Let me first say how amazing it is to actually have to use my sweatshirt and beanie to keep warm. I even have to use my sleeping bag at night because it’s been getting down to the low 40’s! We’re staying just outside of Dublin in a campground where we have access to two free hot showers for the week and free wi-fi… so as far as I’m concerned, I’m lapping it up in luxury this week.
The Awakening has been awesome so far. We’ve had unbelievable worship by Jonathan David Helser and his band. I mean unbelievable as in goosebumps with every song and wild dancing going on everywhere. It’s just like when he led worship at training camp in Georgia, only this time there are over 300 racers from 5 squads!
Last night, Jonathan shared a story that really impacted me. I don’t know how popular it is, so I don’t know if you’ve heard it or not yet… but I’m going to share it anyway because this is my blog and I can do what I want:
The Moravians are famous for the missionaries they’ve sent out to the corners of the world, spreading the Gospel. Two young men, in particular, showed extraordinary dedication to this cause. In the early 1700’s, they heard about an island in the West Indies where an atheist man owned over 2000 slaves. Determined to reach them, they sold themselves into slavery to the man so that they could reach his slaves and give them the hope of Christ. As they were leaving the dock to be on their way across the world for a lifetime of hardship, one of the men’s voice echoed out throughout the harbor, “MAY THE LAMB THAT WAS SLAIN RECEIVE THE REWARD FOR HIS SUFFERING!”
Now, I don’t know if that’s a true story. I tried to do some research online and I found pieces that both disputed and upheld the story. Either way, though, just imagine what that would be like. Some might think those men were psychotic, but I would imagine that the moment they first heard about that island, they instantly knew what they had to do… kind of like when I first heard about the World Race.
Ireland is 5 hours ahead of Eastern Standard time, so I’ve been trying to get on a little bit to talk to people in the evenings here if we have some down time (which is rare). It’s absolutely gorgeous here but I’m still weirded out by people driving on the left side of the road. If I had to drive somewhere right now, I would probably crash and hurt a lot of people… good thing I don’t have to!
Crash is staying in the country for the rest of the month by the way! We don’t know where we’ll be or what we’ll be doing, we just know we’re one of the four teams staying put in Ireland for ministry. That means ENGLISH, but very little money to use since the Euro is worth so much more than the dollar.
Love you all! Thanks for reading!
