Who would have thought 7 days could impact you so drastically! Could impact everyone so drastically.
I came into training camp expecting it to be a lot of ‘how to do this’ or ‘how to do that’, getting physically fit for the trip, trying new foods, meeting your squad and by the end of the week knowing your team you will travel with. In a sense I was right. In another I was wrong.
I arrived at training camp on Saturday July 19th with 4 other guys from my squad (Gap Year A) that were on the Man Hike with myself (look for a future blog on this). We arrived later as we spent the day together running around Gainesville, GA. It had been raining a lot the last 2 days so when we got there we were instructed to sleep in a room with the rest of our squad since our site was flooded. First of all walking into a room full of 40 or so other young adults dressed in green (our team colours were green and there was a competition) is both intimidating and yet so awesome! Right off the bat I was excited to get to know everyone and walked around the room introducing myself and exchanging many hugs. This was already shaping up to be a lot of fun.
Our sleeping space was in the basement part of the new building we referred to as the ‘Lodge’. This was one main room with 2 little rooms off of it. Bryan (fellow squadmate and co-manhiker) found space in a back little room. Thinking it would be better to be in a small room (less noise, less chance of snoring etc) we decided to bunk down next to each other. In this room was Makayla, Abbie and Rae. Later Samuel joined us. I’ve got to admit it was weird sleeping next to people I’ve never met and don’t really know as well as it being mixed company, although this may be a reality on the Race. We got through it though.
Each morning we were to be up and ready to go (this means everything packed up – tent and etc included) by 7 am. At 7, you commence with a 30 minute work-out that varied based on the day and the instructions you got from the envelope you opened each morning. 7:30 meant time for quiet time, aka private devotional/God time. 8 am breakfast. The rest of the day was fairly consistent throughout the week, including lunch and supper near normal times. For the first half of the week our days were predominately filled with teaching – but not the ‘how to do this or that’ teaching. It was teaching that would, depending on how you applied it, change your Race experience and how much you saw God and experienced Him.
I was blessed this week to have Ron, a dean at Alliance Theological Seminary teach on about 12 different topics that are important for us on this trip. Instead of looking forward to what we would need on the trip, He looked backwards to where we had come from and who we are. Topics like ‘Healing and Forgiveness’, ‘Vulnerability’, ‘Proper Grieving’, ‘Emotional Healing as a Doorway to God’s Power’, ‘Bounded Set vs. Centred Set’, ‘Shame and Performance’, ‘Spiritual Instinct’, ‘The Role of the Holy Spirit in the Believer’s Life’, ‘Prayer Ministry’ and more!
To some those topics may seem boring or tedious and some think that they have it all underwraps. I thought I had everything worked through too… but I was still broken. My squad, other squads were broken too. This was the start of our growth and how God will use us. I saw squadmates deal with sin issues, fears, regret, unforgiveness, family issues, physical or emotional pain etc. I dealt with some myself. Each and every session with Ron was a blessing. I’m not sure how I could even begin to explain it.
During these times I was exposed to things I didn’t grow up seeing or experiencing. Things I had read about in the Bible but never knew God worked that way today. Lets say that this experience was more towards the Pentecostal end of the spectrum rather than the Evangelical. I want to share with you one of the big memories for me of this time. It’s day 2 (July 20) of TC (training camp)and Ron shared about how others around the world had been physically healed because of prayer and belief and how he had experienced while on trips. He mentioned how our spiritual sense were underdeveloped in the Western world because of our outlook on life. We have confused comfort with spiritual discernment. In a prayer he shared with us from a prior time he had asked God why He didn’t heal people in NA (North America) and God answered him saying that in NA He has become the god of the last resort. Pause and think about that for a second. When was the last time you got hurt and instead of rushing to the hospital right away you stopped and prayed for God’s healing. Let’s be real folks, we have so often replaced God with a bottle of Advil. I’d just like to say that my God is more powerful and greater than that. The fact is we in NA have not been discipled for theology to come into reality. Meaning that in my right hand there is theology and in my left hand is reality but there is no time these two ever come together, rather there is a space in between, a nothingness where we live. Ladies and gentlemen let me say it again, we have not been discipled for theology to come into reality. There needs to be a change.
For me that change was right after that talk as Ron prayed over us and he prayed BIG prayers to God. As we all stood in front of him, he listed to God’s voice and prayed for healing. I heard people crying out, praying with him. I saw hands raised and tears falling. I stood shoulder-to-shoulder with my brothers and sisters of my squad arms around one another and in the midst of this Ron’s words went to God’s ear and healing came down. Unexpectantly, he prayed for healing of knees and as I stood there in the unfamiliar situation God showed Himself powerful and sovereign over any situation. My knees felt warm and then cooled again in a short time and I wondered if maybe I was healed. Unsure due to lack of experience I needed to find out if God had worked in my life. At this point I find myself relating to the father in Mark 9:24 when he says to Jesus in reference of Jesus’ ability to heal his son, “I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!”. For me I knew God could heal because the Bible is full of it, but I had unbelief because of undeveloped spiritual senses.
You know, God often works in some pretty awesome ways. I needed to test my knee out and see if God really did heal it, guess what the work out was the next morning… a run! Running had been the thing that made my knee the most unpleasant out of any thing. It was characterized by knocking and pain through and after running, especially strenuous running. Well I was lucky enough to have 3 other guys on my team that loved running and we kept a very respectable pace to the point some felt like throwing up after the run. We pushed it. My knee hasn’t hurt since. Hallelujah! So I give God the praise and glory for that! He has become Jehovah-Rophi to me (Exodus 15:26). I am very thankful for that.
To sum up the rest of camp, well just think of amazing things like this happening over and over again to may different people. Think of an army of believers being consumed each and every moment by their love for their brothers and sister, God’s love for them and their desire to bring it to the nations! Never before have I been as happy as I was there, been as happy as I was to work hard and take notes, to cry with people, to be upset by and at people, to be helpless, to be tired, to have only a little voice left, to serve this new found family, to sweat so much, to take bucket showers, to wear the same clothes for 3 days, to eat barely any food, to eat things I didn’t like, to have to let people serve me. I could never actually do this week of my life justice with my words, but I will say it has changed me and I can’t wait for the 9 months that I will be in the same situation again but I will not waste these 5 weeks either.
God was honoured by my squad, my team, AIM (Adventures In Missions) and just everyone. I pray for a blessing on my team and squad as well as AIM. To see all of them seek God’s will so ernestly in every situation is truly inspiring and respectable. I have nothing but love and admiration for those above mentioned.
Lastly, I want to say thank you to everyone who followed God’s call and helped me get to this point of training camp. You have impacted my life and God has been and will be glorified by it. However, the call is still real. I have answered it by saying yes to this trip and by putting thousands of dollars into it. I trust God to provide what I need to go on this trip and right now that’s another $2800 USD. I believe that some of you after reading this will feel God’s call to boldly give. I pray that you answer as God leads you. It is amazing how God shows up when you live beyond your means in His will. God is not distant but right there with you through it all and He honours and blesses you when you live under His call. With God saying I don’t have enough money to give is not right because when He calls you to something He will provide for you. So folks if this is what God is calling you to give to, whatever amount that is, answer the call. This isn’t for everyone, understand that. But if you want to see God really show up and become evident to you answer it. Don’t confuse your comfort with your spiritual discernment. I’ve never been that bold in asking for support but I felt it on my heart and I know God has something for somebody in that.
Thank you for taking the time to read this and continue to live under His blessing!
I love you all!
Aaron Braun
