DISCLAIMER: This is quite a long post, so take it in chunks, or give yourself time to read it as one whole novel (it’s not really that long). Also, hopefully if you read my previous post you won’t expect everything I post to be so…dismal.
Prologue:
How great is our God? Every now and then I hear the story of someone who, by the power of Christ, has healed another person. Or the tale of an individual who has cast out demons. But whenever I hear about these kinds of happenings, I always have a hard time grasping the fullness of it. It’s not that I don’t believe these kinds of things could happen, it’s just that I can’t typically imagine God working through me in those ways, or through other people to me.
If you have been in touch with me recently, you know (hopefully) that I was recently in Georgia from July 7th-16th at a training camp for my upcoming mission trip. While there, God worked through me and spoke to on many occasions. I’m here to tell you about just a few of those occasions.
Chapter 1: Daniella Shdo & My World Race Community
At training camp, I met a sister in Christ who has legit healed people! It’s not often that I use the word “legit”, so now you know that I mean it. Her name is Daniella Shdo, and she is on my Squad (praise the Lord). Daniella and many others spoke with me, prayed over me, and showed me a kindness that can only come from Jesus. I felt God’s presence surging through them and pouring over into me. Daniella is not afraid of sharing God’s love and His Word, even with complete strangers! As a matter of fact, she looks forward to it. Check out Daniella’s blog @ daniellashdo.theworldrace.org and support her on this journey.
Chapter 2: Living Water
During a breakout activity, we learned how we hear God’s voice in our lives in many different sessions. In one of these sessions, called Aesthetic, we determined whether or not God spoke to us through art/imagery. We were given watercolors, crayons, and a piece of paper. I closed my eyes, and within a moment envisioned a hand made of water, reaching up. I felt God calling out to me through this, so I painted it (pictured below).
A couple days later, the lovely individuals who worked behind the scenes to ensure our experience at camp was incredible announced that they would be having baptisms: a World Race training camp first. I didn’t think much of it except that it was “cool for others to have that option.” Two days after that I was baptized by my friend and Squad Mentor, Shadrach Jensen.
It wasn’t until I returned to New Hampshire and unpacked that I stumbled upon this painting again, and finally realized its significance: I had been given a vision of my own future! God was calling me to get baptized and I didn’t even know it at the time.
In the moment before I made the final decision to make my faith my own by getting baptized, I asked God, “Is this what you want me to do?”
To which he replied, “You already know the answer.”
At first this confused me as I wondered how I “knew the answer”. But now it is clear to see that the Lord was referencing the image He had given me days before.
Chapter 3: The Ship, the Deodorant, and the Shadow
There was another activity called listening prayer in which our Teams of 6-8 members (Teams are smaller groups inside our larger Squad) sat in a circle with our eyes closed and heads down. We were instructed to focus on the presence of God, and say aloud whatever word/images came to our minds. Meanwhile, our Squad Mentor would tap the shoulder of one of us Racers, and the rest of our team would be unknowingly praying for/about this person. I was just as skeptical of this practice as you probably are if not more so.
Round one of this activity I saw a large pirate ship with clean, white sails, and then this image did a lotto-style spin into the image of a bright red race car. I nervously stated that I had seen these things, unsure of their meaning. When we opened our eyes, the girl who we had apparently been praying for, my teammate Kendra Mallin (kendramallin.theworldrace.org), brought up that the Lord had been putting a verse on her heart. A verse that said something along the lines of “He is the wind in my sails.” And He had been telling her to be comforted in the fact that he was taking her places. Others’ words and images matched what Kendra had been feeling as well. I left the first round only slightly less skeptical. She could have made that up, I thought.
The next round was a lot more powerful for me. Soon after I had entered into the dark abyss of my closed eyelids I saw a sunset from the perspective of someone sitting on the beach. Then the scene zoomed out and became the label on a thing of Old Spice: Fiji deodorant (strange, I know, but bear with me). When I put that out on the table it got a few chuckles. I thought to myself, Everyone makes a fool of themselves sometimes. Next I saw my teammate Kassie Arrington’s (kassiearrington.theworldrace.org) face. I said all that I saw, and when we lifted our heads I caught my Squad Mentor, Shadrach, staring at me in awe.
“What?” I inquired.
“When you said you saw Kassie,” He replied, in shock. “I freaked out because she’s the one who’s shoulder I tapped. The one we were praying for.” He smiled.
“Yeah,” Kassie got my attention. “And Casey, I have Fiji deodorant at home, that’s what I use!” She said, laughing.
It’s truly very difficult to express the gravity of such seemingly small visions, but it rocked me to my core, knowing that God spoke to me so clearly.
The third and final round really moved me. This time around, Shad was not going to tap one of us on the shoulder, he would just have the person we were praying over in mind. At the beginning, I had a strong feeling that everyone’s prayer was about me. My teammates said things like “you belong here”, which was something I had been concerned about; or the word “brave”, which is the meaning of my name. Then I envisioned things, and spoke them out more confidently than in previous rounds: a pair of hands with blue electricity coursing between them; a third-person view of myself looking in the mirror, but in the reflection was a soot-black, shadowy figure; that same shadow looking in the mirror at me. Upon my expression of these visions, I felt less sure that everyone was praying over me. However, I had this odd sense that I was a part of it somehow.
We opened our eyes, lifted our heads, and my teammate Hunter Meadows (huntermeadows.theworldrace.org) asked, “Shad, were we praying about me?”
Shadrach answered, “Yes.”
“I had a feeling.” Hunter said. Selfishly, I felt discouraged that the prayer hadn’t been about me. Then Hunter addressed me. “Casey, I hate to admit this, but from the moment you showed up, even though you came in a day late, I have been comparing myself to you.”
Taken aback, I admitted that, “I’ve actually been comparing myself to you, too.”
This explained why I had seen both views of myself looking at the shadow (Hunter) in the reflection, and the shadow looking back at me. We also noticed that Hunter was wearing all black, perhaps explaining why he appeared as a shadow. As for the lightning, I saw that as Hunter’s almost magical talent with the guitar and supposedly some twelve other instruments.
Again, it’s hard to describe the intensity of the emotions that came with the realization that these were visions from God.
Epilogue:
Thus ends the telling of a few of the unbelievable works I saw God perform at training camp. Thank you for reading, and your continued support!
Goodnight, and God bless!
How Great by Chance the Rapper (ft. Jay Electronica & My Cousin Nicole)
