If you were given the option to rise out of bed at 4 AM to partake in a mysterious bootcamp… Would you go? Normally, I would say no… and at first I did. But you know how in some cases God can be funny. This is one of those cases.
One Sunday afternoon we were told there was an optional bootcamp the next morning. This was a secret to the men and women of the Great Commission and was not optional for them. We were unaware of what the bootcamp entailed, so I put it in the back of my mind not intending to let the thought resurface. The night before the bootcamp, I walked into the room after worship and there was a napkin on my pillow with chicken scratch writing. This meant there was only one person this note could come from, Lauren. She had already gone to sleep, so her cute little napkin asked me to join her for bootcamp in the morning. There were a few girls on my bed at the time so I read it to them. Because of her note, I knew there was no getting out of bootcamp, and the others on my bed felt the same tug.
At 4 AM the next morning, firecrackers went off, the lights came on, the whistles blew, and the yelling started. We were all bunking in one huge dorm room with the Great Commission women, and because it was a secret to them, they were completely startled by the rude awakening. The women wasted no time in getting themselves dressed and out the door. Meanwhile, six of my squamates and I skeptically got dressed and filed out onto the basketball courts with the men and women in the Great Commission. At 4 AM, we stretched, we sang and we danced… and the first of many pessimistic questions that morning crept into my mind. What the heck was I getting myself into?
As I looked up into the starry sky, I would dare to say without exaggeration, it was the most stunning starry sky I had ever seen. The morning air was cold and through the chaos that morning, I didn’t have time to grab my jacket. As they spoke, Lauren wrapped her jacketed arms around me. Not only was I instantly warm, but instantly thankful for the napkin on my pillow. After the stretching and singing and dancing, we ran around the property to the national tree of Guatemala. This particular towering tree is beautiful. I have admired it since the first day we drove onto the property. Ever since, I have tried to capture a picture of it, but not one of those pictures does this tree any justice. Once we were at the tree they began telling us the purpose of what we were about to encounter. As we fought through the obstacles of the bootcamp, we would be interceding for children across the world. They painted a heartbreaking picture for us of what these children lacked. I soon realized this wasn’t just a picture. Its a reality. As we began praying, we marched around the iconic tree seven times just as Joshua marched around Jericho. Joshua was instructed by the Lord to breakdown those walls, and we wanted to do the same for children across the world.
We then ran to a field where we were instructed to army crawl for some distance. Of course as soon as I heard this, in my selfish possessional way of thinking, I was worried about my periwinkle frocket (front pocket) shirt getting dirty. I tried to justify this by thinking about the amount of shirts I’m currently carrying, which are very few compared to the ones hanging in my closet back home. This army crawl served a purpose. This army crawl was humbling us. This army crawl was taking away our pride. This army crawl was allowing us to drop everything we thought we were that morning and die to ourselves, but I had just debunked their every intention, because I thought my possessions were more important than what they had for me. I managed to strategically crawl through the wet grass just right and triumphantly preserved my shirt. Mission accomplished.
Soon after, we began to run through the jungle, singing and praying. We were running through muddy waters and again, I started to think about my 3 month old super patriotic and pretty Brooks running shoes. So, I carefully treaded on the outskirts of the mud and was pleasantly surprised at the piles and ruts of mud I had managed to dodge.
When we got to a certain point in the jungle, they told us to look up. It was still dark outside, and because of the previous events, I had forgotten the beauty of the sky just moment before. But now, there were no more stars. It was nothing, but clouds. We were told to imagine the lives of the children around the world who’s lives are cloudy. Their stars are burnt out. Their lives are clouded by starvation, drugs, no education, and lack of love. The lack of love these children experience hit me harder than anything that morning. I was overcome with emotions that I wasn’t expecting.
