Every time during the course of the race when we decide to wash our clothes, hand washing has been the only option. Sometimes the stank doesn’t always come out, sometimes it might smell worse than before, and other times you’ll turn your back for one second and have that one shirt you scrubbed so hard, find its way off the clothes line, and back in the dirt. It’s not all bad though. In fact, doing laundry has been either a doorway to a great discussion with teammates or just a chance to slow down and reflect about everything God may be revealing. Doing laundry today, God revealed more about the things I’ve struggled with all my life.
If you haven’t read my blog about our ministry in Guatemala, I mention how I have struggled with patience on the race. During laundry today, I felt God really open up more to me about the subject. A bad personal habit that I’ve struggled with growing up has been a tendency to not always listen closely to what others have to say. It has gotten to be where I sometimes unconsciously tune out people without meaning to and won’t be able to recall things they were telling me. I’ve really begun to understand the matter as a form of patience. The patience to take the time to be considerate and listen closely to what everyone has to say. Yes, taking the time to listen closely is considerate and it keeps people from repeating themselves later, but it’s so much more than that. It could be an opportunity to do ministry as well.
Yesterday our team didn’t have assigned ministry for the day, so we took advantage of it, traveled into a nearby town to get supplies, and did some sightseeing. We decided to travel to a popular outlook in the town and there we were approached by a group of Jehovah witnesses. One of the Jehovah witnesses began speaking to a girl on our team and shortly into the conversation, I decided to walk off to the side and continue looking over the outlook. I ended up getting feedback that night and I’m glad I did. There have been instances in the past I chose not to try and listen when there was an opportunity to minister because I did not want to set the time aside to hear what the person had to say. Fortunately, the Jehovah’s witnesses only spoke Spanish, so there wasn’t much I could have said to them, but it was a good eye-opener to prepare for similar situations in the future.
Before the race began, I didn’t think I would grow a lot nor was I so aware of my personal struggles, but God has began revealing more this second month to help better me as a person. And for that, He is a good God.
Clay
