The reality of this journey on which I’m
about to embark finally hit me this past week. After almost a year of anxiously awaiting the day I would
meet my squad-mates, that day finally came. I spent last week (which actually felt more like a month) in
Gainesville, Georgia at training camp for The World Race.
I showed up at camp carrying a whole
lot of expectations, hopes, and desires of what I wanted to get out of it. Looking back, though, I think God had
some other ideas about what was in store for me. The night we arrived at the Adventures in Missions base we
were asked to surrender all of our expectations for camp, but I now realize
that I subconsciously held on to a lot of them throughout the week. As time progressed, I formed some good
connections with several people on my squad, and hoped that I would be placed
on the same team as them. Toward
the end of the week we began doing some team building exercises, which seemed
to go well overall. The last group
I was put into was a little different, however. I hadn’t really spent much time with most of the people in this group, but they
were all nice. To me,
something about the group dynamic just didn’t feel quite right, and I couldn’t
put my finger what caused it. Well, the time finally came for the
teams to be announced, and it turned out that I was placed on pretty much this exact same team. The girls
I had originally hoped to share the next year with were all on another team
together, and I felt totally left out.
Honestly, I felt devastated.
It was nothing against my team; I just wanted things to the way I had
planned.
In the end, I realized I hadn’t really let go
of all my expectations like I had committed to the first night of camp. I wanted next year to be exactly the
way I envisioned it, and began to leave God and His will out of the
equation. Even though my team may
be a little different than I originally expected, I am choosing to believe in the power
that we have as a group through Jesus Christ. As a team, we will bring healing to the sick, hope to the
hopeless, and love to the lonely and broken. God knows what He’s doing, and I’m learning that I must
trust Him through this entire journey.
And now… without further ado…I introduce team
Komboa (Swahili for save, rescue, redeem, ransom, liberate, and free).
From Left to Right: Team Leader Noe Rivera, Myself, Chelsie O’Neal, Megan Rouse, David Shaw, Lindsay Dunn, and Glenalyn Hunt.
Team, I want you guys to know that I love you
and I look forward to getting to know each one of you really, really well next
year!! J
