Hey Pals!
Today marks our first day in Mongolia (MONTH 10?!) and just under 2 months until I will be back on US soil. THAT is crazy. With that looming fact in mind, I have been doing a lot of reflecting on this journey the Father has taken me on this year. There have been so many incredible memories and milestones along that way!
One of those incredible memories/milestones happened last month in Thailand. I GOT BAPTIZED. Not only that, but I got to spend a week with my PARENTS on the field. Thailand was one of my very favorite months on the Race for many reasons. Ultimately, getting baptized by my WR coach, Lisa, and my DAD for sure take the cake.
So, let me rewind…
My team made it to Thailand for what would be our last month together as a team (we had team changes at debrief last month). So, I really enjoyed having those last couple of weeks with my team that I spent most of the World Race with! We worked with an incredible ministry called Outpour Ministries on the Thai/Burma border. Their ministry does a plethora of things, but primarily they help Burmese refugees through their burger shop and coffee shop. During our two weeks in the little town called Mae Sot, we got to ride bikes everywhere, teach kids English, and serve the ministry’s needs. I truly loved those two weeks and was sad they would be cut short.
BUT our time in Mae Sot was cut short by our Parent Vision Trip and THAT was well worth it. Two of my teammates, Morgan and Jeremey, and I left early to go to Chiang Mai, Thailand where we would meet our parents for a week to welcome them into the life we have been living this year. Basically, if racers so choose, we can invite our parents out onto the field for a week to do ministry with us, worship with us, and adventure with us. So, of course, I jumped on the opportunity to have Rob and Bets come to Thailand.
About half of our squad had parents that came out and we all met up in Chiang Mai. The week was way better than anything I imagined. My parents got to meet some of my best friends on the Race while doing ministry with us. Our parents got to love on kids in the slums with us, go to Buddhist temples to talk with and pray for monks, love on the prostitutes in the bars, and they got to do listening prayer with us. Listening prayer has been such a cool part of this journey on the Race and I loved inviting our parents into that.
Listening prayer simply looks like sitting with our Daddy and allowing Him to speak to us. We ask Him to speak to us about anything. Sometimes that looks like asking Him to tell us what to do, where to go, and who to talk to. Then.. we go DO it. We shared this concept of what it looks like to hear from the Lord in this way with our parents and invited them into that process with us. Then, we walked the streets together loving on the people around us, praying for them, and hearing their stories. Watching our parents come alive in this kind of ministry was such a joy. Jesus loves to love His people. So, because I love Jesus, I love to love them too. It looks simple. Love casts out fear, so why should I worry if there is awkwardness or disinterest when we approach people? We just boldly love because we have experienced the Father’s love and desire for everyone to encounter that love. Then we let Him do the rest. During this walk with our parents, He did just that. We had crazy stories and divine appointments with beautiful people all because we said YES.
That week was one of my favorites on the Race. My parents got to see the change the Father has been doing in my heart and jump into that process with me. They tried new things. They said YES to the uncomfortable and the reward was amazing. We worshipped wildly. We loved extravagantly. We served boldly. It doesn’t take much; just a yes in our spirits. All that to say, major thanks to my Mom and Dad for saying yes. We can continue to walk forward as a family that welcomes the Holy Spirit to move in crazy ways motivated by LOVE. Praises.
To top it all off, on May 18th, 2017, I was BAPTIZED. That day was one of my most joy-filled. Here’s the back story:
I was baptized as a baby in the Methodist church. Throughout my life as I have come to know the Father more and more and have chosen for the Holy Spirit to come alive in my life, I have wanted to get baptized of my own accord. I believe that baptism is a outward symbol of an inward transformation. So, for the past few years I have wanted to publicly proclaim that the old me has been buried with Christ and that I have been raised with Him to walk in newness of life. This thought had been mulling over in my mind and heart for a while, and I knew it was something God was asking me to do… When I was in Honduras, month one of the Race, I felt the Father telling me to ask my dad to baptize me when he came out for PVT. When the moment FINALLY happened last month, I was overwhelmed with my love for Jesus and His faithfulness to allow it all to happen how I had envisioned it. I got to give that whole testimony that I just shared with you to my family of fellow racers and our parents just before being dunked into a pool- amidst a rainstorm, in northern Thailand. YES JESUS. It was one of my very favorite days and I got to include my dad and a dear mentor in the process. What a celebration!
As we wrapped up our week with our parents and headed out to debrief in Phuket, Thailand, I left filled with so much joy. Our sweet Papa is so good to us and wants us to experience the fullness of life in His presence. For me, this year He has taken me into new depths of His heart through the Holy Spirit. I have seen Him move and speak to me in ways like never before. I have learned that our Father is a gracious one. He won’t MAKE us know more of Him. He wants us to ASK. So be prepared, because when/if you ask, you will receive. I’ve asked to see miracles and hear the Lord speak to me daily. I’ve asked to heal people and to feel His presence in a tangible way. I’ve said yes to trying things that may have been uncomfortable or that I had never experienced. By doing so, God has made Himself come alive through His Spirit and shown me what intimacy looks like on a whole new level.
As we just closed out our month in Malaysia, I saw this to be true. This month Papa has given our team visions that have come true. He has taken us to places we never thought we would go. He has lavished His furious love upon His people in a country where Islam reigns (all the while Ramadan is being celebrated my muslims this month). Story after story. Miracle after miracle.
This month we didn’t have a host or a set ministry. We didn’t have a set location. We just showed up and asked God what He wanted us to do and where he wanted us to go. Through that process we met people who our Daddy deeply loves and who He wants us to show that deep love to. We met people that needed to hear His wonderful Gospel of grace, and we were so eager to share it.
When we ask to go deeper with the Father, He will gladly take us there. I don’t want to ever settle with my relationship with my Papa. In His Word, He says that I will do even GREATER things than Jesus did. John 14:12- “Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father.”
So, if I believe that Jesus loves His people, did miracles, healed people, and raised people from the dead, then with His Spirit living inside of me, He says that I can do those things?! WHAT?! Like how cool.
So I want more. I want to submit fully to the Spirit and have Him do His incredible work through me. I know that I have truly found my life when I’ve laid it down.
Now we are beginning our second to last month on the Race here in Mongolia. Then we will finish up this 11 month journey in Sri Lanka. Everything is so surreal, and I want to go hard these last two months. I want to see more of God’s glory. I want to love His people furiously. I want to continue to hear God speak and see the crazy things He will do when I listen.
Yes and Amen, Holy Spirit. I’m in.
P.S.
Thanks as always to all of You back at home fighting alongside my fellow racers and me through prayer. Thanks for loving me. Thanks for supporting me. I’m beyond thankful for every last one of y’all…
This month, my team will be roughing it in the middle of nowhere with the nomads (how cool?! nomads?! woo!!) As we go to these crazy places where no one speaks English, please pray that we would faithfully share the Good News with these people in creative ways. Pray that we will love them with the love of the Father. Lastly, please pray that we would use this time unplugged from the outside world to spend in the presence of our sweet Daddy and, as a team, invest in one another!
SEE YALL SO SOON!
Xoxo,
Court
