Oakland Raiders Game
My journey on The World Race ended about 22 days ago, however my adventure has continued on as if not much has really changed. If you have been following my blogs then you might recall me writing about the “ATL’s” that we often did on the race. These were days where we didn’t have any organized program, but just decided to go out into the surrounding areas to do the work God has already given us. The last 22 days have basically been one long ATL….JD and I have made ourselves completely available to whatever God wants to do through us and have been pushing one another to exercise our faith and authority, which we have in Christ! It was a bit strange at first, not being part of any organized program, but it has allowed us the flexibility to do ministry as we have wanted to….or thought we wanted to.
SOS Ministries got a permit for us at Union Square in San Francisco
It has been a sobering and raw experience to literally head out each day without any real agenda, but just desiring to introduce people to the God who made them. While we did quite a bit of evangelism and preaching during the race and particularly in Africa, it has been a different feel here in the states. We have been finding out (sometimes rather harshly) what works and what doesn’t and through this have been learning to strip down to what we really need. We have had ups and downs, faith movements yet moments of doubt, been challenged many times, but through this refining process are being strengthened. Our thoughts, ideas, and opinions toward ministry are also being refined and we constantly find ourselves back at the feet of Jesus desiring to know what a typical day looked like for Him. Not just the cool stories we read about in the bible, but what did life look like for Him between point A and point B.
Still taking public transportation everywhere we go
However, for the most part this adventure has been a blast. God has put some incredible people in our path, opened up places for us to stay for free (thanks Sis, Linda, Patrick, Pete & Lily, SOS Ministries), and revealed Himself over and over again. JD and I are not big planners, but God has provided for all of our needs thus far and has already opened up several doors going forward. He has truly been showing us that when you start moving and doing His will, that He takes care of the rest…we even had some lady give us free tickets to the Oakland Raiders game and always have people offering to buy us food or give us rides.
Spending time with different ministries (Back of his shirt says “Be the church”)
While we were in New York JD and I would pick a different Borough to head to each day. Even though we didn’t really know where we were going, someone always seemed to pop up at an opportune moment to direct us. Spending time in Queens (Chinatown), reminded us of our time in Thailand and Cambodia. Even though we were in the U.S. we had to ask people if they spoke English because about half of them didn’t. New York was such a melting pot of people and cultures and we continually found ourselves talking to people from countries we had just visited.
Our new friend Tim
From New York we flew into San Francisco and have been staying with a ministry in Oakland called SOS Ministries. We found out about the opportunity to stay with them just 3 days before leaving New York through an unrecognized Facebook message. During our time here we have done street preaching in downtown San Francisco, hung out with hippies, potheads, and squatters in Berkeley, helped film a documentary, spent time at a hospital praying for the sick and disabled, and much more.
Some squatters we hung out with in Berkeley
Each day brings us a new escapade, which I won’t go into more depth here; however I plan to write another blog sharing at least two specific testimonies we have had from our adventures with God. Tomorrow we leave Oakland and are heading to Antioch, CA to stay with a family friend for a couple days before moving on to Santa Rosa, CA. There we will be staying with a friend of a friend (basically someone we met during our journey). Hope y’all are enjoying and look forward to seeing many of you in person soon…If you feel like it, we’d appreciate any prayers!
IN-N-OUT, how I’ve missed you…
