After 10 days and 10 nights in the blazing Georgia sun (well only during the day with the sun part) I write this blog for two reasons.
A). To tell you that I made it and am still alive! A fact for which I am very grateful for. What a blessing it is to be alive in this world.
B). I wanted to share with you some of the things that I learned during this very stretching week and a half. And there are plenty of lessons to share but because this is about the World Race I have narrowed it down to 11. #11n11
So without further ado, here are 11 Things I Learned At Training Camp For The World Race.
1). You can always get dirtier, sweat more, and smell worse.
Training Camp was defined more by the moments when I was not sweating than by the moments when I was. I even went to bed sweating. I’d love to tell you taking a nice cold bucket shower helped but that would only be partially true. The shower itself always felt exquisite but the heat and the humidity were always waiting for me when I finished. Always. So now that I’ve painted a lovely picture for you about just how much I was sweating, I want you to do something for me.
Multiply that by 250 other campers. Sounds great right?
2). Hygiene and avoiding germs are overrated.
Now, I want to be clear here. I am not saying hygiene is overrated. What I am saying is our definition, as Americans specifically, is overrated. Most people that I know take at least 1 shower per day and some take 2.
I think I took 5 in the 10 days I was at Training Camp. (But I also jumped in a lake twice so I think that counts for something. A bath in a lake is better than no bath at all.
We are also encouraged to wash our hands frequently. After every visit to the bathroom, before during and after handling food, and after touching your eyes, nose, or mouth to name a few times.
During camp I used soap and water to wash my hands 3 times in the 10 days. I used water (without soap) and hand sanitizer quite often but hand soap was very hard to come by. And you know what? I was ok with it.
I also shared what seemed like everything with what seemed like everybody.
Germaphobes, you would not have made it.
Silverware, food, bowls, and water bottles were the most common things to be passed around. When you have 8 people and 3 forks you just make it work.
3. 20 somethings can talk about food a lot!
My disclaimer before discussing this is the fact that we often found ourselves with free time to talk right before a meal so we were all hungry. But still. We talked about food a lot!
It would always start innocently enough. “I wonder what lunch is today. It’s Central America day so I hope it’s tacos.”
And then we were in trouble.
“Oh man I could go for some Chipotle right now. Or just some guacamole.”
“Ooh I could do some fajitas with beans and rice.”?
“That sounds good! How about some spicy chicken from Chick Fil A though?”
It would probably shock you how much we talked about Chick Fil A actually. I think Chick Fil A was brought up in every single conversation about food. And there were a lot of them.
The day we finished at Training Camp I think at least half (probably more) of our almost 50 squad mates ate at Chick Fil A. And it was glorious.
4). A bucket shower and a port-o-potty can sound like the most amazing luxuries after a 2-day hike with 50 men.
A bucket shower and a port-o-potty also sound really good when you get back from your 2-day, 18 mile man hike and are told you need to be packed up and ready to leave in an hour to go camp at another facility with only your day pack available.
Which is what happened.
But going to another campsite actually ended up being one of my favorite nights of Training Camp. The Adventures staff gave each squad food, firewood, and transportation to the campsite but then they dropped us off and said they’d be back in the morning to pick us up.
We had no schedule. We had no one telling us what to do or when to do it. We were being treated like adults.
And it was great.
I’d love to talk about what made that night so memorable in my mind but that may be the topic of another blog. I will say though that this was one of the times I was able to jump in a lake. And because I had been hiking for 2 days prior to this I counted it as a bath.
I did smell a lot better after.
5). Sometimes all it takes to be a blessing to someone is to be kind and show love.
After finding out our teams, we were given the afternoon and part of the evening to explore Gainesville and make a memory. My team went a few places but ended at Recess Southern Gastro Pub for dinner. Anna (one of my teammates) told us after we had ordered that her family often asks the server if they can pray for anything since they will be praying over the meal already and we all thought that sounded like a grand idea.
So the next time Samantha (our lovely waitress) came around we asked if we could pray for her when we prayed for our food. She was very touched and told us a few things we could pray for. She was very sweet to all of us and blessed us with her service the entire meal.
But we didn’t do anything crazy to make her night. We simply loved her and asked if we could pray. That’s all it takes sometimes.
6). It sucks to get rid of all the crap. But it is totally worth it at the end.
We were at Training Camp for 10 days with 250 campers and 11 port-o-potties. If you are doing the math at home you will have guessed that those port-o-potties needed to be emptied during our 10 days at camp.
I’m here to tell you that is a very good guess.
One problem with emptying port-o-potties is the unholy smell that fills the air when they are being drained. There is nowhere you can run where you can escape the stench, you can only wait until it is over.
But when the process is complete we are left with fresh (you know what I mean), clean(er), better smelling port-o-potties.
Something else we talked a lot about at Training Camp was the importance of vulnerability. To be able to unload all of your “crap” in a safe environment instead of letting it build up until you cannot take on anymore and the metaphorical stench suffocates you.
