Training Camp…. Wow… where do I even begin……..
Ok….first off, about a week before training camp we all started getting emails about a new route and how it needed to be filled with volunteers from all of the existing routes.
I prayed about it for a few days, asked a few questions, and then decided to switch; literally 2 days before camp…… and I am so glad I did.
The men and women I spent the last week of my life with, changed my life forever. It just blows my mind how so many strangers can come together, unified in the name of Jesus, and by the end of one week feel like such a tight knit family.
And boy o boy did God do some work on my heart this week. I learned that we must grieve our losses. Because if we compartmentalize our lives we end up deadening our hearts. We then express our pain in unhealthy manners such as denial, anger, and addiction. When we grieve we release our built up emotions.
We open up those scabbed over wounds so that they may be cleaned and heal properly.
Plus when we empty our hearts of past losses, and emotional pain it frees up more space for the love of Jesus to fill us back up, and who doesn’t want that?
I learned how to eat family style, 8 people to one plate no utensils. It sounds strange but meal time is when I bonded with my squad mates the most.
Nothing brings a group of strangers together quicker than digging their hands into the same plate of food.
I also now know the six amazing men and women of God I will be spending the next year of my life with. Our team name is Cor Adamantis- meaning Hearts of Diamond in Latin. Somehow I was chosen as team leader. At first I didn’t really want to do it, I didn’t feel equipped to lead.
But then someone said to me “God doesn’t call the equipped he equips the called”
John 13 came to mind. When Jesus washed the feet of his disciples, he painted the ultimate picture of a leader who was a servant to his followers. As followers of Jesus we all want our lives to look more like His. I may not know how to lead but I do know how to serve, and that is what I want to be to my team, a servant first.
My prayer is that God will guide our team through this next year so that we impact many lives with the love of the Gospel. That Jesus will use us to bring Kingdom to earth. I pray for humility, boldness and courage. And for the love of Jesus to pour from our hearts with such fervency that people respond to the Gospel of Jesus like never before.
God Bless and Love to all
Dillon
