Lamp Lighters.
So when we were trying to come up with a name for our team that would be meaningful to us as well as prophetic for what is to come over the next year, we ran into some issues. We all had really great ideas, but none of them seemed to fit well enough. We decided to write a “mission statement” of who we were and what we were going to be about this year.
I can’t remember what we came up with, but it had something to do with showing God’s love to all people, bringing victory, you know, the yuge (haha that is supposed to be the abbreviation of usual. Say it like luge… but with a “y” sound… get it? Abbreviations are hard to spell out. My name is Allison and I have ADD ADD ADD ADD ADD). So anyways, we made our missions statement and then tried to come up with some names from that, but still nothing was jiving.
Then Rikki, that wonderful girl, she pipes up and asks if we could just pray real quick. Uhh… no Rikki, who do you think we are, Christians or something? So we prayed that God would put a name on our hearts. And He did!
After we had all said what we heard, Sean quietly starts to tell us a story about how in the early 19th century, the lamp posts all around the cities in Europe were lit by fire, not electricity (obvs…). There were people who were called the Lamp Lighters who would walk around at dusk lighting each lamp, slowly spreading light across the city.
Immediately we knew that was the name we were supposed to have. We all wanted to go around spreading light to each city, town, village that we happen to enter this year.
Then Sean said something that I believe was directly from Jesus. He mentioned the fact that the lamps are already there, you just can’t see them until they are lit. So the Lamp Lighters go in, light the lamp and then leave it to shine on it’s own, and give light to the city it is in.
SHAZAAM.
We all laughed and screamed with glee at the amazing imagery and POWER that our name held. We were so loud, that we made another team have to get up and leave (sorry guys!)
So there is was. The Lamp Lighters. Perfect, eh? (that’s right. I’m Canadian)
Rikki wanted more confirmation so she asked God to give her a dream or something to confirm that this was to our name and she would tell us the next day what He had said.
Okay, now get this.
Natalie (GANSTAAA) Reeves had gone into the girls bathroom at about midnight with someone who had a headlamp, but she had forgotten to bring her own. That person left her, thinking she would be able to find her way back, but we were sleeping rather far into the woods that night. She ended up staying in the bathroom until about 4AM, when God wakes up Rikki and tells her to go into the bathroom.
Rikki wanders in half asleep and had remembered seeing Nat in the bathroom around midnight.
*”Have you been in here all night?”
“Yeah, I didn’t have a light with me to find my way back. Do you have your headlamp?”
“Yeah”
“Would you be able to lead me back with your light?“
“Sure.”
WHAM BAM THANK YOU MA’AM
Rikki wakes up the next morning and was disappointed that she didn’t get any confirmation.
….Then it hit her.
lol
So that is who we are, and who we are growing into. We are going into this year expecting to see God show up, and expecting to leave a trail of lamps glowing brightly on their own. We are super stoked about where God is going to bring us and we would love it if you would follow along and pray for us while we are out lightin’ some lamps!
*This may not be how the conversation went. I was just guessing here, seeing as I wasn’t actually in the bathroom when they were having this conversation. I think you get the point though.