We just finished our month 4 debrief in Kathmandu, Nepal. It was both restful and a whirlwind of events.
The craziest part about this debrief, though, was every single team was changed. The 5 girls I’ve spent the last four months with (my family, really) are no longer my team. It’s crazy to think about and even a bit sad. Team Global Rootz definitely had a good run and I’ll be forever thankful for everything they taught me.
So far on the Race we’ve had 2 alumni squad leaders (2 people that have been on the Race before) who have been out here on the field with us. They’ve helped us with ministry, traveling, building community, and so much more. We’ve loved having them with us, but we’ve known since the beginning they only spend the first 5 months with us.
Now it’s time for change. During month 4 debrief the alumni squad leaders raise up new squad leaders from within the squad to take over. And I’m excited to announce that I, along with 2 other squad mates, have been asked to fill this new role!
Meet Team Tapestree!
Doug, Colleen, and myself will spend the next several months leading our squad through the rest of the Race. And we’re super excited about it! We know it’s going to be a challenging and humbling experience, but we all also know it’s where God wants us to be for this next season.
We chose the name Tapestree for a couple of reasons. One reason is a tapestry can be considered a type of covering and our hope is to cover our squad as we lead them. Cover them in love, prayer, encouragement, and so much more. It’ll be a learning process, but we’re all excited to see what happens. The other reason for our name is we all really love the imagery of trees, especially in the Bible. These two passages of scripture stuck out to us most as we thought of team names:
“And all the trees of the field shall know that I am the Lord; I bring low the high tree, and make high the low tree, dry up the green tree, and make the dry tree flourish. I am the Lord; I have spoken, and I will do it.” (Ezekiel 17:24 ESV)
“Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, whose trust is the Lord. He is like a tree planted by water, that sends out its roots by the stream, and does not fear when heat comes, for its leaves remain green, and is not anxious in the year of drought, for it does not cease to bear fruit.” (Jeremiah 17:7, 8 ESV)
We want to remain rooted and established in love and in Jesus as we seek to serve our squad well. It’ll be a long journey of ups and downs, but it’s all going to be so worth it! I love Doug and Colleen and can’t wait to work more closely with them during these upcoming months.
One other little thing I’ve thought of to go along with out team name comes from my favorite line from a song in the movie The Prince of Egypt: “a single thread in a tapestry, though it’s color brightly shines, may never see it’s purpose in the pattern of the grand design.”
I love that line because it’s so true and relates so well to life. We may never see the impact we make or the purpose we serve because our perspective is just so small. So my prayer for our little trio (or should I say tree-o… Sorry, I couldn’t help it!) is that we would trust The Lord is using us for a grander purpose than we can even realize at this time. We just need to love the people He puts in front of us and let Him use us in any way He can.
