To
those who call upon His name,
“Once Upon a Time”…four words that set many hearts
beating, racing even, for action, adventure and romance. In our deepest parts, we long for a spoken or
written word that sets our souls in motion. We long for a story that can take us from ordinary to extraordinary,
where we play characters of a tale that is part of a bigger, grander plan. We
have an innate desire for story.
The reason we all long for story. The reason we are
instilled with this deep desire. The reason our hearts leap when an underdog wins
the race. Every element from plot line to happy ending comes from a God who is
fascinated by story. God is obsessed with telling beautiful tales. Reason:
Because God is the Word, and not only did He give us the Word (Christ Jesus),
but He gave us THE Word (the bible). The word is our “Good News,” our mantra
(song.) God gave us this narrative to live out and to obsess over. Because of Christ, we are given a story. We
are able to continue on a journey, a grand plan, many have walked before us. We
are given a sword with which to battle, and the princess to rescue, because all
those stories come from THE story.
We are a part of every story. We are the
continuation of the oldest story ever written and are blessed to live out this
adventure with Christ Jesus, THE WORD. In this offering and communion of story,
here are a few life changing mantras that other World Racers have written out
in attempts to share their story of what God is doing. I believe God gives us stories to tell so
that His name is glorified. I pray these stories would encourage you, as they
have me, and give you a glimpse of where my life is heading in a few short
months.
Posted
in Nigeria
by Jordan McGuffin on 5/24/2010:
Sometimes when we hear about a crisis,
the only names
we hear are the names of the nation, cities, or villages, but what about the
people? I
want to zoom in a bit from the big picture that I have been portraying through
my blog. I want you to see DEEPER into this nation. I don’t want you to
remember a name of a city or a village. Rather, I want you to get a glimpse of
a face
behind the NUMBERS, a face
beyond the NEWS, a face
like this young boy that my heart is now connected to.
This blog is about
Pious. This young boy has the brightest
smile, his laugh penetrates
my heart, because it is so full of life. However,
there is much, much more to my little brother in Christ. Just
last month, this boy Pious, was living with his father, pregnant mother, and
three siblings. They slept in one room. One night, while the father was out of
town, some Muslims came to their village and began burning houses down. This family
was asleep in their house at the time the attackers came. The mother and
siblings were all killed in the attack. Pious survived, because he hid under
the bed, but his body did get burned. Most of the burns have started to heal
and scar, but his arm was severely burned. I met Pious last week, and that is when
I was able to play with him for awhile, and hear his story.
Just yesterday, I
was able to go back to his village with some doctors from Global Relief. One of
the doctors was able to work on the burn on his arm, and I was able to assist
in the dressing, as well as, assist in distracting him while they did some quite painful cleaning and scraping.The crazy thing is
that he never cried, he showed he was in pain by squinting his eyes, but other
than that there was ALWAYS
a smile on his face. Twenty minutes after getting his burn
dressed, he was out dancing to the music with the other children. This boy was
affected the most out of anyone in his entire village, yet if you were to go
pick out the happiest kid in the village, you would pick him. I cannot begin to
imagine living a day in this boys’
shoes, or getting a glimpse of how deep his wounds are, but one thing I DO
KNOW is that this boy has JOY.
His Joy is contagious. Pious was able to touch my heart, in a way that not many
have been able to do–on this trip, or in my life. I pray that he grows up to be
a mighty warrior in the Kingdom
of God, and a
man of God that is able to truly bring peace to his country. Pious is ONE of many people
affected. He is ONE
of God’s children. Pious is the ONE
child who, literally, stole a place in my heart! There is a reason
he is alive! Thank you Lord!
Posted
in -01
Pre-Adventures by Joe Bunting on 4/17/2010
Pastor Gift is the only hope that six hundred orphans and forty grandmothers
in Nsoko, Swaziland have got. Every day he
helps deliver their food. He visits them and prays with them. When their AIDS
symptoms become overwhelming, he takes them to the hospital. And when they die,
he conducts their funerals. It’s such an
overwhelming, stressful life, that he suffered a breakdown earlier in the year.
So when his car quit working, we all knew that he needed help. How would God
provide another one? All we could do was pray and ask God to provide a miracle.
Of course, God cares greatly for his orphans and answered – here’s the story of
how he used Monika in the process.
