Before I left home, a sister from my Sunday school class gave me five months of devotional materials called “Our Daily Bread” (Thanks Judith! =o). With my pack weighing in at 52 pounds, I had to scrutinize each item that I was packing and during this process, I almost left these devotionals behind. Thank God I didn’t! The Lord has been speaking volumes to me through these daily devotions. He has been confirming to me that He is with me every step of this journey. It’s absolutely amazing!
I began this devotion at the Houston airport, the morning of my departure, December 31st. The page next to this day was an introduction to a new team member and writer for this devotional. He referred to Joshua 1:8 “This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate in it day and night, that you may observe to according to all that is written in it.” When I arrived in Harlingen, TX later that morning, we were taken across the border to AIM’s base in Matamoros, MX and attended a local church where the pastor anticipated our arrival. He was given a message from God two days prior and it was based on Joshua 1:8-9. How cool is that?! One of ZEO’s desires is to memorize scripture this year so this is our first scripture memorization assignment.
But there’s more. The next morning’s devotion was titled: “Slow Down and Live”. The message was to slow down our fast paced lives – “welcoming red traffic lights and using the waiting time to meditate.” That morning during breakfast, my teammate Amy and I were discussing the name ZEO, meaning fervent, and its reference in the Bible. It is found in Romans 12:11 “not lagging in diligence,
fervent in spirit…” She suggested that perhaps this would be our team “scripture”. I liked that idea and wanted confirmation from God. Our discussion was interrupted by our next activity of the day – a video named “Silence”. This was the introduction to our day of silence and just being quiet, meditating, talking to God! Was that a coincidence? I think not. In his perfect faithfulness, He has done marvelous things, things planned long ago! (Is. 25). He was confirming to me that He is sovereign; that although things may seem hectic and crazy and random, it is indeed not!
So in the five hours of absolute quiet and meditation, I went before the Lord to ask for confirmation of our team scripture, I was reading Rom 12 and as I reached verse 4, I heard some birds from afar and tried to ignore it as I was in the word. But after reading past verse 6 then 7 and 8, I could ignore it no more because they got louder. I looked up and saw about 60-70 of them (black)flying in a V- formation, towards me and about to go over my head, but they changed their route and went to the right of me where I could see the change and observe longer than if they were to fly over my head.. They were traveling as one body. As they changed routes, though their V-formation was momentarily interrupted, they found their place and the “V” was back. There were also about 10 white ones that looked out of place but they were flying with them in formation as well. The others made room for them. The sight was so amazing; pleasing to the eye and I couldn’t stop staring until they were gone from my view.
About half an hour later I heard that familiar sound and so I looked up but saw only one. The sound was greater than just one so my eyes continued to scan the skies. A couple of seconds later, in plain sight, hundreds of them were over head. However, this time their formation was not as tight.. There were about 4-5 formations, still traveling in the same direction but not as neatly. I noticed that one small group flew into another group that made room for them and they became one. But as I continued to follow them, another group tried to join in but the birds in the formation did not make room for them. Their lines became less distinct, less “V” and more random. They looked confused and although traveling next to each other in the same direction, they were not united as the first group was. Therefore, not as beautiful and pleasing to the eye.
And as I relate this to our group, my prayer is that we travel as the first group did – united together making room for one another and being like-minded; traveling toward one purpose, one direction (as both of these groups did but the first group also kept a uniform order), making it pleasing to the eye. And this is how we should travel together, in unity with Christ as the head and pleasing in God’s view. This is also our testimony to others who view into our family. I pray that they will see something beautiful, something different about us, about our journey. That the people we come in contact with will not be able to take their eyes off of the light that shines in and through us.
I gathered my things to head in for lunch and took a sip of water. As I tilted by head back to take a drink, right before my eyes were eleven white birds in a graceful dance. I stared for 30 seconds or so, reached for my pad and pen to write what I’m witnessing; this beautiful, dance in the skies but as I look back up, they disappeared as quickly as the appeared. Perhaps this year will be a like beautiful dance with God and my team.
Some of you are probably wondering how this relates to Romans 12. Verse 4 – 5 says “For as we have many members in one body, but all the members do not have the same function, so we, being many, are one body in Christ, and individually members of one another.” Just as the birds were many in number, they were traveling as one body.
Moreover, as the day progressed, I became more and more eager to share with my team what I had experienced. I eventually shared during our team time and James, who has more knowledge on birds, began to tell us about the V-formation. He said that it was to help ease their migration. They would constantly switch positions to relieve the more tired ones as the ones in the front take on lots of wind and exhaust easily.
This is how I would like my team to function, in unity. For we are made perfect in His unity. Our team will face many challenging, tiring and trying times and I pray that we will not think of ourselves higher than we ought to (v.3). That we will use our gifts accordingly. (v. 6)
Taking this time to “slow down and live” and experience God was an amazing experience. Not only did I receive confirmation about Rom 12, but I was able to experience God’s beautiful creation by slowing down and looking up.
On January 4th, the day the race began and the first day of our two day travel to Palenque, the devotion was titled “Our Dwelling Place”. This devotion referred to Genesis 12:1-8, when God called Abraham to leave the land of his father for the land of Canaan where “he was rootless, homeless ‘not knowing where he was going’ (Heb. 11:8)”. It goes on to say, “Like Abraham some of us make our way from one location to another, always traveling and not knowing where we’re going.” God is so good! Everyday, He has not only been confirming to me that I am supposed to be here but that He is with me; this IS exactly where he wants me. The best part of this devotional was not only that it was so parrallel to my life and at those points in time, but the reiteration of: “Yet we can be at home in any dwelling, for our safekeeping lies not in the place where we live but in God Himself. The eternal God becomes our dwelling place (v.9).” It goes on to speak volumes: “Though our dwelling place here on earth may be uncertain, God will be our companion and friend until our traveling days are over and we reach our heart’s true home – heaven. Until that day, let’s shed the light of God’s loving kindness on other travelers”. This was also something that we did during our traveling. We shared with people about God’s love and prayed with them while waiting at the bus stations and on the bus.
These next couple of days, we are in training and I am already learning so much more about God. I can’t wait to see this year unfold and the miracles He will be doing through us. Stay tuned for more….