Sometimes days on the Race are exhausting, they really are. They are full of travel to ministry locations, doing ministry, travel home and planning for the next day of ministry. Day after day of this can become really difficult. Some days feel like they may honestly never end. We had a couple of those never ending days this past week.
But some days on the Race are full of small, yet incredible blessings. Whether it is a child falling asleep in your lap (that you may have kidnapped… blog coming on that later) or a child screaming your name (or Chili because apparently that is what Shannon sounds like to Colombian children), these are the days that restore your soul. We also had a couple of the soul-restoring days this past week.
I wanted to write about one of those soul-restoring days, because even though it is full of random little moments, it perfectly portrays my life on the Race. I thought about this night as completely normal until I was talking to a friend about it and she said something along the lines of “Shannon, do you realize how strange that sounds? We have such weird lives and we don’t even realize it!”
The nights that restore your soul.
Saturday, October 25.
- We went to church tonight and during worship the lyrics on the screen were in English AND Spanish. I could sing along and also know what I was singing.
- We didn’t have to plan the service, we only just attended. They had a translator and everything!
- The service ended and we piled 11 people into a Land Cruiser (also known as a Colombian taxi that gets us up the mountain) and drove up an insanely steep mountain in the rain, way too fast. The driver was also wiping the fog off the window with his hand as we swerved around corners. All the while we are sitting parallel from each other using each others’ knees to keep from falling into each others’ laps while praying the back door doesn’t fly open and we all tumble out of the vehicle.
- Having a spaghetti dinner at 9 pm, crowded around a table with 20 of my friends.
- Having no smiling contests and losing every time because the other person knows exactly how to make you laugh.
- Having a time each night with my team, building each other up and also encouraging each other in ways they can grow.
- Tickling each other and throwing each other onto the bed, laughing so hard you can’t breathe.
- While throwing people on the bed, seven of the nine boards holding up the mattress fell out and everyone just groaned because it happens at least once a day.
- Having my half-hour of wifi (that we get twice a week), catching up on friends’ lives back home, while laughing with my friend across the table from me about a stray cat that just snuck in our house and how we can’t do a thing about it because all the doors are locked, everyone went to bed and we don’t have the keys.
- Quietly tiptoeing to my room where most of my nine roommates are quietly sleeping. Crawling into my incredibly loud, squeaky bed that shakes so hard I daily think it will fall apart, with my friend on the top bunk collapsing onto me.
- Falling asleep to the sound of rain on the window, with the city lights shimmering below us.
- Going to bed knowing this is my life, right where God wants me and that I get to start tomorrow at a breakfast table with 20 of my friends.
- Giving thanks because, while it definitely isn’t always easy, I get to live this incredibly blessed life and I wouldn’t change a thing about it.
