Pre-game
I’ve been away from my team for a week. I get back on
Friday, take Saturday and stay back at the house to transition and spend some
time laying in God’s presence. Team goes to church on Sunday. Carin’s
preaching, Sarah is leading Sunday School, Heather’s leading worship and
Courtney and I…are going to preach a sermon at a school down the road. No
biggie. I have absolutely nothing prepared. And a complete peace about it.
Maybe because I figured Courtney could come up with something if I totally blanked.
Warm-up
So we jump on a matatu with one of the pastors I’ve never
met before and head to the school. Apparently there was miscommunication and we
were already late. Walk up, they’re already in the middle of service. We still
have nothing planned. And I realize I don’t even have my Bible. It’s at the
house with Logan. Courtney and I sit down at the front of the room while the
teenagers sing a worship song or two. “What do you want to do?� Courtney has
her sermon on declaring life written down in her journal. I have the life
lesson to share of “Don’t ever tell God you’re not something.� Courtney has the
thought that we can make the two mesh. We decide we’re gonna go up front
together and tag-team this thing…whatever that means. Never done it before.
First quarter
We walk to the front of a room of teenagers. Tough crowd,
right? Ha. I start with a brief explanation of what we’re doing. Left home in
June, not getting home til May. Traveling. Living out of a backpack. We said
“Ok God, we’re surrendering, giving this time to you and going to do whatever
you have for us.� Warning: God will take that literally.
I share with the group, “I told God a lot of things that I
was not. After one solo in high school-‘I am not a singer.’ After some last
minute graduation speeches-‘I am not a speaker.’ Traveling the world with no
textbooks or Bible college degree-‘I am not a pastor.’ Three weeks of nothing
to do after quitting my ER job-‘I don’t have anything to give outside of a
trauma setting.’ Lacking confidence and identity-‘I am not a leader.’ God
flipped all of that around and told me who I was. ‘Your identity is not in
being a nurse. You are my daughter and you have power in that.’ That meant
singing at a church in Romania, sharing a testimony, leading a team, pouring
out more than I knew I had and standing up here sharing with you right now.�
Second Quarter
I pass it off to Courtney, who adds a disclaimer about the
two of us spending the next forty minutes pacing back and forth across the
front of the room, like teammates on the sideline waiting to get called in to
sub. She steps in with word on speaking life, encouraging each other, hearing
what God is saying about the person next to you and speaking that.
Pass back to me, where I lead in with real life example. “I
said I wasn’t a team leader. There was no way I could lead a team of seven. God
and I fought about this in a field in Georgia. ‘I can’t do this.’ Hadn’t
learned the lesson about telling God you can’t do something yet. Alone, I
couldn’t do it. It required more dependence on God than anytime in my life. So
I led a team. And for three months, they ‘spoke life’ into me. They reminded me
that there’s no reason for fear. God had appointed me to lead in this time.
They spoke confidence into my life. Encouraged and uplifted. Then three months
later, I was asked to be a squad leader. ‘I can’t do this.’ I’ll learn my
lesson eventually. So now I had forty some people ‘speaking life’ into me.�
Half Time
Due to technical difficulties, the half time
show was delayed. Keep reading. It was entertaining. Thankfully, it was not
recorded for future generations. Or this one.
More comin…
