How do I even begin to sum up the last two weeks of my life? Have you ever had a gap the size of California manifest itself so quickly into your heart, only to be filled by the Holy Spirit and the 47 individuals you are going to be around for the next 11 months? Do you have a second family that truly feels like home? Have you had people that just get it and don’t judge you for how much you want to dance, jump and cry in worship or while you share words that spill out of your mouth from the Holy Spirit? Have you been around people that unconditionally love you no matter how many times you lose your water bottle, chair, glasses, tent stakes, place to sleep, fall down a hill, etc..? (Yes, every single one of those things happened to me at Camp). It’s a tribe. It’s God. It’s Jesus.
World Race Training Camp is a lot like Jesus Camp, heightened in every emotional and spiritual way by freedom, for adults. Tents and Eno Hammocks between trees in the woods, Georgia Heat, Yellow Porta Johns, steep and rocky hills filled with Georgia red clay dirt, so many smiles and laughter, small food portions, worship in which the Holy Spirit moved in more ways than I have ever experienced before, meditating on songs like “Good Good Father” by Housefires. Breakout sessions on intimacy, influence, and emotion, sharing testimonies between Squad Mates under the Georgia stars, sleeping scenarios, and so much processing… Like, a lot of processing… With only more to come.
While I’d love to write and talk about the plethora of things that I experienced at Training Camp, those things barely scratch the surface on what I gained while at Training from God. I know there are future Racers out there who are longing to know every scenario AIM puts us through, but believe me when I tell you to wait. I was one of the kids who scrounged every blog I could to find out what they do to us, and it quite frankly ruined the surprise every time a sleeping scenario would arise (this, however, did not detract from my excitement for the sleeping scenarios we were given). Please, future racers, don’t do what I did… Just wait. However, if you do what I did and creep every blog for sleeping scenarios and crazy stuff, it still doesn’t detract from the way God will work in you if you are open and let Him do what He wants with you at Training.
Bill Swan told us at the beginning of camp that there were six areas the staff at AIM would challenge us in while there. Those six things were Identity, Intimacy, Living a Life Lead by the Holy Spirit, Stewardship / Ownership of our own lives, Community, and The Kingdom of God.
There are a lot of things I learned that fell under these six things, but I have managed to get it down to three main things that God really worked on with me while I was in Georgia.
These three things are:
Identity in Christ
Vulnerability and Forgiveness
Creating Space and Awareness
In the next few days I will be posting about these three things individually because trying to compact them all into one blog is just too much words (Yep, I’ll be making up for all those weeks I didn’t blog, you know you love it :] ).
While I am in this in-between period of waiting and continuing to Fun-raise to that $10,000 goal, please be in prayer for my specific team (who I will introduce in a future blog), the Squad as a whole, and I. Please also be praying for finances. I have reached $6,017 since being at Training Camp. Praise the LORD! This leaves me with $3,983 dollars to raise by August 21st in order to launch. Please really pray about donating or helping out in any way if you are, or even aren’t in the PA area. I can be reached by email (there’s a link on the side under my profile picture) quickest if you want to talk with me further about my journey and what brought me here.
Otherwise, hold on tight, the lessons are coming. :]
All my Love,
Ashley
