I am not sure what I thought training camp would be like…maybe walking in, I thought it would be like the movie Parent Trap. Not that I’d find my long lost twin but that maybe we would pierce our ears together.
When the vans pulled up and when the people came out, I saw for the very first time faces I had only interacted with via social media. Their faces lit up when walking up to exchange hugs and I hope that mine did too.
I honestly was pretty scared when everyone showed up because it became very real for me that I was about to enter in something with them that would change my life. I was scared that I would be put in situations I wouldn’t know what to do (I was). I was scared that I wouldn’t know how or what to pray for them and over them. (Sometimes I could only hold them and other times, the Father gave me beautiful things for them) I was scared that I wouldn’t be what they had imagined I would be.
The Lord then reminded me what it was like sitting in the JFK airport with 12 strangers last July. How nervous I was then too and how 14 days later, those 12 people would be forever imprinted on my heart. He encouraged me and pushed me to do it again with these 28. So here we all go…
I haven’t quite gathered everything into some poetic thoughts but God didn’t create me that way anyway. AND I UNDERSTOOD THIS WEEK THAT THE WAY HE MADE ME IS IMPORTANT.
I ate a cricket. Those black bugs that litter our entryways every year?? Yeah, I ate one. (It was like a dry cracker and a little spicy) I ate a 1000-year-old preserved duck egg. (It looks like a root beer colored jello) I ate with my hands in communal settings. I carried a huge log for our campfire! I practiced eating only with my right hand. I slept in a tent with 12 other girls and our 12 packs. I hiked 3 miles in the Georgia heat and humidity (how the Walking Dead cast films there and survives the zombie apocalypse…I will never know). I drank hot water from a water spicket. (I had one ice cold Gatorade and it was like Heaven kissed the Earth) I took cold bucket showers at 6am. I somehow found peace in the noisy airport. (Field scenario time!) I looked up and thanked God every time thunder rolled in, even if that meant my clothes and tent would be wet it also meant it would provide some heat relief. I watched hundreds of lightening bugs dance around our campsite.
Not a single day was like the one before, the leadership there gave me freedom to explore the Father in ways I didn’t know I could. (You don’t know you are free until someone tells you that Jesus provided that kind of freedom) Not only did I experience things in worship, prayer and in the Word that I never had but I also experienced cultures and real sceneries from the field.
(I have sat here for a good time trying to figure out how to get you to understand what my Father did in my heart these past 10 days…..)
I saw how Jesus cared for my brothers and sisters. I saw Him care for a waiter. I heard Him care for an entire family at a two year olds birthday party through my sisters. I saw Him break labels that the accuser had put on my brothers and sisters. I saw Him provide freedom. I saw His redemption and love in the staff. I saw Him place a flower in the middle of the sea of tents for me. (My favorite flower handpicked for me) I saw 28 strangers come alive in Him and become my immediate family. I saw my team be hearers and doers of the Word.
These are my people.
