Coaching at RashidatO.com | Social Activism at Whereveryougolove.com
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To describe training camp with any other one word would be a complete understatement of everything that occurred during the ten days I just experienced.
- Intense Living Arrangements
We were immediately engrossed in the training experience the second we stepped off the bus. The first order of business was to set up our tents. Just in case you didn’t know, I’ve never been camping before. Luckily enough, I was smart and set up my tent in my apartment and even went as far as to sleep in it on my patio before I went to camp, but I totally missed the lesson about how you can’t live without a rain fly. I’m glad that my tent came with one and that I took it to camp with me. But it was so hot with the rain fly covering the tent that it took me getting rained on to get me to frantically jump out of my tent and properly use this God-sent tool. I learned a lot about camping really quickly…
1. Find your head lamp before it gets dark.
2. Get used to being dirty the whole time you are camping, even if you just got done bathing.
3. Port-a-Potties are a step up from cat holes (see my previous post), but full Port-a-Potties are scary when you desperately need to use it and the feces and toilet paper seem high enough that it may touch your skin when you sit down. Intense Spiritual Development
- Intense Spiritual Development
I was happy that this was not the first time I experienced Spiritual Healing of my own issues because the process of doing so at camp was a continuous boot camp for the first 5 days! As Bill, our speaker, stated “even those with the most amazing family and childhoods have been hurt by SOMETHING”. These days were all about unpacking the emotions, the tension, the unresolved issues, the shame, the guilt, the hurt, and other issues that people ignore believing that those things will magically disappear. PSA: those things don’t disappear. I love and was completely impressed in how AIM set up an atmosphere where people could be open, authentic, and vulnerable, allowing each person to make room for God to come into their heart and heal them. It’s beautiful when…
1. … You and the people around you remember and/or realize that your identity does not come from anything that can change.
2. … You can feel God’s presence not only in yourself, but also in the people around you and it connects you all together for a deeper purpose.
3. … Someone tells you “You are not a star… You are a galaxy” and you know that they aren’t lying to you because you have come to understand that God, as our Father and Creator, went to an extreme extent to carefully mold and create every detail about you.
- Intense Ministry Development
Learning how to relate to a child that learned from experience that the best way to get attention is by walking up to a person and groping them and teaching them how it is not ok for them to do it to you is… Intense…
Learning to understand the mindset of a woman who has chosen to prostitute her body in a third world country where it is very likely to contract and spread disease because it is the most lucrative way to earn money is… Intense…
Learning to love on a person who is in a street market begging for food and money while in the back of your mind you are wondering if you are getting scammed, but CHOOSING to love on them, choosing to see them, and choosing to respect them is… Intense.
It’s amazing to know…
1. You cannot save these people. Jesus Christ is the only Savior. Our job is to create a relationship with these people so that we can help them meet Jesus Christ through our love. #JesusIsTheRealHero
2. Love is as simple as a smile. Let down your guard and don’t let such a simple opportunity pass you by.
3. This is where Jesus lives; “with the least of these”. Be ready to experience Him in so many ways. And as you open your heart to His people expect to be changed.
- Intense Community Development
By the end of day 5 I think I was starting to hyperventilate from all the togetherness. Think of working with your spouse. That’s how camp felt to me. I love my squad! They are amazing, kind, fun and with a range of personalities that all love the Lord. We quickly learned that we all love worship and it was that love that helped quickly knit us together. But as much as I love and enjoy them, I needed Rashidat Time. I hit that wall well before the rest of my team did, maybe because I’m the oldest, but I learned a couple valuable lessons…
1. Personal Private Time is a must and really I should pluck myself in the head because I already knew that about myself. I will have to be intentional about carving out time to meet that need.
2. It’s easy to bond quickly with a large group of people when you let down your guard and open your heart. You learn that there are people around you who WANT to do life with you though thick and thin and want you in their lives as well.
3. When everyone is running in the same direction, especially when it’s toward God, community is just that much better.
This is only a glimpse of what happened at Training Camp, but I know that I would not have changed the experience or the people I will do life with for ANYTHING! I’m so glad that God knows what He is doing, because there is no other way this experience could have been more perfect regardless of the good, the bad, and the funny.
Wow; we’re one step closer to launch!
