I have posted a couple blogs about our ministry and how we’re doing in our countries, but I feel like I should let you guys know what I have been learning lately. I don’t normally let people “inside”, I guess, but I know it’s important to you, my readers and supporters to know what’s going on with me personally. So, what have I been learning lately? It seems as if it should be an easy question to answer, and yet is so hard. How often do you go through a day without thinking about what it is that God is trying to teach you?
Last Sunday Colin preached on having a relationship with God. He asked us if we know God better today than we did yesterday and if tomorrow we’ll know Him better than we do today. And then this Sunday Austin preached on Zaccheus and how he put himself in a position to meet Jesus and had an encounter with the King of the Universe. He asked us what we are doing to put ourselves in a position to see Jesus, to have an encounter with God Almighty. I honestly would love to be able to answer both of those questions in a knowledgeable way; not only because I am currently on a mission trip and seeking to know Him more, but because in everyday life I truly do want to know my God better! I want to have a daily encounter with Jesus that changes me. I want to be growing more like Him every day.
During my time on the Race so far I have been able to spend a lot more time in prayer and in the Word than I got to back home. I love it! However, I still have to manage my time wisely so that I can spend even more time with Him. I never want to take my relationship with Christ for granted – like just because I’m on a mission trip I am growing more like Him. There is NO ROOM for complacency! NO ROOM!! As a matter of fact, I probably need to fight harder just because Satan would love to get me into a state of complacency and let me think that I am doing just fine.
I just finished a biography about a missionary named C.T. Studd. He gave up everything for the cause of Christ: fame, wealth, health, and family. It makes me wonder what I am really giving up or if I just think I’m giving it up. Eric Ludy, who recommended the biography to me, has said that the difference between fasting and surrendering is that when you fast you know you’re getting back what you’re fasting from, whether that be food or something else. In my case that could be my family, relationships back home, hockey, music, my dreams and desires for my future, etc. I have definitely given them all up for a year and I have called it surrender, but is it really a fast because I am planning to go back to them all? Or at least to most of them? If God asks me, am I really willing to surrender all of those things to Him forever, knowing that He is my joy and crown and He will be everything to me?
I have been learning a lot about relationships (that kind of happens when you live in close quarters with 6 others!), but mainly about my relationship with God. Am I spending myself in pursuit of a relationship with the King of the Universe or in pursuit of my own fleshly desires? How about you? I can easily say that I am pursuing my King because I am on a mission trip for a year, but in everyday, actual life am I living that way? It is so easy to say that I am too tired to play with kids today, or that I don’t want to do home visits because the language barrier makes me feel uncomfortable, or that I don’t want to give my testimony in church on Sunday because I don’t like talking in front of people. It is more difficult to say “God, I am trusting you for strength to be able to play with these kids one more day”; “God, I don’t know how to communicate to these amazing people who love you, so I am trusting that You will overcome the language barrier through these actions of love”; “God, I am so afraid to speak before a crowd, but I know this is what you have asked me to do and I want to walk in obedience to You so I will stand up there and share with these people how You have worked in my life in the past and how I know You are still working in my life now and that You want to work in their lives too!”
I guess I am basically learning that I don’t have all the answers, that I need to keep my heart open to whatever it is that God want to teach me, that walking in obedience with Him is far better than anything else, and that I just want to keep pursuing my King with all that is within me. I know this may not have been the blog you were expecting, but I also want to challenge you to humbly walk in obedience to God and seek His face.
Thank you for your prayers and support as I continue to seek my Prince, my King, my Lord, on this journey called the Christian walk. God Bless you; I am praying for you all.
~ For a video peek into Team Triumph’s life on the World Race here in Romania please check out Austin’s blog. He has posted (and will soon be posting more) videos of life, ministry, etc.
~~ FYI: The August World Racers will not be going to Egypt in October. It’s just one of those “no expectation” things that just happen in life :). So we will be in Eastern Europe somewhere next month and I will let you know more when I can!
