Adventures WorldRace SethBarnes Sponsorship Giving

| by archiveworldraceblogs

My team spent this past Easter weekend visiting villages in and around Rompin. When I think back about it the preparation that our team put into going was actually pretty legit. We studied, we asked a lot of questions, we prayed and even fasted. We did our best to write 3 point sermons and we tried to be as spiritually prepared to meet the needs in the villages as we could be. In a physical sense we tried to make sure that we had everything we needed which led to the catch phrase for the weekend, ‘Well, we have salt…’

 

At the time of preparation it was pratical. Everyone, and I mean absolutely everyone, told us that the jungles of Malaysia are full of thirsty, blood sucking leeches. In our minds we had horrific pictures of the black, slimy leeches crawling all over our arms and legs. So we took their caution to heart and brought salt as a precautionary measure.

You know what happened, right? Not a single leech. 
  
(NOT a Soul Graffiti team member but it COULD have been.)
 
To make it even better there were things that we forgot to take that would have been nice to have. Sleeping pads and blankets for example. BUT we had all the salt you could dream of. It was a little bit ridiculous and we could have been frustrated, upset or irritated. We could have even shifted blame to say that we should have been better prepared but it just wasn’t necessary. The fact that our team showed up to minister in the jungles with nothing but clothing for a couple of days, bug spray, our Bibles and a large container of salt is actually really hilarious.

At some point I remember Jamie pointed out how we were genuinely living the way that Jesus called his disciples to live and she’s right. When Jesus called the disciples he didn’t send them home with a packing list, they just left with the shirt on their back.

I guess when it comes right down to it we just have to remember that we serve a God of GRACE.

We didn’t set out on this journey as super evangelists or hard core trained missionaries. We’re just a bunch of seekers looking for the face of God. We’re clumsy, unexperienced and kind of dumb sometimes but our hearts are genuine and despite the messes we sometimes find ourselves in our motives are pure. In everything we relay on grace. Grace in the learning process. Grace through the hard lessons and daily awkward moments.

 

 
It’s easy to be discouraged.

It’s easy to accept defeat.

It’s easy to decide that the awkward learning process isn’t worth the effort and simply refuse to try but that was never the way that God intended for us to live. He wants us to try. He wants us to take those steps of faith. And in the end it’s worth it because if we succeed we are encouraged and if we fail God’s grace and love is there to overwhelm and lift us up.