The next phase was getting into groups of three and carrying one partner to the next point where we continued interceding for the children. This served to show that we cannot do this alone. In this life we need community to bring Kingdom and I was never so thankful to be surrounded by those six girls on my squad than in that moment. The carry was not easy and neither is living in community. After experiencing the race for two months I can honestly say it is without a doubt worth it. The parts about living in constant community with one another that are hard, are completely covered by the beauty of it. In just a few months, we have become a family built on the love of Jesus. I could not carry myself to the next phase of the bootcamp by myself, just like I could not do this race without those I am surrounded by daily.
We ran to the next point where they talked about unconditional love. They spoke to current or future mothers and husbands about loving and supporting their spouse and children in all circumstances. They spoke about genuine care and genuine love without limits. Again, I was struck with pain for the children who don’t feel that love around the world. For me, I have never had to be without that love. I have never had to question the gift of love. I have parents who love me unconditionally and from those two parents I have an outpouring of love that branches out even further. I cant imagine a life without feeling loved, and it breaks me for the children who can.
From this point, we duck walked through the jungle, around the trees, and down a hill. When we got to this point a man named Adin began talking about fear and strength. We didn’t know who this man standing in front of us talking about strength was. I saw his war painted face, and his plaid shirt, with his camouflaged pants. But I didn’t see him. I didn’t see his pain. I didn’t realize the entitlement he held to stand before us and talk about fear, pain and strength until dinner that night. My team and I sat with two men from the Great Commission. We begin talking with them and soon found out that one of the men recently experienced a tragedy with the loss his brother. His brother actually worked for Hearts in Action on this campus. One night on his way home he was murdered. His car had six bullet holes and he was tortured. They did not want his car, money, or possessions. They wanted him. They wanted him because of jealousy in who he was. After hearing from his brother and then our host, I heard what an amazing man he was. He was loving, kind, trustworthy, and hard working. The kids here at Jungle School loved him. He was killed out of envy. After the man before us told his story we realized who’s face was under that war paint earlier that morning. Adin was a true man of God. He told us what an amazing man his brother was, but he did this with complete joy. He wasn’t overcome with hate, but only love. He told us he had forgiven the men who had done this to his brother, after only 2 months. Adin had every right to talk to us about fear and strength. This man had lived it and he had only God to thank.
We were nearing the end of this bootcamp. The sun had come up and what I thought was coming to an end was only just the beginning. As we continued running, the men behind us began singing “Open the Eyes of my Heart” in Spanish.
Open the eyes of my heart Lord
Open the eyes of my heart
I want to see you
I want to see you
To be high and lifted up
Shining in the light of your glory
Pour out your power and love
As we sing Holy Holy Holy.
As we joined in singing this song in English, God was doing just that. He was opening my eyes to things I thought I already knew. Things I thought I had left behind. He was slowly uncovering all the pride I needed to abandon.
We got to the next point and I thought we were done. After almost 3 hours, I was ready to wrap this thing up. They began talking about picking up your cross and carrying it and the perseverance and prayer it takes to get through that. We picked up logs and carried them over our shoulders to represent the cross. All I could think about was Jesus and the burdens he carried on his back. I was humbled to the point where I thought I couldn’t be anymore humble and God was like, good try, no!
We got to the final stage where makeshift hurdles stood before us. There were four that we had to jump over and then slide under. They signified our obstacles in life and how following Jesus is is a battle. Sometimes we are above these hurdles and conquering them and sometimes we are below them and they seem to be conquering us, but through it all He is with us. We were the last ones in line to go. In front of me, I saw men and women of the Great Commission log rolling through the mud and then army crawling through a trench. Each person was having water thrown on them. As the 50 people in front of us went, the ground before us became a sloppy mess. I quickly realized my periwinkle shirt would be periwinkle no more. I jumped over each hurdle and then went for the log roll. I again, strategically tucked my shirt in so I could save some of it. I was still not surrendering everything. I was still focused on worldly possessions. God was saying to dive in! Finally, I dropped to the ground and sunk in the mud. Periwinkle shirt and all. Super patriotic and pretty Brooks and all. At his point Mario, who I mention below, tapped me on the shoulder and said, “The Lord will humble you for this.” I dropped all guards and let the mud peel my pride away from me as I crawled towards the cross. This mud signified clay. As God brings us through trials and tribulations, he is shaping us into who He created us to be. We continued to crawl until we slid into a small pond where we were washed clean (as clean as possible, there was a lot of scrubbing to be done in the future.) I couldn’t help but think of Jesus sacrifice on the cross to wash our sins away. I thought what I had done that morning was some type of sacrifice, but I don’t know sacrifice. Jesus knows sacrifice.
