N Squad…
You don’t know me, and I don’t know you, but we have the same dad. Our daddy woke me up this morning and put you on my mind. I am sick, actually most of my D Squad is sick in some way. I literally can’t talk right now. For the past three days, I have not had a voice. I whisper and can’t get my point across, or I try to speak and sound like a goose or something ridiculous.
Anyway, that is beside the point. Our daddy wanted me to write to you I think. You guys are special, not just because you are sons and daughters, but because you have the Garmons as your coaches. They were/are our coaches. I am writing this on behalf of my entire squad, even though I haven’t discussed it with them at all…I think they will back me and agree with me in Spirit…
I just wanted to write to you guys and share my heart.
Some of my people were at your launch. I already know they spoke powerful breaths of life and blessing into you. They loved you, on behalf of our entire squad. If I would have been there, I would have cried immediately, and then spoken truth and encouragement to you. So, since I didn’t get to hug you and pour into you in person…here goes.
First of all..you have the garmons! Randy and Betsy. Good grief. Do not take them for granted. They will be your spiritual parents in the flesh. They will fast for you, pray for you, get their hands dirty on behalf of you, and lose a lot of time and sleep too. Trust me, I know, I am speaking from experience. Ladies, please don’t hesitate to dive into Randy’s big ol loving arms. You will instantly feel the healing touch of the Father. You will instantly feel the protective and Fatherly love that flows directly from His heart. Men, learn from him. Soak him in and pay attention to how he treats his woman. Take notes. Now for Bets, ladies and gentlemen…let her ignite power and strength in you. She will both kick you in the butt and cry tears over you. Don’t overlook her insight into how to explore your story and your personal journey. She has keys that will unlock NEW things and more BEAUTIFUL things. What a loving mama she is. It is so crazy, she will soon refer to you as “birds,” now don’t think it’s weird, it fits, I promise. The image I get is a bunch of scared and young little birdies flying into both her and Randy’s arms…then the birds get filled and empowered to FLY. So, utilize the power and the love and the grace that lies in their arms and hearts. That’s my first thing for you.
Next, is something I realized more than ever at Searchlight. (well you prolly don’t know what Searchlight is yet, but it’s the reunion AIM has for you a month after your return) … but what I realized about my squad was so simple yet so complex. So easy, but gosh so not easy at all. So desirable and SO much fought for…
It was LOVE.
Believe me, if you knew me, I could be saying a lot of other stuff to you right now. Stuff to empower you and propel you into things…like: jump and risk it all. Step into your giftings. Be bold and confident and OBEY what He asks you to do. Sharpen each other and call each other UP into bigger and better, deeper and wider, fuller and new things. Speak truth and don’t be afraid to ruffle a little feathers along the way. However, the thing that has left the longest impact, the thing that welded us together, and the thing that has us all pulled into one…
That thing, was and is, Love.
This love became so real to me at searchlight. I saw this love when we would all do any and everything to just be near each other. We traveled far and wide just to spend a few extra moments together. We stayed extra nights at the Garmons house, and they weren’t even there, just to be together a little longer. We are traveling across the world together now. We are supporting each other financially now. We are writing hand written letters to each other. We are doing fundraisers secretly for each other, so the other can fulfill their dream. One of us moved to DC and missed searchlight, but seven of us have already visited her.
I am not saying all this to brag. I am saying it to just show you what can happen, what will happen, when you LOVE. Now, loving isn’t easy, especially on the race, you will soon find that out. But, one thing that was instilled into us was that you can choose to love and that you should fight for love. Our love came through ugliness. I saw the ugliness first hand.
People cried.
People stormed out.
People cussed.
People ran away.
People back stabbed.
People gave up.
People got annoyed.
People ate all the food and pissed the others off.
People didn’t receive or even participate in feedback.
Lots of ugly in there. But, the reason we were able to conquer all that was because we encountered His love. You can only give what you have received. If our ceiling is gonna be your floor…then stand on His love. That’s truly all you need for this journey. The other stuff will come, trust me. But, just focus on the LOVE. It sounds so simple and blah, but forreal, His love will change you. For all you Kim Walker fans out there, at the end of “How He Loves Us,” she gets all prophetic and speaks in the spirit and says, “Once you’ve encountered His love you are never the same!!!” She yells that! She repeats it over and over at least three times…
Nothing has ever been so true.
Think of this journey as you and Him, just traveling the world together. Seeing crazy things. Doing weird things. Meeting amazing people. Falling in love really. Just fall in Love with Him. Fall hard. It will change everything else. Do you have pain from your past that you want to be freed of? Encounter His love. Are you crazy anal and just don’t like people? Encounter His love. Maybe you want to save all the orphans in the world? Only by encountering His love…
Simple as that ;).
Welp, on behalf of my D Squad, Randy and Betsy’s old birds, I bless you. I speak LOVE, so much love over you guys. I speak boldness, courage, and strength. I speak a love that fights for one another. A love that lays down all pride and overlooks all wounds just to embrace one another. I speak a love that gives the world a glimpse of His love. I speak His grace and peace over you. You will encounter Him, not just the world. Keep your eyes open. He just wants to romance you and bring you in to His crazy buff powerful, yet gentle and warm arms (like Randys 😉 and once you encounter His love and it infects your insides and it permeates through you…let it leak out and change the people you encounter. Even when you don’t feel that love, speak it into existence. Breathe life into the dry bones that you will encounter. Touch them with His love. Walk in confidence and authority. You are sons and daughters. You aren’t going on some type of mission or battle; you are just traveling the world with your daddy. He goes before you, behind you, beside you, under you, over you, inside you, and even around you. It’s a beautiful thing. I am so excited for you, sue excited. Let love be your focus. We love because He first loved us. So, my advice is, if you don’t know His love, seek that first, and let that ring true in your heart, not just in your head because you have it memorized. Let it drip down and explode your soul. Then, once that takes place, life begins, but only then does life truly begin, because that is what truly changes you and impacts those around you.
Disclaimer: I had to learn all of this the hard way…I went all around the world, stepped into new gifts, new things, new power, received a new voice, new eyes, lots of stuff really…but here I am, a little over a month of being back…and all I want to impart to you, is love. LOVE LOVE LOVE.
So with that, D squad loves you. Guaranteed we are praying for you. We bless you. We lift you up and say, “Go. Soar. Soar above the heights we soared to.” We are here for you. We prayed for you on our last day together on the field, weeks before your departure. We got nothing but love for ya.
Ps: this is special for N Squad, but it applies to all racers. All people rather. The race is just a wild way of living life. So people, random people, and ordinary people livin it up in the states or anywhere else… trust me, it’s all about the LOVE, it’s all about HIS love. I traveled the world, experienced a whole lot of crazy stuff, and even found a bunch of other very precious and awesome things….but nothing compares with His love, truly. If you never travel outside of your suburb or state or whatever, but you have encountered His love and His intimacy, then keep your fanny parked right there. You don’t need to go searching for anything else, you have all you need.
“Seek Him first and all these things will be added unto you.” – this is a fact!
Chase after His heart and be infected with His crazy and unconditional love for you, then go infect some other people, whether it’s your squad, your family, your coworkers, your neighbors, I-20 students, your in-laws, foreigners, other lands, orphans, gangsters, hipsters, or even dare I say.. your enemies!
LOVE. LOVE. LOVE folks 🙂
