So here’s to the end of great things and the beginning of even greater things. What some of my peers like to call this is moving from glory to glory.
2 Corinthians 3:18 The Message “…and so we are transfigured much like the Messiah, our lives gradually becoming brighter and more beautiful as God enters our lives and we become like him.”
I just finished a journey of a lifetime travelling to spread more of the Lord’s good news to 11 different countries in 11 months. In general it was the longest-shortest year of my life where in the process it felt like forever, but now looking back it just past by so quickly. I grew in so many ways. In trust and dependance, confidence and boldness, humility, listening and prayer, encouragement in both affirming and admonishing ways and through it all God let the majority of that teaching and correction come through his children, my squamates and those we served.
Here is a quick highlight from my year where I felt humbled but honoured during my favourite month of the year. It was month 3, March, when we were in Bolivia.
Bolivia was so different than anything I’ve seen in my lifetime. It was also the first country I’ve ever been to in South America and I loved it. It was rugged, filled with mountains, deserts, jungles, rivers, giant lakes, and a varying range of temperatures in each of them. The adventure that seemed to cover this place filled me with excitement. It wasn’t commercialized, it was just raw and dangerous, and thats what at my core God has given me as a man a heart for.
The people there were also very different than the previous spanish speaking places I’ve been before. In Bolivia they seemed to be much more to themselves and didn’t seem to make a big deal about a bunch of North Americans in their country. This was very different from central america where every few passing cars would honk, yell or say something in really bad broken english that usually was some form of gawking at my female squad mates. In Bolivia they didn’t do this. They seemed to mind their own business and continue doing whatever it was they were doing.
The ministry we partnered with that month was an orphanage called Casa De Esperanza. There we spent days split between women’s and men’s traditional work. Women worked with the kids in the houses all day whereas me and my fellow male team mate did physical work on the grounds all day. Basically our job for 2 weeks was to dig a new 5 metre deep garbage hole about 6’x5’.
The job wasn’t easy and it was a rain or shine type of job and all we used to dig this hole was a simple pick-axe and a 5 gallon pale to empty out the loose dirt along with a small shovel. Needless to say we got tired and tired quickly. Add to that we ate the exact food the kids ate all month and the kids were malnourished. That didn’t bode well for us. We were tired and frustrated.
Then one day a family who works full time at the orphanage invited my team of six over for supper along with just some time to relax and sing a few songs. They didn’t have a big house, just small, meeting the essentials, but they welcomed us in with such gratitude. It was after that one evening where their gratitude of all we were doing, even digging a new garbage pit, was so overflowing that it gave me such a greater appreciation for the work I was given to do. It isn’t easy to explain here through writing how awesome that moment of realization was for me, but it was exactly what I needed in order to go hard for another week at digging that garbage pit.
James 1:9 says “Believers in humble circumstances ought to take pride in their high position.”
I was humbled this month with the type of work given where I was too prideful to just enjoy and do it with a joyful heart.
The people made this month what it was and it was great. I could see myself going back to this country one day.
AS FOR NOW God has taken me on a journey of dependance and trust in these last two months. I returned home on November 25th 2014, with no plans other than the excitement of wanting to see friends and family again along with the joys of having family around for Christmas so soon. Little did I know that my relaxation time would soon be cut short.
I, as of January 25th, found myself leaving home yet again to step out in faith with and for God once more. I felt the convicting, but gentle voice of our father prodding me to not stay idle and take a bit of a leap. A leap, that this time was very uncharacteristic of me.
I’m the kind of person who likes to plan ahead, think and ponder on ideas and decisions and find a safe way to do everything. God knows this and knows its comfortable for me. Sometimes he lets us stay comfortable because he knows that it is the perfect way for a season, other seasons he wants us to grow in different ways and this time he wanted to show me specifically about trust and to truly trust who He says He is. He is our provider, Jehovah Jireh.
If he cares for the needs of the birds of the air and the flowers of the fields why wouldn’t he care for me? I am a co-heir with Christ, I am a son, I am made in his image and am the apple of his eye. He cares for me more than the best father on this earth could.
So, here I am, after only having really one week to decide, at the Adventures in missions headquarters in Gainesville, Georgia.
During the next 3.5 months I will be involved in discipleship training, apprenticeship training in a facet of the organization and spend mornings exploring more of the heart of worship and how it can be carried into every part of our lives. I’ll be learning how the Parent Ministries department works here and get to help parents connect with their kids who are doing the WorldRace through something called Parent Vision Trips. (this was actually something my parents participated in and met me in Nicaragua last August)
Its been a scary process just jumping into this thing without much preparation. I am learning to keep trusting and having faith in the Lord in all parts of my life. I am here in what I feel was a choice out of obedience. What He calls us into He will equip us for.
Thank you for all of your support through my World Race journey and now. Please pray for me during this time that I’ll be able to grow and learn as much as possible in such a short time.
(Stay posted. Next week I’m going to give a few more details of the lead up to this and more details about the program and why i decided to go.)
