My family is made up of six individuals, four girls-two
boys, and we call ourselves Fierce Pursuit. Why “Fierce Pursuit,” you ask?
Because we recognize that God’s pursuit of us is relentless and well, fierce. And we want our pursuit of Him,
and with each other, to be the same way. We are hard working, Spirit seeking,
community building, conflict handling, life speaking,
got-your-back-even-when-you-don’t-need-it, family.
Our feedback sessions are made up of cuddling, laughter,
farts, tears, prayers, and awkward comments. We eat an obscene amount of
popcorn and ice cream. Liz says she could have kernels in her teeth at any
given moment. When there’s only one couch, we lie all over each other and see
how many more awkward positions we can get in and then laugh until our stomachs
hurt. Our feedback is hard and fun and hilarious and sad – and we wouldn’t have
it any other way. The level of honesty and vulnerability our team shares is almost
unheard of. We love unconditionally and
fiercely.
We work hard and love harder. One of my favorite things
about my team is that we don’t back away from a task. When given a to-do list,
we do it and we do it well. We go above and beyond what’s asked of us and that
stems from our ambitious leader, Angela. Even the most mind-numbing or gross
assignment somehow turns into a laughter fest. For example, in South Africa we
were to build a garden but first had to pull weeds from the area. Instead of
dreading the tedious chore, we somehow found ourselves “pop-lock-& droppin”
it to pull up weeds. When we were dropped off in a land fill to pick up
disgusting amounts of trash, it turned into a competition of who could pick up
the most old, soaked diapers and throw them into a trash bag in the 30-second
time limit. We feel that by serving our ministry contacts well, we love them
well. We work fiercely.
Another thing I love about our team is that growth is
continually promoted amongst us – sometimes without us even realizing it at the
time. At any given time on any given day someone on my team could ask me, “What
sin is God removing from you right now?” or “How do you specifically want to
grow with the Holy Spirit this week?” That may sound crazy but on the World
Race, a day is like a week and a week is like a month. Knowing someone for a
year on the race is like knowing them for four years in a “normal life” …
whatever that is. And we experience new things about God just that quickly too.
Life, in all aspects, is in fast-forward on the race. Our team embraces this
growth for ourselves and for each other.
Recently we have been praying to be united in the Spirit.
Yes, we want to be united amongst ourselves, but more than that we want to be
united with God holding us together. It’s a beautiful thing to watch unfold. We grow fiercely.
If I could describe our team in one word it would be hungry.
We know there is more of God and won’t stop until we get it. Although it looks
different for all of us, we seek God and all He has to offer. After all, if
Jesus came to give life abundantly, then
by dang we want it abundantly.
Sometimes we sing really loud and other times we pray. Some days we dig into
the Word and other days we just sit with Him. The Bible says to taste and see
that He is good and our team takes that literal. We love to taste Him more and
more and each time we see that He truly is good. We seek Him fiercely.
I hear Christians talk often about God being previous and
going before us. His sovereignty has never been a question for me. But every
time I sit and think about my team, I’m awestruck with just how individual He
is. Out of 60 people, God chose THESE SIX to make up Fierce Pursuit. Our lives,
our walks, our love, and our faith could not fit more perfectly together. I truly believe these five people are “God’s best” for me right now. We
were each created so uniquely and individually, we are different from the other
five; yet, in that place of diversity, He has somehow molded us to perfectly
make up Fierce
Pursuit.