And sometimes it sucked to unload the crap but at the end it was worth it. Bonds were forged, trust was built, and eyes were opened to a reality where we can operate out of clean port-o-potties every day.
7). We don’t always need to know. Often we just need to support.
Probably the toughest moment of Training Camp came almost a week in. It was during the day after we got back from our squad camping trip when we found out one of our squad mates was leaving.
Our squad leader pulled us all together to tell us about the decision of our squad mate and the two emotions that filled the room were shock and sadness. She told us our squad mate would come in shortly to talk about the decision but she first encouraged us not to ask why.
She told us asking why often comes from a desire to feel in control and not a desire to, in this case, help support our squad mate.
So our squad mate came in and told us what was going down. Tears were shed, prayers were said, and many hugs were had. We still count this person as a member of our family and we are saddened because they left us but excited because we know God’s plan at home is better than our plan abroad.
8). God wants to give you strawberries.
We heard a story at Training Camp that went something like this.
A man was being chased through the jungle by a tiger and he came to a cliff. With the tiger bearing down on him he jumped off the cliff and grasped a ledge about 20 feet down. Looking below he found he could not see the bottom as it was obscured by mist. Looking above he saw the tiger, prowling back and forth. While pondering the difficult decision he must make the man looked in front of himself and saw, hiding in the cliff face, a beautiful strawberry plant. Still holding on with one hand, he used the other to pluck a strawberry and eat it. After chewing for a moment he realized that it was the best strawberry he had ever tasted.
The story was meant to symbolize a few things. First, the tiger is meant to represent our past. Always chasing us, making us look back instead of ahead. Second, the drop to the floor of the cliff is meant to represent the future. Often obscured from us, we spend our time wondering what the mist could be hiding instead of being fully present where we are. The strawberry is meant to represent the little things that God wants to give us in our daily lives if only we will recognize them.
So I made a friend named Kayla who was telling me about losing her water bottle during training camp. She told one of the staff members that she was missing her water bottle and a short time later the staff person came back with a new bottle and 2 pieces of dark chocolate. Which just so happens to be Kayla’s favorite thing ever.
She was in awe. Not only did God replace her water bottle but He did a little showing off as well.
“You’re missing your water bottle? Yeah that’s no problem at all. How about I throw in some chocolate too. Just because I love you.”
So I encourage you: look for the strawberries/chocolate in your life.
9). When you expect God to show up, He does.
I went into Training Camp with a lot of unknowns and some concerns. But one thing I was pretty sure about was God was going to show up. 250 young adults with a passion for Jesus and spreading His message of love to the world were gathering in one place. And I knew Jesus was coming with them.
I just didn’t know how big to think.
All 10 days it was as if Jesus was tangibly in rooms with us. It was amazing to experience His presence with the people I now consider family and know that, no matter how much love there was on my squad, it could never compare to the love Jesus has for me. A lot of hearts and lives were radically changed during Training Camp.
I can’t wait to see what happens on The Race.
10). You can connect deeply with God by yourself laying on a road, with 8 other people sitting on a porch, with 50 men on a mountain, or with 250 people in an air conditioned meeting room.
I had many intimate moments with God during training camp and it was amazing to me how no two moments were alike.
I love looking at the stars and thinking about how God knows them all. It helps me to connect, even a little, with the idea of how big He really is. I spent part of one evening laying on the road (don’t worry, I watched for cars) just enjoying the beauty of the night sky with only myself and God to keep me company.
I also love music and the connection I can make with God by singing a song. It is different from praying or reading my bible. At least for me it is. And to worship through song with other people makes it even more special. One night we got hold of a guitar and started singing on the porch. We had about 8 of us just playing and singing to God. We sang existing songs, we sang new songs.
We sang to Jesus.
One of my favorite mountaintop experiences from Training Camp was the one I actually spent on top of a mountain.
It was the evening of our first day of the man hike and we had arrived at our campsite. We set up our tents and hammocks, got fires going, and prepared dinner. After dinner we gathered around one of the fires and sang to our God. We had nothing but our voices but it was powerful. A group on men focused on God, not on what the world says we should be. But what God says we should be.
Children.
One of the things I most looked forward to on a daily basis was our time of evening worship. We would come together, all 250 of us, and worship God with nothing held back. He has withheld nothing from us so why should we hold back from Him?
To be surrounded by peers who were so passionate for their Creator was incredibly encouraging to me. I saw the love that everyone else was experiencing and in that moment I knew two things.
God has never loved anyone as much as He loves me.
God has never loved anyone as much as He loves you.
11). The world is about to be traveled by passionate powerhouses.
I spent 10 days with 250 future racers and this is what I observed.
September 2015 launch group is filled with powerhouses for Jesus. These people are passionate, confident, and full of faith. And they are ready to make an impact on the world. And I am so honored to count myself a part of their number. Together, we are going to show people the Good News.
Jesus loves you.
And there is nothing you can do about it.