Out of the pond we crawled to a small cross on the ground and prayed. I thought we were at the finish line and I was grateful. Here at the cross, God taught me yet another lesson. Every time I think I’m done, every time I think my job is finished, He has more for me and I’m just fine with that. We were told to run up to the flag poles where we would finish. As we ran up to the flag poles we see the flags of ten different countries flying before us. We made a huge circle and gathered hands around the flags. The founder of Hearts in Action stood in the middle holding a torch of fire. The fire represented God’s burning love and His all powerful being. He gave us passionate words about our responsibility for our country and the children to be raised up there. After he spoke he sent us to our home countries flag and where we laid hands on the flagpoles and prayed for our countries. He threw the torch on the ground surrendering everything to the Lord and somehow the torches fire did not spread, but laid burning on the ground. After we prayed he picked up the torch and stood before us. He stood before us as a representative of Guatemala and he called Ecuador’s representative down to pray for him. He then passed the torch to Ecuador who then did the same to Mexico. Mexico’s representative then called the United States. In my gut I had a feeling I would be the representative walking up. Sure enough my team said, “Lynds you go.” Of course, my response was, “Why do I have to go?”… but then I thought about how I had been fighting God all morning. It was time to surrender so I walked up. I didn’t think about it at the moment, but later Lauren told me how special she thought it was that as a teacher in the United States, I was passed the torch. In that moment she realized that I was standing on behalf of the education system in the United States and it was metaphoric of my future and the responsibility we hold to bring Kingdom to the children. The representative from Mexico, Javier (who I got to speak with the next night after dinner) prayed an amazing prayer for the future of the United States and the next generation of children. He passed me the torch and I then looked up and froze for a second because I didn’t recognize any of the flags flying above except for the countries who had gone before me, go figure. Then I saw the Honduras flag flying above me and realized how perfect to call them up, considering we started the race in their country. I called them up and standing before me was a man who introduced himself to us the night before at our dinner table. He happened to be from Tegucigalpa, the city where we did ministry last month. Coincidence? Not a chance. God is so cool y’all!
Mario was our translator that stayed with us the entire three hours that morning. He is an ex marine who is originally from Ecuador, but grew up in the United States. His love and compassion for us during this time was incredible. Considering the fact that he has experienced a plethora of bootcamps in his life, he should have brought down the hammer on us, but he didn’t. As we were interceding for the children around the world, Mario was praying for the seven of us. When Mario did pray for the children, he could have prayed in Spanish, but he was praying in English for our benefit. He was our encourager and showed just enough tough love to get us through the morning, but more than anything his demeanor echoed that of Jesus. I spoke to him later that day and his humble attitude and love for people spoke volumes. Come to find out, he started a foundation called Field of Dreams. On the bottom of a volcano in Antigua, Guatemala, he feeds children three times a week and shares the Word and the love of Jesus with them. They also provide scholarships for over 100 students to give them the opportunity to continue their education.
I knew this was going to be a long blog, but how do you shorten one of the most influential mornings of your life? I am thankful for the napkin on my pillow that got me out of bed, the group of teammates who surrounded me, and the way God is stripping away my pride and humbling me. Because this blog was so long, I’ll end with a short verse that holds more meaning than the entirety of what you’ve just read. If you take anything away, let it be this.
“He must become greater; I must become less.” John 3:30
