I walked into training camp not knowing exactly what to expect. From reading previous racers blogs I knew that the food might be questionable and sleep might not be something we would get a lot of. I also walked into training camp questioning that my walk with God was not in a good enough place to go on the World Race, yet also expecting a complete renewal of my heart and every wall being chiseled away. I also made prejudgment's on what my squad mates would be like before coming to camp….so to this I say:
Comfort
Who needs it!
Stepping out of your comfort zone is good. I had been waiting to be comfortably uncomfortable for awhile and it was great. Being stretched builds character and promotes growth. Embrace it!
Bugs…
There were lots!
I had a cricket crawl up my pants (PTL it wasn’t a spider). I watched daddy long legs tumble down walls and mysteriously appear on the arms, hands, legs and necks of myself and others. But don’t worry! They are harmless. I witnessed a couple of girls concur bug fears during the trip and it was awesome. My team mate walked right up to one of those little critters and picked it up with her bare hand and threw it of the pavilion we were in!
Expectations
Drop them!
I came to training camp with expectations that I was going to explode with tears the whole time and just have all the cement that I’ve built up over the years be chiseled away. Well I am sure that many people experience this, I didn’t to the extent I thought I would. I did have some brake downs and felt some of my walls crumble away, but wondered why I didn’t experience what I was expecting. I felt disappointed initially, I was ready for complete transformation! Other people seemed to experience tears, and the Joy of the Lord, why not me? I learned that holding those expectations made me miss what God gave me through the tears I did shed and the bits of cement he did flake off of my heart. I felt so refreshed after that time! And that was enough. I learned that it is okay to be where you are at and with what God allows you to experience. Do not compare your experiences to others, we each experience God in different ways. And it is all in His time not ours!
Prejudgement's
Don’t Do it!
You can’t truly tell who a person is by facebook! You will never really know who a person is until you meet them face to face. I met an amazing group of people during training camp. I am so blessed to be going on this 11 month journey with them! Every time I think about my squad and my team mates I can’t stop smiling!
My Team!!! Ciera, Brette, Me, Kristy, Danae and Jessie
Unity
It’s a beautiful thing!
I have never seen a group of people grow together so fast. Everyone accepted everyone and I saw so many loving friendships start to form throughout the week. I saw the love of Jesus shining out of everyone this week. I am so excited to share this upcoming journey with this group of amazing people. I am so excited to see what God has planned for us all in the upcoming months and how he will use each of us to have impact on the people and places will we be during this journey!
And lastly…..
Chivalry
It is not dead!
We were blessed and refreshed to have some amazing men on our squad. The men on our squad made me and others feel so respected as women and were constantly demonstrating chivalrous actions over and over. I came home feeling refreshed and respected by these men of God. Even the simple things they did like giving up their chairs, or letting us eat first before they even touched the food, and there were only 11 of them, and over 40 of us! Amazing guys! Thank you! You made us feel so respected and it is a rare thing to see (maybe it is a southern thing, but it was awesome!)
