And we’re back. Welcome. It’s been an interesting season these last months, a lot has happened, and in some ways not a lot has changed. Mostly it’s a long drawn out boring story, so for those that haven’t already heard it all, I’ll just summarize what’s up now and coming soon: for the last 3 weeks I’ve been in Georgia, Alabama, and Tennessee for a wedding, Haiti staff reunion, tornado relief set up, and training camp, it’s been awesome, awesome, hard but good, and more awesome. Friday I fly back to Haiti for a few months. September I start at University for an International Development degree at UFV (in Abbotsford BC). On to current thoughts.
I’m at training camp for short term missions leaders with my new team for Haiti this summer, and training at the same time are three new squads of world racers. Amidst all the blessings God is pouring out on us this weekend, I’ve had this word stirring in my heart as I watch these new racers prepare to get their life wrecked for the kingdom: Legacy. My first night here I watched as over two hundred people flooded these camp grounds and packed into a hall for their first session of worshiping as a body. The first joining of their voices for the King, the first of many. Somewhere in there legacy was mentioned and I couldn’t help my heart swelling up with humble joy at what I got to be – what I still am – a part of, almost right from the beginning. To be a part of a bunch of people that God has literally changed the world with and continues to do so through, to have words of wisdom and experience to share with those world changers and, sometimes, to be looked at as ‘one who has gone before’ by these anointed children of God…it blows me away.
Earlier today I listened to several people, all on separate occasions and from separate experiences from one another, talk about this children’s village in South Africa. The idea behind it is that, on this large piece of land, there are several houses. Each of these houses contains a set of house parents (mom and dad) and about 12 orphans. The multiple houses form a community in which there can be schooling, farming, and many other provisions. In a nutshell, the model is to have the resources of a larger orphanage and even a small village at the disposal of a family modeled care unit with strong community roots all rolled into one. My new friend Jenny hopes to return there to carry on the relationships she began with some of the children. When Teri was there God told her to take that idea to other places around the world, including Haiti. Squads of world racers have gone through there, blessing and being blessed by the work being done, not to mention what it has meant to the children that call it home. And every time I hear about it, I remember a man from England named Bob. He sat in South Africa, on the edge of a piece of land with a few dilapidated homes on it, explaining an idea for a children’s village that he and others he worked with wanted to start. He explained that this land would be perfect for it, but that the price and what they could offer were very far apart. He turned to a team of world racers and earnestly asked if they would pray for God’s favor, and for a blessing on the property. And so we did.
I was there when it was little more than a vision, just a dream for a corner of The Kingdom. I was handed the privilege of praying for that dream, and today that dream lives, inspires, grows, loves, provides, teaches, and disciples. I am humbled by that privilege, and rejoice in my heart at what has come to pass. What we got to witness and be a small part of at the beginning, other racers, other missionaries, and other groups have all helped carry on. I have a dozen other similar stories, both of things I saw begin, and things I got to continue for others. That’s what I think of when I look at a new world race squad. They are picking up the spirit of what God started in others and carrying it on. They will see the start of new legacies God puts in their path, they will carry on legacies started by those that went before, and most importantly, they are fulfilling God’s legacy itself. They ARE God’s legacy, as are you. The authority to bring fulfillment of the promises he has laid out for every generation, promises of redemption, restoration, freedom, healing, and life in dead places to name a few, are in us the day we receive Him. These racers, they get that, at least a little, and often they get it a lot. They live it on and off the missions field. Those that have gone before them have seen the sick healed, the lame walk, and even the dead rise. They have changed the world, and will keep doing it. That’s the legacy being carried out in God’s royal priesthood, the legacy He offers us a place in. A legacy of the kingdom coming. A legacy of life abundant.
I get to be a part of that. It’s awesome.
