Right this moment, I am wrapped in a blanket, sitting in the dining room of our house in Ethiopia. We have been here for a week and we never want to leave! We have experienced so much of God’s goodness and the sweetness of community uninterrupted.
We landed on December 30 and stepped into surprisingly dry, cool air. We looked around and surveyed mountains and grasslands and were struck with awe for the Lord’s creation. We piled into vans and rode to a supermarket where we plucked groceries off the shelves at warp speed. Then we rode 1 local hour (2.75 hours to everyone else) to our compound where we tumbled out of our vans and unloaded bags and bags of groceries and all of our giant packs from the tops of the vans.
From that first startled breath, I have lived my days in wonder of Ethiopia and of the Lord. The air is clean here. Thin, but clean. The sky is huge and uncluttered with buildings. The sunsets are beautiful and the stars are too numerous to count. Days are long and breezy, and nights are cool and deep. We have showers, beds, a giant industrial kitchen, and the company of 39 other squadmates.
Wonder [wuhn-der]
verb
1. To think or speculate curiously
2. To be filled with admiration, amazement, or awe; to marvel
3. To speculate, curiously, or be curious about
noun
1. Something strange and surprising; a cause of surprise, astonishment, or admiration
2. The emotion excited by what is surprising
3. Miraculous deed or event; remarkable phenomenon
This word, wonder, has been a namesake for my World Race squad since before our training camp in June of 2017. It came up in the shirt designing process, and eventually came to be the word we are known for by everyone at AIM.
The word wonder is on our squad shirt, and it’s a word that was spoken over us by leadership at our training camp. From the beginning, we have been told that we are special, that there is something remarkable about our squad, that we are set apart for a special assignment from the Lord. We are now known as Wonder Church.
In so many ways, our squad embodies the word. We celebrate the small things, ask a million questions to satisfy curiosity, admire and gaze at God’s creation and his goodness, and live each day with breathless astonishment. I see the wonder of the Lord in my squadmates eyes as they love orphans, survey beautiful landscapes, and realize God’s goodness in scripture. I see wonder in the way my squadmates seek each other, put God first, and want so wholeheartedly to make a difference in the world.
My squadmates ARE wonder.
Wonder is found in scripture over and over again, mostly talking about God’s majesty. In Job 9, Job discusses God’s wonders with his friends. He talks about God’s power, his sovereignty, his control over all of nature. He talks about God as creator, God as a force so absolute, it cannot be beaten or subdued by anything in all of creation. In verse 10, Job says:
“He (God) performs wonders that cannot be fathomed, miracles that cannot be counted.”
Psalm 40:5 says:
“Many, Lord my God, are the wonders you have done, the things you have planned for us. None can compare with you; were I to speak to tell of your deeds, they would be too many to declare.”
There are a handful of songs out right now that center on the idea of living in wonder.
Hillsong has a song called Wonder. You can listen to the song HERE. A few of the lyrics are below.
I see the world in light
I see the world in wonder
I see the world in life
Bursting in living colour
I see the world in grace
I see the world in gospel
I see the world Your way
And I’m walking in the light
I’m walking in the wonder
You’re the wonder in the wild
Turning wilderness to wonder
If You have so say
I see the world in love
I see the world in freedom
I see the Jesus way
You’re the wonder in the wild
Bethel also has a song called Wonder. You can listen to it HERE and see a few lyrics below.
May we never lose our wonder
May we never lose our wonder
Wide eyed and mystified
May we be just like a child
Staring at the beauty of our King
Cause you are beautiful in all your ways
King of Kings
You are beautiful in all your ways
This month in Ethiopia, being so far away from home, far away from a city of any kind, and with no way to communicate with the “outside world” God reminded me of a sense of wonder that I’ve carried all my life. Since I was little, I’ve been fascinated with animals, stars, the ocean, and plants. I wondered why whales could breathe under water and I couldn’t. I admired the constellations and wished I could scoop stardust up in a jar and put it on my bookshelf. I loved the ocean and wished I could live forever in the ebb and flow of the waves. I use to count leaves and petals and blades of grass and wonder how God had enough time to make them all grow.
In some ways, I have grown out of that wonder. I can learn those things in books or through google now. I can reconcile the fact that I’ll never be a mermaid because humans weren’t created to live under water (and mermaids are fiction, sadly). So sometimes wonder is hard for me. But this month in Ethiopia, the Lord showed me that I can still be in wonder about so many things. I can marvel at the fact that he gives me breath and life every single day. I can admire the fact that I have been alive for 2 and a half decades and sunsets still take my breath away. I can stand in astonishment on the coast of an ocean or at the base of a mountain and recognize that God made the ocean and the mountain AND he made me.
In the Hillsong song above, it talks about seeing the world from Jesus’ point of view. Jesus was with God during the creation of the world. In the book of John chapter 1 we see that Jesus is referred to as the Word. Scripture says that Jesus was with God, and that God did nothing without him.
(vs. 1-4) In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.
(vs. 14) The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.
Think with me for a second. Jesus was with God the Father during creation (and the Holy Spirit was there too). He got to watch and help the Father create everything in existence. He watched the Father spin plants into orbit, pull land up out of the seas, make mountains rise to the heavens, and tell the waves where they were to stop. He was there when animals were formed, when Adam breathed the breath of God for the first time. He watched in awe as a world was created to perfection.
Fast forward some years. Jesus then got to walk on the earth that he watched (and very likely helped) create. Imagine Jesus walking through the streets of Judea, remembering the day the land was formed. Imagine him preaching and knowing intimately the moment each person was formed in their mother’s womb. Imagine him speaking to shepherds and fishermen and remembering when sheep and fish were created. He got to live in the creation that he was a participant in bringing to life! Every day he probably marveled that he got to come to earth and live with, love, serve, and save people. I imagine that every day to Jesus felt like the best, most wonderful day he’d ever lived. Jesus lived his life in wonder.
Just like Jesus, we have the same opportunity to live our lives in admiration of God’s creation, in amazement that we get to bring the Gospel to God’s beloved people, and in wonder of the miracle that is life itself.
What are you in wonder at? What takes your breath away and reminds you how incredible it is that we get to live in God’s creation?
Momma, Dad, Sarah, Liam, Austin, and Skout- I miss you so much! I can’t wait to see you guys and talk on the phone! Thank you for loving and praying for me and for eagerly waiting for me to come home. My prayer for you is that God is exceeding your wildest dreams and leading you in wonder this month. I LOVE YOU SO BIG!
