In the alternate reality that is training camp, it’s Night 13. Well, actually it’s Night 1. For some unknown reason the first few days of training camp feel like several weeks. This is not because we have too much free time, or don’t have enough stuff to do. Perhaps in the process of shrinking our worlds, time was warped. Anyway…
So Night 1 or 13, I write in my journal. “The thought running through my head tonight was ‘cliff diving’. I’m in that moment on the ledge. I know I’m going to jump. I know it’s going to be ok. Yeah, hitting the water may hurt a bit. Standing on the edge, waiting to jump, dive, get completely drenched. I know this is what God has called me to. I know I want to jump, because it will be so totally and amazingly worth it.�
Throughout the week of training camp we transition through several phases. Shrinking our world lasted a few days. The idea behind this was, before we can go to the world outside, we have to deal with what’s going on inside this area, inside of us.
A few days after that, we shift to team building. Work with different small groups from our June “O� squad of 52 people. Discover strengths and weaknesses that come out while working with different combinations of teammates. It’s a time of high tension and attempts to release decisions to God, because what happens in these few days decides the people who will become our teammates, our family. Magically on day 72 (actually Thursday, day 6), 8 team leaders are handed calligraphy scrolled parchments on silver platters (actually chicken-scratched lists on office notepads) with the names of which squad members are on their team.
Transition to phase 3…perhaps the process of diving off the cliff? God explodes our world. We merge into teams, doing ministry, meeting together for prayer and “feedback� (don’t worry, you’ll hear more later), and becoming a community in the most intense spirit of the word possible.
June 2010 “O” squad
If I tried to explain some of the things we did at training camp, it would sound absolutely insane. I still marvel at how 52 adults agreed to do some of this stuff, completely trusting absolute strangers (now family) without any complaints, questions or mutinee. I’ll share some more of these stories soon, but for now, please know that I feel more humbled and blessed than ever before for those who have supported my decision to go on this “World Race.� Seeing what God has done in my life and those lives around me in a week, it’s overwhelming to think about what can happen in the next 11 months.
