Little side note before we get started: this past week marks the half way point of my World Race. This is so crazy! I cant believe that it has already been almost 6 full months away from home on this wild ride God has called me too! One year ago this next Saturday marks one year since I first heard about the Race and I applied shortly thereafter. I cant believe how much the Lord has worked in me since then, and I cant wait to see what he will continue to do in me over the next 5 months!
God wants the brightest light. This is a thing that the Lord convicted in me about two weeks ago, so it is still a relatively new development.
I always knew that God wants to be the center, and he wants us to love him above everything else. It is kind of a theme throughout the Bible from the 10 commandments, to Jesus talking about the greatest commandment (love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength). That said, it is something that God is forcing me to live out as of recently.
At the beginning of last month (May) we had a squad debrief for a few days in Cape Town, South Africa. It was a great time to come together and spend time as a squad regrouping. While there we received new team assignments. The teams that we had been with since training camp back in October were no longer our teams. Talk about a game changer.
Over the first 4 months of the race I lived, ate, slept (at times to close for comfort) and did everything with the same six people. These people became family, and they knew me, and I knew them more than most people do. They were family. Then we were given new teams. This was tough for me, but God wanted to grow me though it.
When we got our new teams it was like starting over. There is one person from my original team on my new team, but everyone else I have known since October, but have only seen them 2 or 3 days out of the month. There was a big difference (not surprisingly so). It took time to grow together and become a team that knew each other enough to pick each other up, and keep pushing one another.
During this time of transition I had to rely on the Lord more than ever. At the beginning of this month in Lesotho I was sitting outside in the dark. You have never seen a night like this. In the mountains of Lesotho where the closest light is miles away. Our church is one of very few places that has a few solar powered lights. I was sitting in the dark praying and looking at the sky and the stars. I was asking God to comfort me, and bring me closer and show me why two of my best friends since the start of the race (Tanner, and Christian) were no longer on my team.
It was about that time when our host switched one of the outside lights on for a minute. You would have thought that a UFO suddenly appeared a few yards behind me, and hit me with its spotlight. It was so bright and lit the entire area in front of the church into the wheat fields below. I have never seen one light do so much. Then I realized something. It wasn’t a bright light.
The lights that are outside the church are significantly less powerful than most standard yard lights in the states. A standard incandescent light bulb was powering it. So why was it so bright?
Because everything else was so dark. This illustration hit me two fold.
First, this is what we are supposed to be to the world: a light in the dark. I don’t know if you got the memo, but the world is pretty messed up. In John 12:31 it references the devil as ruler of this world. We are in Satins playground, and we have a power FAR greater than him, but we can’t forget that we are in enemy territory. We are called to be the LIGHT in the darkness. Just like that yard light.
Secondly, and more relevant to what I was initially asking God about. He wants to be that light in us. He wants his love to shine so bright, that all the other loves in our lives cant compare to it. If there were tons of other light sources around me I wouldn’t have even noticed that light come on. If we try to get our love from people, things, or the world that will be the light we are focusing on. But Gods love has the power to FLOOD those lights out if we only give it a chance.
I was looking for the love that I felt from my old team, I was looking for the love I felt from things. It took God removing me from the people that I could lean on, and removing electricity (no power means no iPhone or computer) from my life to bring me back to basics. When all else is gone, God is powerful enough to be the light. Not only that, but his light is WAY better than all the other lights. It’s LED! He can out shine EVERYTHING we just need to give him the space in our lives to do that.
He gave us free will, we can choose to get our love from people, or things, or whatever; but that will never satisfy and in the end it will always fail. The power could go out, your friends might not be available to you. God is not subject to failure. It’s not in his nature, he simply can’t fail us when we call on him. Its one of those promises he made. My theme song of this month has definitely been “Praise You in the Storm” by Casting Crowns that says:
I lift my eyes into the hills, where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord the maker of heaven and earth.
That is the hope that never runs out, and never fails. That is what God desires to give to each of us, and he is waiting to give that to anyone who requests it from him. All we need to do it turn off the other lights and let him shine bright in our lives. So, what are we waiting for?
Go for it. Flip the switch. Let God do his thing.
