When I am 91 years old, I for one hope that I am still alive, enjoying the fruit of a life I worked hard for, but I hope I still am deeply loved by my community. I hope that little kids walk up to me to shake my hand, to ask how I am doing and a crazy missionary puts it in her heart to stop me each day to say hello.
After reflecting on Guatemala one of the goals I made for myself was to pray for others. I want to be fearless and bold by initiating prayer opportunity. So far on the Race, I have definitely taken a backseat in this area, not even the passenger seat. I have been completely content with going along for the ride where prayer is concerned. But that is not who God made me to be, nor is it who I want to be. I want to be the driver, to hold the power of the wheel in my hand, and dictate where the car goes. This month, I have made it my mission to pray my way into the driver’s seat of the car.
I would like to introduce you to Julio. He is 91 years old, and still walks up the hills everyday in the heat and humidity. He may take the hill slowly but each step is filled with determination that you only gain from a lifetime of hard work. And each day I am blessed to speak to Julio as he walks past the church. When I say speak, is only part of the truth, I am actually a giant gringo, with red hair chasing him down. And for some crazy reason, each time he stops. Maybe he feels bad for me or thinks I am lost.
On the first day of ministry, I grabbed the keys that were hanging in front of my face and jumped into the drivers seat. By being the driver I was in full control of my actions, so that meant my first stop was in front of Julio. Along with Jess, we walked up to Julio desiring to know his story. What we got was so much more. Julio opened up to us, even though we didn’t understand everything, we found out he was in need of prayer. He told us his knees were hurting him, and you could see it. Here’s the best part!
My voice started speaking. I had no idea I was speaking until I heard the words, “Puedo orar para ti?” (Can I pray for you?). Without knowing it, here I was offering to pray for this man. WHO AM I??? I just remember looking at Jess shocked, which I think led to Jess opening our prayer.
My journey wasn’t a solo drive, I needed a passenger to help navigate the path. I needed someone to tell me where to turn, to tell me we were still on the right road and the destination would be ahead on the left. Jess guided me into a prayer opportunity, which prompted me to speak up and end our prayer with Julio.
On this day, Julio’s knees were healed. Now we get to pray for him each day, it is something different each day but the destination is always the same, a prayer for a man who is 91 years old and deeply loved by his community.
