Bed Time Stories
There are 14 of us…seems quite small
compared to the 52 that I am used to being a part of. All but one is an H-squad alum…yet Helen
doesn’t feel like an outsider. She’s one of us. We are a different breed, I
think. We seem to thrive in a different
culture…not how America is a different culture than Thailand. It’s more of a difference of lifestyle that
others just don’t seem to understand, but we all do. We understand each other perfectly.
We’ve been apart for just over a
month…seems longer. Yet looking around
the circle we found ourselves in this morning everything felt so normal, so
familiar. I looked across the room at
Benny…I know his favorite ice cream and his obsession with hot chocolate and how much he loves to be on rooftops. Straight in front of me is Rachel, who makes
me smile from the inside out because of her larger than life personality and
how excited she gets when God gives her hearts.
Mel sits beside, like she did all year…and that seems so comfortable. Despite not being on the race anymore…simply
being in the same room with them feels safe. It’s like a breath of fresh air.
Seth tells us what our next exercise is going
to be and I realize I not only know the food preferences and personal habits of
these people I am surrounded by…I also know their hearts. He says, “We’re going to go around and I want
you tell me something or someone you saw this past year that ‘tweaked’ you…something that
made you think to yourself ‘that is just not right'”.
None
of us knows what is about to happen. No
one knows just how powerful 14 (plus a few extra) stories would be when told
one after the other. One by one, we lamented
the injustice of the children we saw in orphanages, some with not even the
ability to get out of bed. A couple
girls shared a story of watching a 19 year old African girl die of AIDS. There was a story of a street kid named Hueso
who captured the hearts of an entire squad…yet, that squad had to eventually leave
and go on to the next country, and yet believe that the love that was shown to
him was enough to save him from a life on the streets. A story of children and families living
literally on a garbage dump… one after the other…
The atmosphere in the room began to
thicken. It began to weigh heavily on us
as we recounted everything that we had seen this past year…all the needs, the
injustices, all the faces, all the names that had stayed with us and most
probably always will. By the time we got
around the circle, most of the room was in tears. Mel, half-heartedly joked that we could have
gone around a dozen more times and told a dozen more stories about all that we
had seen…but the thing is, that is very true, we could have.
Over come with emotion and very much
feeling the shift in direction, Seth, struggling to even speak, thinks it would
be a good idea to just pray for all of these people by name…one by one. And so we do.
With tear stained cheeks and blood shot eyes we all look up after some
time in prayer, having cried out to God to be the Comforter and Great Physician
and Provider to each one.
Fast forward to the evening…we are
all sitting comfortably in the house and our “house dad”, Jeff, stands to make
an announcement. Sometime in the
evening, Seth has shared with him the stories of the day and how impactful the
time was for us. Obviously this has
touched Jeff greatly and even given him an idea. Realizing that we all have stories to
tell…stories of how Jesus is very real and present even in the most painful of
circumstances and stories of how coming in contact with the hurting and poor of
the world has changed us…he wants to give us all a chance to tell our
story.
Now he doesn’t want to take us out
to dinner with he and his wife and hear about our trip, or sign up to receive
our blogs…he wants to invite each one of us, one at a time, to be a part of
putting his children to bed. He wants
His children to hear stories about the compassion of Jesus, the love of Christ
and the healing powers of God! What an
amazing and humbling idea. And actually,
what an honor! So, for the next two
weeks- Brittney, Brooks and Bennett will fall into slumber with the words of
missionaries running through their heads.
My prayer is that their dreams will be filled with visions of themselves
doing signs and wonders all over the world in the name of Jesus. Who knows, maybe this will be the time in
their lives that God plants the seed of a dream that they will one day walk out
as a mighty woman or man of God!!
So, our experiences on the World
Race will be for the next two weeks bed time stories. But they are more than stories, they are
testimonies. Powerful re-telling of
encounters that changed our lives, and the mere act of sharing them will change
others as well. Tonight as I a fall asleep
I think my mind will be full of faces and names and experiences…I don’t know
how I will choose just one when it is my turn to put the kids to bed.
