A sweat-soaked, tattered uniform clings to my blemished skin, providing meager coverage for too many fatigued muscles to count. Blood pounds in my ears, echoing my racing heartbeat as I pant to regain some resemblance of control over my breathing. Emotion pools in my eyes and I waste every ounce of energy I have saving my pride and blinking it back. Finally I just close my eyes, rest against the chair back and silently pray that I won’t have to go back in the game. I know better. I was made for this – designed and equipped specifically for this moment. People are counting on me – my team, my coaches, my fans, my crowd… My name is called and my eyes snap to attention. I take one last sip of water and head back onto the court, fixing my eyes on the scoreboard. My team – J Squad – is ahead, but only by a little, and suddenly I’m caught up in the replay of how we got to this point in the game…
FIRST QUARTER
J Squad first took the court in the Dominican Republic, running at full-speed without much of a game plan. It didn’t take long, though, before we worked out the kinks, got over our nerves and began knocking down some shots. We saw souls coming to the Lord, we started to trust one another and our Kingdom talents truly began to shine – J Squad is what you might call a “stacked” team in the Spiritual Giftings category! The opposition wasn’t exactly thrilled upon discovering our level of competition, and in recognizing their inferiority, their coach – Satan – dealt out some sneaky, backhanded plays. In Haiti, J Squad fought off multiple cases of Dengue Fever, stood against witchcraft and survived Hurricane Sandy! Through all of this, we still came out ahead and fired up for more!
SECOND QUARTER
Heading into Thailand, things looked basically the same for J Squad – all starters remained together for the time! Soon, though, it became apparent that a few players had to step up and lead if the Squad’s progress was going to continue, so some painful, yet positive, changes were made, and the game continued into Malaysia. Relationships became the key to the game – build relationships with your new teammates, build relationships within ministry, and most importantly, grow your relationship with the Lord! Satan countered with plagues of homesickness and discontent, but his meager efforts were thwarted by J Squad prayer warriors who carried us on to Cambodia! “Manistry/Womanistry/Marriagistry” month rocketed us into half-time, and we bid our goodbyes to the continent of Asia!
THIRD QUARTER
Things looked a little different when we reclaimed the court in Tanzania. Amid days of door-to-door evangelism, hours spent praying in “demon tents,” delivering innumerable sermons and contracting our first case of malaria, J Squad spotted plenty of roadside giraffes and zebras and all but fell in love with Africa! After a few minor tweaks, we continued in Malawi, celebrating together as Squad members received different kinds of healing, praying for one another against wicked storms and horrific bus rides, battling a few cases of staff infection and beginning to notice a slight loss of steam. A quick time out for Easter in South Africa and a pep-talk from a fellow J Squad member propelled us into Swaziland! We ran on momentum through our final month in Africa, expelling all our energy on loving children, performing maintenance work, digging through garbage, visiting hospitals and perfecting our “community” living skills. By the time the whistle sounded – somewhere after an all nighter in an airport and 72+ hours of transit, we landed in Europe and, low, here we are…
Truth be told, we are still fighting to catch our breath. No one expected this game called The World Race to be an easy win, and Satan has done all he could to ensure our defeat! By my squad – J SQUAD – DOES NOT BACK DOWN! We scrap, claw, climb and drag ourselves (and each other) over lose ball after lose ball, and as the score has increased, it’s only made our hunger for victory grow stronger! The stats of the first three quarters are impressive, I don’t deny that; and we have loads to be proud of. But this game is not over! Satan is still coming at us.
This quarter, he’s waving fatigue in our faces. He’s nagging us with lustful thoughts of home – of “easy.” He’s dousing us in apathy and laughing as our minds drift to concerns over what to do when The World Race comes to a close. This is no time to give up! What we’ve accomplished so far seems mundane if we don’t cap it off with a win! Is it hard? You bet! Every step requires focus. Every move demands commitment. Every shot counts. It’s now or never. Do or die. Time to give 110%, leave it all on the court and know that when we finish – AND WIN, because we know this battle is already God’s victory – that we held nothing back. We gave it our all. We went FULL-TILT-BOOGIE!
Let’s Go, J Squad! Let’s Go!
Be Blessed,
Ash
