World Race Training camp was unlike anything I’ve ever encountered. I came into the week thinking “Hey, this is gonna be fun…I probably won’t learn much but at least Ill get a better idea of what this next year will entail”. I WAS WRONG.
This week was NOTHING like I thought it would be. I grew more in my relationship with God these past 7 days than I have since I began my relationship with him 7 years ago. I came in unknowingly broken and extremely prideful and left humbled and leaning on Jesus. Over the first 5 days of training camp we were pretty much stripped of all comfort…from the limited amounts of food to the insane morning exercises and lack of schedule every instinct in my body was screaming “GET OUTTA HERE”. We slept in various places (sometimes without gear) and had no free time to chill or process…basically the only things we could do were 1. complain OR 2. cry out to Jesus and realize that this was THE WORLD RACE. Reluctantly, I chose the second option and eventually embraced the fact that this next year would mean leaving comfort behind.
I could go on and on about the details of Training Camp and what we did each day (if you really want to know just give me a call) but overall that would probably bore you so I will skip to the most life changing aspects of the week.
On Monday night at worship I was feeling defeated. Our squad was so big that several of my friends were split up the week leading up to training camp and put on other squads…because of this I was holding on to a lot of bitterness towards AIM. During worship, I just wanted to be over it. I was so angry and just kept praying “God. please just let me worship like everyone else. I just want to stop feeling so angry and move on. I want to feel connected. ” Then I had a thought. It was like a huge epiphany and I thought I had finally found the source of my frustration. Without any hesitation, I said in my mind “OHHHH. God, I understand now. You moved my friends because I had to be punished…If this is the reason, I understand and I’m sorry for whatever it was that Im being punished for. Please just forgive me so I can start over.” NOT EVEN 2 MINUTES after I said this in my head, my squad leader Jenn tapped me on the shoulder and said (im paraphrasing here but this was the gist) “Drea, I have a word from the Lord for you…there is no condemnation in Jesus and God is not punishing you at all he is doing this for your good because he loves you”. I nodded my head, and turned around and then just started BALLING. I don’t cry you guys, and I was crying hard core. I had not told ANYONE about my bitterness and I had just asked God (silently in my head) about being punished 2 minutes before she said this. SHUT THE FRONT DOOR. I couldn’t believe it. For the first time, I felt like I was worthy of true love and important enough for God to want to communicate with me. Until this moment, I had known that God loved me but had never had another sister or brother in Christ confirm that love by speaking over me in this way. This word was TOTALLY LIFE CHANGING. The whole next day, I kept thinking…What if Jenn was too afraid to tell me what God was conveying to her for me? What if she hadn’t risked humiliation by stepping out and tapping me on the shoulder? Would I still think that I was being punished? Honestly, Im still not sure of the answer. What I do know is that God used my beautiful friend Jenn that night to show me that my entire perception of the way he loves me was DEAD WRONG.
A couple days later, we were beginning team formations (where AIM staff puts us in various groups and gives us exercises to determine our best team configurations). This stuff is super important because it basically determines who you will be living life with 24/7 on the race. In the second to last scenario I was selected to lead it and thought “you have got to be kidding me…I hope this doesn’t mean they are thinking of making me a team leader”. We went through the exercise and had a great time. The next morning, we had another scenario but this time the team we were placed on was similar to that of the team I had the night before. At the end of this scenario, Brian (one of our incredible AIM trainers) asked the group “Can you see Drea leading this team?”… I was WAY Caught off guard. The whole team said yes which was super encouraging but I still was a little unsure. This was a team where literally any one of us would make a good leader and although I knew I could do it if God wanted me to I just kept praying “not me, please, I can’t lead a group of leaders….most of whom are older than me”. Later that night we practiced “listening prayer” where we got partners and then one person closed their eyes and the other person switched partners and stood in front of a new person so the person with their eyes closed would have no idea who was standing in front of them. The person with their eyes closed would simply ask the Lord if he had any words for the random person standing in front of them. I did this twice and both people received the same words for me… “strong and capable”. After the second person told me this I said “OH CRAP. You’re gonna make me a team leader aren’t you God?”. Sure enough, that afternoon Jenn came and got me and took me to a room where AIM staff invited 7 of us to become team leaders for a select team on our squad. After praying for a few minutes, I knew this is what God was challenging me to do and where he was challenging me to go. I got the list of my team, and it was the EXACT same group from our last scenario which was a HUGE encouragement because they had all already encouraged me with saying they could see me as a team leader. I immediately felt a peace rush over me and knew that this was exactly who the Lord had selected to be my race family for the next season of my life.
To meet my new family, read Meet My Family! Team ‘Akal ‘Esh
To conclude, Training camp really was life changing. It was hard. It was frustrating. It was new. but mostly it was OH SO GOOD. Good for my soul, my heart and my relationship with Jesus. If you are a future racer, getting ready for training camp…get pumped because it may just break down your walls and force you to lay down a new and much stronger foundation. If you want to hear more details or grab a cup of coffee and discuss the week/ this next year give me a call because I would LOVE to tell you more!
