Clad in black and white face paint – a black ‘ninja-like’
outfit, and a smile – I joined my fellow teammates and headed across town to a
mystery location. Peter, one of our Czech friends/a youth leader from Varnsdorf
was heading up this game – and had previously made mention of some 8km trek. We
assumed he was joking or that somehow this was a round-trip endeavor…
Both of these assumptions were absolutely false!
And so…we started to run, and run, and walk, and run…up
yellow-lit nighttime streets. The wind was blowing and autumn leaves were
scattering. A slight chill hung in the air, but momentary adrenaline conserved
our warmth and energy. We continued to run/walk/hike uphill, across town, up a
long pathway – ambushing the opposing team from time to time, by hiding in a
field and jumping them in the street to obtain flags with secret clues.
Roughly 3 miles into the first leg of our journey…we crested
the top of the first monumental hill and began descending down a slight decline
into the dark covering of the forest. The full moon hung gently in the fall sky
– illuminating the slightly frosted field grass and our somewhat chilly breath.
A ferocious biting breeze pierced our faces and reminded us that we should’ve worn more layers…especially
the guys who were clad in short-sleeve shirts.
“See that light? The red one – up on the hill?” our friend
Reya asked.
“Yes!” Jeremy, Lucas, and I replied. “Is that a castle
beside it?”
Hanza our Czech friend replied, “Yes, yes, it is historic
castle”, and pointed again at the light, “We go there!” I looked at my
teammates and we laughed, “haha yea! Right! Up THAT hill? Surely this is a
joke!” “You will see…we go there!” Reya replied.
Lucas’s response to this was priceless, “Reya, you are joking.
I know we might be naive Americans, but we’re not that dumb…we’re not going
there.”
It’s nearly midnight now, and at this point we disappeared
into the forest and began plotting our next ambush. Gathering leaves and sticks
we made somewhat of a wall to duck behind and waited patiently for our
opponents to arrive. The bright moon brought dangerous exposure all around us,
making the strategy for ambushing this crew a little tricky. We ambush the
crowd a second time and acquire a few more flags – then begin trailing them
toward the mountain. We walk, run, and walk some more…getting closer and closer
to this red light at the top of the mountain – we’re most certain we’re not
about to climb.
We arrive at the base of the mountain and climb up, up, up,
up, up a rocky road and into another giant field. A third ambush is about to
take place. It’s 2am…and our final leg of the journey awaits us, complete with
a decision to make: What way would we like to climb this mountain? (Did I
mention this was a ski hill? — for those of you @ home, kind of like
big-rock.)
Option 1: mystery trail to the left. (my vote=NO)
Option 2: longest trail part roadway/gradual trail to the
right (my vote=hopefully not)
Option 3: straight up steep hill beneath the ski lift (my vote= the shorter the
better!)
Let’s go straight. Half asleep and semi-unmotivated, my
aching muscles complied and began to move up the hill. The only thing I could
mutter at this point was, “Dear Jesus, thank you for Hind’s Feet…so I can tread
upon these heights.”
We reached the top of the mountain sometime around 2:30am –
a thick coating of late evening/early morning dew kissed the grass. A sweet and
chilling fog lingered at the base of the mountain – as the night sky became
littered with solid, dense cloud coverage. A small city/town could be seen in
the valley below – a picturesque moment was certainly at hand. “How did we get
this far?” I wonedred aloud, “This is absolutely crazy! Thank you Jesus for
Hind’s Feet! Without them, I think I’d still be at the bottom of this mountain.”
Shortly after this we began our descent – and around 5:30 am
we’d made it back to the post where we were sleeping, and I crawled, with
muscles and feet throbbing into my sleeping bag disappearing into a deep, deep
sleep. It was in this moment that I realized just how amazing it is to operate
out of the strength the Lord gives us.
Sometimes this looks like running/walking/hiking a mountain
for 16km in the wee hours of morning with a bunch of Czech friends – and no
understanding of the game’s actual purpose. Sometimes this looks like coming to
the end of yourself and having no desire to press on. Sometimes this looks like
sitting still and breathing deep. Sometimes this looks like pushing your
physical body to its limits and trusting the Lord will renew your strength in
the morning.
It’s times like this I’ll never forget – an evening of
memories – all filed away. Moments where fatigue was ensuing – but somehow the
Lord brought fresh breathe and focus on the journey. My favorite part came
between 3-5 am. I walked 90% of the way back with Patrik and Jakob. This was
absolutely a divine appointment. Jakob and I talked about the Lord, new life,
and God’s truth. This all naturally flowed from a simple conversation directed
toward helping them practice English. The Lord used me to speak life over Jakob
and I believe he will come to faith in God. He’s hungry for a relationship with
the Lord – and because he is so logical and meticulous about things (he’s a
computer programmer – and only 17), he wanted to understand the tiny baby
details of why faith works, and if it’s worth believing or not. Thankfully, God
is a God of order – and he wired Jakob specifically for His Kingdom purposes.
Sharing this with Jakob was a special treat because it was like watching a
little kid realize how much their dad loves them – and that they have purpose +
value.
The most humbling part of this endeavor was receiving
encouragement from Jakob. “You look so ALIVE and HEALTHY, so FULL OF LIFE – it
is obvious that GOD IS IN YOUR LIFE because people who are not really
Christians don’t look like this. You look different.” Jakob wants to look like
this – He knows what it’s like to live in darkness, loneliness, and his own
thoughts – please join me in praying for salvation for this young man. We came
to a point in our conversation where he said he wants to know the TRUTH – and I
was able to pray with him – but he has more of this journey ahead of him – and I
believe, looking back on this incredible evening, if I ran for any purpose, it
was for this conversation – it was for the Lord to speak life, and redemption
over one of his missing sons. I’d run 10 miles any day to talk salvation!
