training camp

I keep feeling like the new guy who gets lost on the way to the bathroom and you have to tell him where to find the extra staples and how to fix the shredder he just jammed for the eigth time (that never happened on my first day of work… ok so it did). I thought I had posted a blog about training camp, but apparently, not so. So let me tell you a little something about the whirlwind of ten days that was training. (January 2009- H Squad- pictured left)

 

Wow. The first four or five days was about healing and surrender. We spent time recognizing hurt in our lives, grieving it, choosing forgiveness (I cannot emphasize how important those last two steps are!!) and allowing the Holy Spirit to come and fill the things that have been broken with the fruit of the Spirit. Man. I have a lot of work to do, but HUGE steps were made for me. I recognized a lot of hurt in my life, grieved it, forgave those who wronged me, and have been filled with the Holy Spirit’s ability to love those people to an even greater capasity than before. Praise God!  And again, I am not a finished work by any means, but I am taking steps in the direction of wholeness, and it is an exhausting but incredibly rewarding process.

 

We also got our teams, and halelujah my team is 100% rockstar. I really couldn’t have asked for a better team. (You can learn more about them by visiting their blogs listed to the left under “links”). I was getting nervous along the way, trying to see where God was going to place me and feeling a little lost in the mix. But praise God, our Advocate, since He fought for me and defended me when I had no voice to do so. I ended up on a team of Christ lovers and limit pushers and I couldn’t be more excited to bring the hope of the Gospel to the world with these people! Another awesome aspect of this team is our likeminded passion to meet felt needs. We all are seeking justice for the poor as well as bringing the message of hope in salvation. I think I can speak for my team when I say we are about a holistic approach to the Gospel message and cannot wait to see how God chooses to use us. (Note: we are called Tikvah which means “hope” in Hebrew– Samir, let me know if that’s wrong– but it is our distinct identity as a team to bring hope to the nations)

 

Something that’s awesome as well is that I can already see that each one of my team members is going to meet a specific relational need I have. How faithful is our God? Seriously. We have this extremely organic connection and each member speaks to a different part of my heart. I am honestly amazed at God’s provision.

 

And as if my team wasn’t awesome enough, let me tell you people, H Squad is unbelieveable. This group of people are passionate about knowing Christ and flat out being ruined by the love of the Father. Not to mention sharing that news with the world. It is very rare you find instant family-like bonds with so many people. It is something only possible through Christ, and praise God for bringing us together!!

 

Oh and our coaches are phenomenal as well. The Spirit flows so naturally out of them. It’s like a mountian stream. Beautiful.

 

I cannot begin to express how excited I am to see how God chooses to move in and through all of the people on H Squad this year. It’s going to be insane. So keep checking in– God’s about to move some mountains…