In a perfect world I’d post a blog once a week, it would be articulate and moving and it would be easy to show what life looks like on the race. However, it’s not a perfect world and here I am in month three in South Africa and I haven’t posted a blog since the middle of month one. The fact of the matter is your girl can’t blog. Over and over I start a new blog saying this time I will write a blog that shows all that God is doing in and through our squad and this time I’ll finish it, only to get about halfway through and realize there are no words. For someone who talks a whole lot, suddenly it’s a ghost town in my mind complete with tumbleweeds.
How can I begin to describe what it’s been like to dig stairs into a mountain or paint murals on a school in the Dominican Republic? Or how it felt to meet a Haitian woman with so little who had such inexplicable joy because she has the spirit of the living God within her and it’s palpable, or sitting down in the dirt in your nicest dress in the scorching heat of Haitian to do dishes for a family just show the love of Jesus? How to begin to describe the feeling of pure joy of just getting cold water, or a hot shower or a comfortable couch or using a washing machine? How do I describe the monthly, or in some cases weekly, packing and unpacking and learning a new definition of home, or the 90+ hour travel days, or constant awe of Gods glory from mountain to mountain to ocean and the places I never imagined I’d call home. How can I describe what it feels like to try to teach American slang to a Haitian guy or work on a log home in South Africa with an enthusiastic Scotsman or be mobbed by 50 children at a school in South Africa trying in vain to come up with a game to keep them entertained that doesn’t require hair pulling or being tackled to the ground repeatedly and that chilling moment where you realize these children vastly outnumber you and how quickly anarchy could occur and you could end up tied to a post while they take over the school.
The World Race has been unexpected and inexplicable, challenging and exhilarating, so much I wanted yet little I expected. The most staggering has been the endless ministry, because as it turns out ministry isn’t a structured 9-5 thing, it’s every moment of the day, as the World Race loves to say “Life is ministry, and ministry is life”, wether your ministry is a stranger or your teammate, life is ministry. I use to always get tripped up on the idea of “The Will of God”, daunting as it is I’ve come to realize that Gods will is less of a tightrope to walk on and more like an open field, Gods will isn’t a strict path to take it’s a mindset, it’s not a checklist of tasks to be accomplished it is as simple as loving one another in truth. Gods will is to love everyone in word and action, it’s in the posture of our hearts and the willingness of our spirit. That’s what the race has been about, living out what it looks like to truly love and to be moved into action by it, to walk in that love even when it’s uncomfortable or painful. So no, Elle can’t blog, not because God isn’t doing anything but because He’s doing so much I don’t even know how to speak about but that doesn’t mean I’m going to stop trying because He is so good.
