Project Searchlight is this week so me and a few squadmates came to the Peach State and are helping with Kitchen Duty.
I expected to cook and clean.
I didn't expect to grieve. Or release more expectations.
Those silly expectations of mine keep popping up.
God had me in 1 Peter 5 during my quiet time this morning so when Seth started his talk with 1 Peter 5, I should have known God had a big day planned. Paul writes some stuff about resisting the devil and standing firm in the faith because we've got brothers througout the world undergoing the same sort of thing.
Yup. We sure do. I was sitting in a room full of these brothers and sisters.
Later, as I was rocking in a hammock, reading Seth's book, Kingdom Journeys, I came across a girl named Jessi.
I felt the crocodiles coming.
I'm talkin heavy duty, rain storm tears. What.Is.Going.On. I mean seriously. Project Searchlight isn't a camp designed for me- I'm on the Serve Team for pete's sake! I'm sure Jessi is a fantastic girl but why am I being moved to tears right now!? I sat for a couple seconds and considered wiping my nose and moving on but I paused. See, we had this talk during worship- The one about community.
I sniffed a big ole sniff, peered over my hammock and a conversation began that spoke straight to my heart.
On a lake in Georgia, we started talking about our stuff and man did it get real. And yes, more tears tried to pop out. We leaned into each other and into God and He showed up like woah.
I'm confident next year will be harder than anything I can imagine. It'll probably break me into tiny pieces. But today, I got peace about it. I told my fears to get the heck out of here. Today, I got another taste of what community means. I'm sure there will be highs and lows but I'm resting in His plan. I know God has my back and He has an incredible community prepared for us as we do life together for the next 11 months.
A guy here gave us some advice while we flipped quesadillas for lunch. He told us to choose joy. Even when its hard. Even when we dont feel like it.
I'm diving in. I'm gonna choose joy. And I'm rejoicing about the journey that's about to take place. I can't wait.
It's only Day 2- this week's gonna be wild.
