God doesn’t take long when you start talking and asking Him to start teaching you and help live differently. Last week I had an amazing opportunity to hang out with my best friend Pete basically all day every day. Pete called me last weekend and said there was a Chick-Fil-A opening in Gloucester, VA and that we need to go. For anyone who doesnt know, for every Chick-Fil-A opening, if you camp in their parking lot for 24 hours before their grand opening, 100 people get free food for a year from them. So Pete called me up and told me, and naturally with freezing temperatures and nasty weather, we said of course, lets do it! So monday night we packed our bags and we headed towards Gloucester Tuesday morning. Wednesday morning at 6 AM, we got to Chick-Fil-A, and set up camp for the next 24 hours in a nice parking space. It was freezing cold, and uncomfortable, and I spent most of the time in my sleeping bag to keep warm cause it was windy and about 30 degrees. But that day, Pete, Brian, and I began discussing the simple joys in life, and living simply, not attached to material things. We talked about building a simple house, and not wanting to have the best, newest stuff out there. We talked about this a lot Wednesday, and then Thursday we headed to VA beach where Pete met with a few schools for job opportunities coming up this fall. While we were there, we stayed in a hotel on the beach with an ocean front view. Sitting in that room, God again spoke to us about the simplicity in life and relying on Him for everything, and being content in Him with the simple things. Thursday night, as weird as it sounds, we read out loud a lot of Donald Millers book Through Painted Deserts(if you havent read it, I strongly suggest it). Its a book about him and a friend who pack up and travel across the country with nothing but what they have on them. The begin to appreciate the simplicities of life, and thank God for the small things. He talks about hiking the grand canyon, and being extremely hungry, and all he wanted and asked God for was a bowl of raisin brand. They get out of the grand canyon, and they have a bowl of raisin brand, and in that small bowl of cereal, they thank God and find the feeling of being content like that have never experienced.
Anyway, we read that book Thursday night, and Friday morning we woke up and watched the sunrise over the ocean and again talked about thanking God and being able to see Him through small things. So we made a commitment to not be attached to material things and focus on God’s provisions, whatever they may be. It was one of the best weeks of my life, and an adventure I will never forget.
So Friday we traveled back to Lynchburg, and it was nice after a week of living out of the car and eating rice for our meals to be back in “civilization”. But God immediately began to test whether or not I was serious about all the talk I made during the week. Friday night I went to work, and while I was working, my truck window was smashed out, and a bunch of stuff was stolen from it. Immediately, not to my own doing, but I remembered all my talk, and God spoke to me and said “Did you mean what you said about not being attached to your things?” Immediately God comforted me, and I was content, for whatever reason, to no longer have my ipod and the other things stolen from my truck, as well as no longer having a window in my truck.
So far already this has been a stretching year, and I have been a bit uncomfortable, but I know God will take care of me and all of my teammates on our trip. One of my prayers for me and my teammates is that we will see God in simple things, and be ok with being uncomfortable. Again, I am excited about getting to know everyone, and I am excited about asking God to grow us and how He will do that, however that may be! Praying for you all!
