ay) with their church. So, Tuesday, my team and Team RedeemIng D.U.S.T. packed up, left, Mutare (Moo-tar-ay), and took an 18-hour bus ride down to Pretoria, South Africa, where we met up with four other I Squad teams at their ministry location and will remain until departing for October’s ministry site on Sunday. (Side note: the other 3 teams will be joining us tomorrow and I’m so, SO excited to be reunited with everyone again!!)
Last night, we had the incredible blessing and honor of going to Passion World Tour. In case you were unaware, the Passion conference I attended in Atlanta, GA in January was where the Lord really solidified for me that He was calling me to the Race, so as you can imagine, last night was an even bigger deal for me than perhaps for most. Not only that, but the simple fact that my squad had begun talk of Passion South Africa around eight or so months ago made it even more unbelievable that we were really there. After hours of waiting, the stage finally lit up and Natalie brought a powerful word, a word from the SAME Bible I read 8,000 miles away at home. She ended with Luke 4:14-19, the SAME verse that is printed on my World Race support bracelets and that I’ve sort of adopted as my missions verse. Then Chris Tomlin came on to lead worship, the SAME worship songs we sing back in the states to the SAME huge God.
My God is SO big! We are 8,000 miles away from our homes, from where most of us have largely developed our relationships with Jesus, and yet here we were last night, in a South African cricket stadium, with thousands of strangers, hearing the SAME word of the SAME God, worshipping the SAME God to the SAME songs, all of which speak of His holiness, greatness, love, and mercy and our adoration and complete surrender. As we closed the evening with “How Great is Our God” in English and Africaans, I fell to my knees and began to weep as the magnitude and intensity of our gracious God surrounded me.
My God is SO big! Yet He hears the prayers of every single person on the Earth He created and He answers. He’s so big, yet He still cares to know my name, to know your name, to know the name of every person who has ever lived and who will ever live. He’s SO big and we are SO small, so strong though we are so weak, so great though we are so low, yet He still loves us enough to send His Son to die and pay our debt. He died for me and He died for you. He’s the same God here and He’s the same God there. My God is SO big!
