Instead of starting the World Race in a different country, my team and I had the opportunity to begin our race before we even left Atlanta, Georgia. The day before we flew from America to Romania, we had a session discussing things like ATL (Ask The Lord) ministry. In this type of ministry, you simply ask the Lord what you're supposed to do. Simple enough, right? After the session, we were told that our teams would be going out into the heart of Atlanta to experience this type of ministry. World Race day -1 anyone?
As we gathered into our teams before leaving, we were asked to pray together and see what God was revealing to us. While we were praying, I kept seeing a picture of cardboard boxes. Um, what? A big part of me didn't want to tell my team because that was just weird. I didn't know what it meant or anything, but I decided to tell my team in spite of that. Another team member said that he only knew that Sarah would have the answer. Because neither of those things really helped us figure out where we were supposed to go first, we decided to just start walking.
As we started walking, someone said that they felt like we were supposed to go straight on the road we were walking on. We came to a intersection, but then didn't really know what to do next. Literally while we are discussing where to go, a car pulled into the intersection that had "Walk by Faith" detailed on the side. Wow, okay. So we went in the direction of that car, then come to another intersection. A different teammate said that they thought we were supposed to go to the Waffle House on the left and wait. As we were walking into the Waffle House, we see a dumpster pile full of cardboard boxes. Woah.
After sitting down in the Waffle House, a teammate said that she thought we were supposed to use our team's food budget for the day and buy a family their dinner. We waited around for a while, and nothing really happened. Was this really where we supposed to be? Were all those things just coincidences?
We sat in Waffle House for about an hour and a half, and then an older couple walked into the Waffle House. Sarah (the one who was supposed to have the answer) felt like this was the family we'd been waiting for. After the family ordered their food, Sarah descretely went up and paid for their food. Before she could finish, the waitress told the family that someone had paid for their meal. They then said they wanted to meet and talk to her. Sarah had the opportunity to talk to them and then share Christ love. She asked if she and another teammate could pray with them, and they agreed. After speaking with them some in more detail, she found out that they were both Christians, but had been going through some trials and struggles. They wanted to know the peace of God, and our team had been able to bless them.
Our team had the opportunity to bless a fellow brother and sister in Christ. We got to see God work in ways that some of us had never seen. We could have very easily set out on this ministry with an agenda and a plan about how we thought that day should go. Instead, we got to experience more of God, and less of ourselves. Which one are going to experience today?
