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For those of you who are just tuning in (…because this is a radio show…?), this thing we’re finishing up here is a segment called “The ATL Journals”, intended to capture the highlights of a journey that my team began back in May. Its one that started without any agenda except to follow God’s lead and learn to better hear His voice amidst all the clutter we’ve become acclimated with associating with it.And so comes the end of “The ATL Journals”, and I think it’s worthy to recall the bullet points to show how God wove the details together like a uniquely brilliant tapestry….
–While serving in Botswana 3 months ago, a contact opened between my team and Zimbabwe. We prayed. We fasted. We sought counsel with our spiritual mentors. We believed we were to go there… yep, right smack dab in the middle of the massive mess of the political situation. Right to the middle of the people of Harare.
–So, we packed accordingly… with NOTHING, since the atmosphere in Zim was dangerous, and dark, and the country was in shambles. With one bag each (1/5 of what we had brought on the Race), we headed to Johannesburg, South Africa, where we would launch ourselves into Zimbabwe.
–But as it turned out, at the last possible second, the doors to Zimbabwe closed. For a few key reasons, God said no. We sought to understand where we were to go instead, and decided to embark on another journey… one that required little baggage (yep, check.), and an Open Road (yep, check.). We rented a car and aimed to drive only where we believed we heard God say to go.
–From South Africa, we drove to Namibia, where God hooked us up with Gracie, a girl who just-so-happened to need help beginning and establishing her orphanage.
–From Namibia, we drove to Zambia, where I learned of a brand new ministry contact in Malawi who founded a church, a secondary school, a nursery school, and an orphanage. Incidentally, Zambia and Malawi just-so-happen to be neighbor countries. God had led us to the next step, one step before. (Not a LIGHTHOUSE to our path, right? …but a LIGHT…)
–Once we got to Malawi, we spent our time striving to serve the orphans, the students, the church members, and Pastor Duncan’s family. We preached. We taught. We loved little parent-less and hungry kids. We started after school programs, and led Bible studies. The work we did there required all of ALL of us, and for the first time, we began to see how much we need each other to function WELL as a team. We began to tap into the gifts of each member for the purpose of deepening and expanding the Kingdom in Malawi.
–It was here that God brought another contact into our path. His name is Herbie, and he is the Malawi representative for Harvester’s International Ministry (HIM), a church planting and discipleship organization that is exploding around the world. They planted over 768 churches from 2001 to 2007— just in Malawi alone. We began to talk about ministry opportunities for our African and American teams to unite.
–And after that conversation, I kept hearing from God: “Matt’s team… Matt’s team…“. So I told Matt, Matt’s team prayed, and got a word from Abba that they were to join us in “Malawi Round 2”.
–I had to leave half of my team in Malawi as I traveled to return the car (affectionately named Tazz) to Johannesburg on June 26th. Guess what else just-so-happened to be in Joburg that day?
Herbie. Because he just-so-happens to live there.
Guess what else just-so-happened to be in Joburg on June 26th?
Matt’s team. Because they just-so-happened to have to get their India visas on that day.
–Matt and I met with Herbie, and to cover more ground, decided to set up 2 separate sites for our teams. Then we tried to buy bus tickets back to Malawi. But, every bus ticket just-so-happened to be sold out for a month. We got on our faces and prayed. And God provided us with a truck. Which was nothing short of a miracle.
–We left the next morning. Shared the financial cost between 2 teams. And headed to the city in Malawi that Herbie directed us to… which just-so-happened to be right back to the city where the other half of my team was.
–And there was definitive reason why those bus tickets were booked. And why God provided us with a truck… because in Nkhotakhota, Malawi, you simply can’t walk from village to village… they are too far apart. And you can’t transport Jesus Film equipment like a make-shift screen, or a 150 lb generator, sound equipment, or or the 14 people that it takes to manage the event in remote Muslim villages unless you have a truck.
So here we are, 2 World Race teams in Malawi, about to split up, one to the north in Nkhotakhota, and one to the south in Zomba.
How did we get here?
I sat in my tent, contemplating this question, and in retrospect, mentally putting together the pieces of the puzzle. We had started with no agenda except to be open to where God would have us go. And piece by piece, God led us to the next spot. Tomorrow we would open a new chapter, Malawi Round 2. I was overwhelmed by the beauty of the woven ATL tapestry.
Now ends the ATL Journals, but we will not be ending the ATLing. We’ve learned through victory and failure, the failures spurring me to see how gracious God is to turn my foolish mistakes into glorious victories for his Kingdom. I learned how to better hear the voice of Almighty God, who is big enough to create and manage an entire universe beyond my comprehension, and small enough to walk with me (and sometimes carry me) on this journey.
As a result of our ATL journey, 3 new World Race contacts were established, hundreds of orphans loved, churches and pastors encouraged by God’s truth, high school students challenged, the hungry fed, the sick healed, and brothers and sisters who wouldn’t have met until Heaven, met on Earth. I pray at least something from this journey has encouraged you. If so, all applause and glory be to Abba, The Great Weaver.
So thanks for tuning in (to the radio show…).
Over and out.
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