“Praise the LORD! For it is good to sing praises to our God; for it is pleasant, and praise is beautiful. The LORD builds up Jerusalem; and gathers together the outcasts of Israel. He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds. He counts the number of the stars; He calls them all by name.”
Psalm 147:1-4
team oasis has been in arad, israel for the past two weeks. the original plan was to switch locations and ministry after two weeks and go to galilee but [in typical world race fashion] we are staying put. it’s been such a blessing to be where we are at. four of the six k squad teams are all in arad and we run into each other just about every day. we’ve been having squad worship in the mornings and having a lot of time to spend with the Lord. my team is staying with our contact at the retreat center, and it has been just that. i’ve really been able to be refreshed and rejuvenated, even in the desert.
as far as ministry goes, we have been helping with a soup kitchen five nights a week as well as running a laundry mat. since my team is at the retreat center we have been helping with different things that need to be done around here like picking up leaves and helping to cook on friday nights for shabbat [the jewish sabbath]. we’ve also been able to host different people, including our squad mates, when they just need some time away to retreat. taking care of people is right up my alley so there isn’t too much more i would rather do than serve people tea and coffee all day and talk to them about jesus. since being on the technology ban we’ve had to get creative with how to fill our time. there isn’t much to do in arad [and by not much i mean absolutely nothing] but we’ve managed to keep ourselves entertained. we’ve re-written a few christmas songs, which will be debuted as soon as we hit africa. we’ve decorated for christmas [casey and erin even went into the desert to cut down a christmas tree], we attempted one puzzle, i’ve read three books already, and we’ve just generally had a good time.
after writing my last blog about feeling distant from the Lord and needing Him to just move stacy and i decided to go on a three day fast. since then, the Lord has really been revealing Himself to me in big ways and small ways. i’ve felt a very deep resolve that He is near and He is working. i guess maybe my trust in Him and His ways is being strengthened and solidified daily.
two nights ago stacy and i went on a prayer walk and stumbled upon a perfectly placed bench at a nearby park. we were talking and looking up at the stars when all of a sudden, a shooting star went by. we both smiled and mentioned how great it was and in jest said “jesus, can we have just one more?” immediately, star number two zoomed by. with excitement we continued our talk and began to pray. we both prayed with our eyes fixed on the stars and by the time we were done we had seen a total of eight shooting stars. we were getting up to leave and stacy said, “Lord, just one more for the road?” and there it went. star number nine. well, nine is an odd number and we wanted to be even. “what do you say we go ahead and make it an even ten, Lord?” we sat there for a moment and decided to be content with our nine stars. we started walking home and began singing ‘beautiful’ by phil wickham. zoom. start number ten. at this point i think God was just showing off. we continued our walk home and zoom. shooting start number eleven. i know, right. well, you know i feel about odd numbers and i mean, twelve is biblical. so we asked for just one more. I felt like a little kid in the candy store or something. just as we we were walking up the driveway, there it was. shooting start number twelve. all in one night. just because jesus loves me and i asked for them.
so i started thinking, the Lord knows the stars. He has something invested in them if He knows each of them by name. and yet, i mean so much more. He just gave me twelve of them for no other reason than just to make my heart happy. what a beautiful picture of how we should operate with the Lord. He loves to give good gifts to His children. “you want one more star? absolutely. how about twelve.” the Lord just continues to blow me away by His faithfulness and His goodness. all of the time.
