So, as many of you know, on the World Race, my squad of 41 guys and gals is broken up into 6 different teams. Our teams are our family (lets be real here, our squad is our family, but there is a whole different level of realness that happens within a team.) Your team is full of the people you do life with. They are the people I will cry with, laugh with, yell at, talk to, love, experience Jesus with, and SHARE Jesus with. My team is full of the people who will encourage me every step of the way to keep pressing into Jesus, even when I may not want to. My team is the people that will know the deepest darkest parts of my heart and love me anyway. My team will become my best friends. I am so excited for the wonderful team that the Lord has blessed me with, and I’d love nothing more than to introduce you to my wonderful team:
TEAM DESIDERIO DOMINI
It’s old church folklore that that later in life, the Apostle Peter was a crier. He would often times cry whenever he heard a rooster crow, for obvious reasons. But other times, he would cry for no apparent reason. Finally, a young saint worked up enough courage to ask him about it.
“Peter, why do you weep?” he inquired cautiously.
Peter turned to the young man, and with a look of intense yearning burning in his yes, he replied softly, “Desiderio Domini.”
In Latin, that translates to “I dearly long to be with my Lord.”
Powerful.
After one of the girls on my team told us that story, it was immediately decided that that was going to be our team name. Desiderio Domini is the cry of our hearts. We long to be with our Papa, and we long to do whatever it takes to get closer to His heart every single day.
The day we found out our teams, we were also told that we would have the entire afternoon to do whatever we wanted – go to town, eat, bond, cruise walmart (because that’s what you do in small towns), whatever…. Just BOND! After joking about a getting a tattoo to commemorate the day, the joke quickly turned into our new reality. Chelsey (you’ll meet her in a minute) quickly drew a tattoo idea on the back of a receipt, and through a serious of events we found our (only slightly sketchy) tattoo parlor. That’s another story for another day, but it’s safe to say that it was a total God thing!
This is the totally awesome tattoo that we got. It’s a heart with an 11 in it. We left it open because it represents how we as a team want to remember to be open with each other in this season of our lives, because real, raw, and open with one another is the only way you can truly grow, but most importantly we left it open because we always want our hearts to be open to things that the Lord wants to do within our hearts. It’s important to us that even when it’s difficult, we don’t close off our hearts and block out the Lord.
These are the beauties that I will begin this new adventure with:
From left to right:
Chelsey Murphree (our fearless leader)
My heart is so full with the excitement for what I know the Lord is going to do through Desiderio Domini this next month in the Philippines, and beyond. My heart is so full with the love I already have for these girls. My heart is so ready for the beginning of this new adventure.
If you are interested in following along on this new journey please feel free to subscribe to my World Race blog. You can do so putting your email address in the link over on the left where it says, “Subscribe for Blog Updates.” It’s easy AND free. I promise.
