I have always found God in the silence in my life. From my first close encounter with him till now He has always shown himself to me when the world is still and all that I can hear is the sounds he whispers to me.
While I was at training camp my world was never still and I was forced to try and find him in other ways. There was never a moment when I was alone and never a second in my day that there wasn’t the sound of someone near. This made it difficult for me to find time at training camp to connect with God.
This was especially frustrating when we did listening prayer. Listening prayer was, as you might guess, a form of prayer where we sat close and listed for the things that God was putting on our hearts and then we spoke them to the group. Each time we did it one of our leaders chose one of my teammates to be the person who all words being spoken would be for. The catch was that we didn’t know who we were praying for till the end. I was skeptical at best of the accuracy that this form of prayer could possibly possess. Then God did some crazy things.
The first incredible thing He did was a guy from a different squad came to the front of the room and said that he had something to say for a guy who wasn’t in his squad and he didn’t know who the guy was, but he said that he saw a guy who was drowning and was being suffocated by all the worries in his life. He wanted to let him know that he wasn’t alone and that we were all there for him. Then someone on the other side of the pavilion stood up on the verge of tears and raised his hand. It was incredible to watch, but God wasn’t done.
After the guy there was a girl who walked up to the front of the pavilion with a small paper in hand. She said “I think I’m supposed to talk to a girl with this symbol on her” She held up the piece of paper in her hand revealing a simple design. A large gasp fell over the left side of the room. Apparently a girl who had left training camp early had the exact same symbol tattooed on her. The girl with the paper began to cry when she heard that she had already left, but the staff assured her that they would get in touch with her. I never heard how that turned out, but I hope to God that they got to talk.
Then in the third round of listening prayer it was my turn to hear what God was putting on my teammates hearts. They had no idea that I was the one being prayed over, but they each said things that felt as though they were meant for me. They talk a lot about water which coincidently has been an important piece of my prayer life. Then they finished off the prayer with a weird thing about a frog. It was kind of funny. I asked them later where it came from and they had no idea either. I was impressed by what came out during that time, but It was later that I was even more amazed.
A few days later I was trying desperately to find some silence at training camp, so I put in some ear plugs and sat in my hammock facing the woods. I was a bit frustrated by the fact that while I was at listening prayer I wasn’t hearing all the things that God was putting on my heart to say like he was with my teammates. It was almost embarrassing, it seems silly but it bothered me that all the people around me were able to hear what God was saying to them and was sitting there speechless because I had nothing to say. So there I sat in my hammock trying to block out the world to try and find God in the silence. The ear plugs blocked out only most of the noise. All that I could hear distracted me and made it impossible for me to focus. Before I had to get up to leave I did hear one thing “Be still and know that I am God”.
This did little, but annoy me. All I wanted was to be like everyone else and hear what God was trying to say to me. It felt as though he wasn’t even there. I knew that wasn’t true, but it was how I felt at the time.
When I left I was on my way to session that would be about forgiveness. The session didn’t do a whole lot for me, but afterward Alyson a girl from route one K squad came up to me and asked if I could talk to her about something.
We walked to the front porch and she told me about the people she needed to forgive. She was asking from my advice and what she should do. Usually I could tell her something that really resided in her and was genuine and helped. This time nothing I was saying seemed to be helpful and even I could feel that. Then I became blunt and asked “Why did you come to me?” she didn’t know and I followed up with “I’m not exactly at a great place with God right now. I can’t seem to hear him and it’s frustrating. I don’t know exactly how I was supposed to help you if I can’t even help myself.” After a few moments of dead air between us she flipped through her bible and read aloud “Be still and know I am God.”
I tried to brush it off and think that “oh well it’s a popular verse lots of people know it.” I told her about my time in my hammock and how that’s what God has said to me, I also mentioned the feeling of Him not being present. Then she laughed and pointed to the bottom of the page in her journal where she had all the names of the people she had to forgive. There there was a verse about how God is always there and will never abandon us.
It was a powerful night where I thought I was being called to help someone and God had other plans. The rest of the week was a breeze and I felt no pressure to hear what God was saying, but rather wait for him to speak through me.
The the last night of training camp Claire, another girl from my squad came up to me. I saw her out of the corner of my eye and she looked a bit confused. First she started walking toward me. Then turned to walk back to where she came and then back again. She walked past me at first and then stopped and said. “Hey Connor, a frog told me that he was supposed to meet you at listening prayer and that I was supposed to bring him to you. I was coming this way then he peed on me and I dropped him.”
With that she turned and started to walk away. I stopped her and told her about what my team had said at listening prayer. She looked more confused than ever but she said sorry and left. Needless to say I was a bit surprised and really wishing I would have gotten to see that frog.
The day after I got back from training camp I had to go back to work. I work construction and the work is not easy. But as I went to pick up a piece of plywood a frog hopped out from underneath it. I stared at it for a second laughed reminiscing about the last night of training camp. Frogs were very common on my work site so seeing one was not a big surprise. I went to wipe the sweat from my brow and turned to look at the frog again and it was gone. I looked everywhere for that frog but it seemed to have vanished.
Training camp was an incredible experience. Something that I have never seen or been a part of ever. It is obvious to me now that God was truly present there working in each and everyone of the people there. The Lord truly moves in some interesting ways and sometimes He even hops.
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Yes I’m back and I survived my training camp. I had a fantastic time and I have tons of stories to tell about my training camp. They won’t all end up on here but I encourage you to reach out to me and ask whatever questions you feel moved to ask. I also have my first video of my world race up and ready for viewing. Click the link below to watch it and subscribe to my channel so you get updates everytime I post a video and if you haven’t already subscribe to this channel blog to get notifications every time I post here.
Youtube video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iZFsODlIX48
I also would like to introduce you to my squad:
They are a great bunch, and I’m excited to be spending these next nine months with them.
And these fine people are my Team. Team Vessel (that’s what our team name is):
Chances are I will be talking about them a lot so you should get to know them… I can reassure you that they are a great bunch of people
Blogs in order of right to left:
Team Vessel:http://connorquick.theworldrace.org/?isfunction=meetmyteam
Zac:http://zacmyers.theworldrace.org/
Lexi:http://alexisballard.theworldrace.org/
Jenna:http://jennakirby.theworldrace.org/
Joel:http://joellarson.theworldrace.org/
Abby:http://abbyelgard.theworldrace.org/
Brooklyn:http://brooklynhelmuth.theworldrace.org/
Me: http://connorquick.theworldrace.org/
And if your interested in meeting my squad here’s a place where all their blogs are available.
https://www.worldrace.org/?tab=participants&group=17G0902
Please as always if you can please think about donating to one of my squadmates. Each and everyone of them is pursuing God in an incredibly fruitful way and it would be shame if it ended up coming down to money. As always thank you all so much for the support that you have shown me and I can’t wait to share this with all of you.
