As I have previously mentioned before I am so blessed to be serving God in the mean time as an UProom Intern at the First Baptist Church of Lake Placid. As part of this internship we plan and coordinate a reality discipleship camp every summer for our students in North Carolina in Whisper Mountain. This is a training unlike any other where our purpose is to challenge kids physically, mentally, and spiritually to bring them to a closer reality of who God is. So in the preparation for this event- working out as taken over a vast portion of my life! I serve along two amazing interns, Taylor and Joe and we serve under Mr. Keith. Together we push each other to physical limits, whether it is running, abs, or upper body- we want our temples to be used to challenge students this summer. But in the midst of all of this training I have also had an alterior motive of the Race. Like many of my squad mates I want to be used as an asset to my team, I never want to be the person in the back of the line, but rather one to serve whole heartedly by whatever physical means. So I have been praying hard and setting random goals for myself, some as simple as faster mile times, others that consider more detail. Like I said earlier I serve along interns who are awesome friends and are not afraid to push me so here is where my latest life lesson from the Lord takes place.
This past week after a middle school workout session was completed I was spending some time with Joe. I simply asked if he wanted to go for a run, and he declined because he would rather go for a walk. Now I was expecting to go oh you know like 5 miles max, but Joe insisted on going at least 20. I was STOKED because I love adventures. So there we were 5:20 in the evening until about 12:30 at night- two people walking well over 20 miles for a reason we did not even know. But God as always, had a plan. He wanted to teach us something, something BIG! It probably happened around mile 13 when we started getting hungry, and running out of typical things to talk about. Our feet were tired, my backpack felt heavier, and at least I was questioning to why I decided to agree to this. But then it hit me as we were praying for each others pain. People on a dailey basis walk far distances to be provided with clean water. Some people in war zones must run and hide for miles dailey. These people are surely less nourished than us. Then it hit me again, people are running in pain everyday to hide themselves deeper in sin, running from God. No matter what the situation was- Joe and I finally related and felt the pain of others who are running and walking. We immediately began to pray for them- and this is why I believe God set us out on this venture, to relate, to pray, and to know.
1 Corinthians 16:13-14
"Watch, stand fast in the faith, be brave, be strong. And do everything in love."
I cherish these simple yet impacting moments in my life where God lets me get a glimspe of a greater picture. I believe this is why He has put the World Race in my future path, because he wants me to relate, to pray, and to know.
PS: I wanted to show all of you two of the people in my life that push me closer to Him dailey, Joe and Taylor!
