Firstly, after the mother of all travel days I’m currently in Jinotepe, Nicaragua. It took us about 110 hours from leaving our home in Kuala Lumpur to arrive here, but praise the Lord we made it. I promised one last blog about the Malaysian jungle, and I’m glad I waited until I arrived here to write it because the blessings of the jungle resonate even more now that I’m here in Nicaragua.
While still in Cambodia, before we had even the slightest clue we’d be in the jungle, I felt like the month in Malaysia was one where I was going to proactively eliminate some distractions in my life. I think a lot of people have this idea that when you’re a missionary traveling the world and staying in villages it’s so easy to wake up every day and easily make time for prayer and your Bible and the such. I thought it would be. False. I hadn’t been spending anywhere near the time with God I had been, should have, or wanted to. So I decided to abandon.
Abandonment is talked about a lot on the World Race. Obviously we all live a lifestyle of abandonment to a degree: we abandoned home, our family and friends, the comforts of America. However, I was looking for the next level. I hadn’t practiced it most of the Race and that was okay, but this was going to be a month for me to, well I guess, fast. I decided to give up electronics – no spending hours playing Angry Birds on my Ipod or watching a season of Modern Family in two days when there’s a team to bond with or a loving, personal God to talk to. We had also just come from debrief where there was a lot of talk about life after the WR, so I decided I’d also fast those things to have focused prayer on that looming topic. I was scared about how difficult it would be being in one of the biggest cities in the world though. And how many loop holes could I find and still feel like I was abandoning like I was supposed to? I mean it’s completely reasonable to think squad leaders wouldn’t give me important travel info through e-mail and instead use Facebook, so I should probably check it every other day, right?
Luckily God made all that irrelevant when He sent me into the remote jungle. So after we receive our two hour notice and begin packing for the jungle I decide if I’m going to abandon why not go all out? If I’m going to abandon then by golly let’s abandon. I crossed over from abandoning to avoid distraction to also abandoning to create dependency. So knowing I’d be gone for over 2 weeks this is what I packed: 2 pairs of pants, 2 pairs of shorts, 2 shirts, 2 pairs of underwear, a sleeping bag, a travel pillow and a whole lot of books. No computer, no sleeping pad, and most importantly no super special green pillow I’ve slept with since 5th grade. I think my team was a little shocked I was headed out with so little, and it’d be lying to say I was certain this experiment wouldn’t end disastrously. But you know what? It turned out incredibly.
I slept on a tile church floor on my back without my pillow, and I had some of the best sleeps I had in all of Asia without ever being attacked by a creature. Every night though as I laid down I prayed for safety and rest because I needed God’s help. There was nothing I could do except depend, and He came through. It was one of the few times in my life I had no choice but to lean on God, and it’s amazing the intimacy that comes from that.
I woke up each morning and to read my Bible and pray while gazing out at the gorgeous mountains we lived in. A huge part of this was lack of distraction. Some days I loved it, and honestly some days I had nothing else to do. Same with prayer throughout the day. I prayed when I was hungry. I prayed when rats invaded my house. But honestly sometimes I prayed because there was nothing to distract me so I thought why not. As the two weeks passed though, it became more of a lifestyle. It became less well I have nothing else to do but read my Bible and pray so I guess I might as well. Better than staring at the wall. It became hey that time in my Bible is really good – God’s revealing Himself to me through it. This prayer is great – I feel closer to Him. My intimacy with my God, my Father, my Creator increased tremendously during the month.
Also, I started hearing Him speak to me about life after the Race. I put aside distractions and started listening and surprise He answered. I delighted in Him and He began saying yes to the desires of my heart. Incredible stuff.
So that was last month. Away from distraction, embracing abandonment, experiencing dependency and intimacy. Now here I am in Nicaragua blessed beyond belief to be staying in a city, in a hotel with Internet, showers, electricity and a bed – luxuries I don’t normally have. It’s wonderful, but dang it’s tough. I can’t imagine what it’s going to be like in America drowning in distraction. So this month I’ve got a new prayer focus I’d love you to help me with: conquering distraction when it can’t be avoided, the self-control to make time with God a priority even if I can watch live (SEC-leading) Alabama basketball games or downloaded episodes of Boston Rob and Russell back on this season of Survivor. These things aren’t bad, but they can’t take the top spot on my priority list. Because despite the catchy songs and the hysterical Sue Sylvester God’s joy is greater than Glee.
