I found myself looking around the room and laughing. The laughter just would not stop as I looked at the faces of my teammates and as I looked down at myself. We looked absolutely ridiculous as we had a little layer of dirt, paint and dust covering us.
Over the course of the past two weeks we have gotten to help our ministry hosts put bars up over the windows of a church up in the mountains to keep intruders out.
This church had been having problems with people coming in to bum electricity or steal benches so they had asked our host to help put up window coverings. Typically the churches here are just wide open, no windows, no screens just open air because it gets so hot and the breeze is a lifesaver.
My team of 8 women this month looked like they just walked out of the coal mines. They were all intensely working on sanding the rust off of these bars to later be able to weld and paint them.
I was drenched in my own sweat because I just got done helping weld the “windows” together…yep I got to help weld. Throwback to Towry’s basic welding class junior year that actually helped me out in the future. Apparently some of those high school classes really are good for something.
I have seen most of these women dressed in the finest attire that the World Race allows yet they have never been more beautiful than in this moment.
There wasn’t a single complaint out of anyone’s mouth that the job of sanding seemed almost pointless or too small to actually matter to anyone.
Instead everyone was deep in thought..or song as they scrubbed away.
There are no small jobs in the Kingdom! The little pieces that help put together the big puzzle is what is serving this church and even being able to help in this one little way is a blessing.
We have been a team for almost 5 months now. Before we even knew we were a team our leadership prayed the greek word “Panta” over us.
Panta by definition means, all things.
Every month I ask the Lord for a word or phrase for the month, the word that the Lord has continually spoken to me this month was “be all things to all people.”
At the time, I hadn’t made the connection but last night one of my teammates reminded us about the word that was spoken over us as team Common Grounds was Panta, all things.
Although some of these things may not be all of our individual strong suits, it’s been really cool to see us be able to step into what the Lord already told us we are.
We get to be all things to all people.
Don’t get me wrong, I don’t mean this to sound like we are Jesus but I do want to say that I am constantly blown away at how much of the character of Jesus I see in each of the women around me and through that I think we have been able to step into the word, Panta.
You need a drama team, we will be a drama team.
You need a choir, we will be a choir.
You need laborers, we will be laborers.
Team Common Grounds, thanks for the community, for the constant “Yes” even when we really don’t want to say it, and for the amazing coffee we’ve been able to drink together. It’s been real.
At the end of this month we will be changing teams as we head into our 10th month on the race. The Lord has taken us on a roller coaster over the course of the last month but I am absolutely amazed at how much He still continues to teach us…even when some of us (me) decide to think we have a lot of this world race thing all figured out. The skills we’ve gotten to use on the race and the opportunities we have been given are some that I could have only ever dreamed of. That is until the race.
The coolest part is that this is really just the beginning of it all because even when we think were too old to change or have already gained all that we need, its never too late to learn something new from someone new.
This month we as a squad also have the opportunity to be hosting 6 girls as part of the World Race Exposure program. This program is designed for people who are interested in the race to come onto the field and join a team for one month. This has brought us an additional two girls to each team and it’s been really cool getting to see the race through fresh eyes.
Grace & Peace to you all,
Bran
Here’s a couple pictures just to give you a better visual:
