The debrief between Swaziland and Botswana was challenging for everyone on the squad. Three of our guys were sent home and one of our guys went home voluntarily. Two of these men were supposed to be on my team. There were so many tears and many on the squad fought to get these men back because they did not believe they were sent home for just reasons. I am not here to tell you who was right, who was wrong, or what I think. What has happened happened. We can only look to the future now and how God will use this situation for His good. Just because the boys are no longer with us doesn’t mean God won’t use them anymore.
At the time, my team and I were talking about the situation and how it affected our team so much (because 2 of these men were supposed to be on our team), we were talking about how this story is much like the story of Joseph in the Bible. Joseph was treated badly, thrown in a pit to die, betrayed, and abused. For years he was mistreated. But in the end, God made all the bad and all the ugly that happened to him for His good. In the end, Joseph was king and God used Joseph to spread and share the Gospel.
I believe that, although it is hard to see right now, God will use all that happened to the boys and all the hurt that many of us on the squad felt, for His good and for His glory. I truly believe, that like Joseph, God will be exalted and honored through it all!
We decided to name our team Joseph’s Crown because of this story and after the 2 guys who were supposed to be on our team. Joseph, because that is Ryan’s first name, and Crown because Steve’s name means crowned.