When Monika felt God calling her to leave her chiropractic practice in Michigan, she felt it
was about time. After years of work, she wanted to focus on
ministry. She had already been exploring alternative ministry-focused
career options, spending less and less time at the office and more and more
time praying and ministering to people. In April of 2008 she finally sensed God
releasing her from her practice and went into ministry full-time. The
problem: where was the money going to come from? This was further
complicated when she had to actually pay money to get out of her practice.
Flashback: Communist Romania:
Monika comes from Romanian heritage. After the war ended and Romania
became communist, Monika’s grandfather was working in his orchard when two
Communist officials arrived uninvited to his home. They said his farm was
being seized by the Communist Party and ordered him to sign over the
deed. When he refused, they arrested him and took him to the police
station. “Why is your shoe untied?” they said to him. “Tie
it.” When he bent down, they kicked him in the face. They asked
him three times to sign over his land. Every time he refused, he was
beaten. The third time, he signed the papers. For the rest of his
life, he worked on land he did not own. Fast
forward to 2004. As Romania
began the process of joining the European Union, they started to return land
stolen by the Communist Party . By this time, Monika and her family had
fled to the US, but those
who remained in Romania
began a four-year battle to retrieve her grandfather’s land. Monika’s family did not tell
her about her grandfather’s land, but as the sole heir, she stood to inherit
everything.
2008 and praying for provision: In 2008,
a jobless Monika was praying for God’s provision. It was then that her
family notified her that the Romanian government had returned her grandfather’s
land. The money from the sale of the land would provide for her every
need. Monika saw this as nothing less
than a miracle – God had indeed provided! Simultaneously, Patti Radzik, a
friend who had just returned from a mission trip to Swaziland, told her about a pastor
who was helping hundreds of AIDS orphans and needed a car. In the same way that she had
been blessed, she wanted to be a blessing. So she wired $8,000 to help
buy the car for Pastor Gift. And of course those of us asking for God to
provide a car for Pastor Gift saw this as no less miraculous than as Monika
seeing the provision of money from her grandfather’s land. When God calls us to
take a risk and follow him, he rewards us by providing for our every
need. Sometimes, as in Monika’s case, or the story of the coin in the
fish’s mouth, his blessing is so abundant he can even use us to provide for the
needs of others.
Posted
in General
Posts by Matt Patch on 3/16/2010
One day while I was in church a young
Muslim boy (about 4 years of age) came in and leaned against the wall of the
church. Every time I would look over he would smile and quickly look down to
the floor. After some time he got the courage to come sit with our team. We
learned his name is Shebi.
The next couple of days the cycle would continue of earning his trust. Last
night we went to the church to teach English classes. Shebi showed up. I was
helping Jodi teach the youth while Shebi and his friend kept coming up to me
pulling on me and trying to get me to play with or hold them. I held strong,
trying to focus on the ministry and just sitting the boys back in chairs. Turns
out I’m too soft in this area anyway.
I
finally ended up giving in and walking to the side to play with these guys.
They would climb up me like a tree; I’d throw them over my shoulders, and act
like a robot using them as machine guns. It might have been more fun for me
than it was for them. The Tanzania heat eventually got to me. It was break
time. I squatted against the wall with my knees out in front of me so Shebi and
his friend could sit and put their legs out and recline… a little taste of
the American way. As we sat their sweating on each other in attempt to cool
off, they would speak to me in Swahili and I to them in English. Not
understanding a word but knowing it was okay… we were having fun.
Eventually
the night had come to an end… Shebi wouldn’t let me go. He kept jumping up to
me repeating the same words over and over. I figured he was saying “lets
play” or “pick me up”. He wouldn’t stop, so when Pastor Bone
walked by I decided to ask him what Shebi kept saying… Shebi says again “ninataka baba”…
“oh” says Pastor Bone “he
says he needs a father.” My heart dropped… and I
realized I had a decision to make. I had two ways to look at the situation.
Pull away from Shebi… after all what can I do? If I build our relationship
all month and then leave he will be left heartbroken again…
My
other option, I give my best effort in showing this four year old he does have
a father a father that loves him, and has amazing plans for his life., a father
that will never leave or forsake him. I have a big task ahead of me… luckily
I know his father pretty well. Turns out me and Shebi are brothers, Brothers in
Christ. And I know my Dad… He would want me to tell my brother how loved He
is… what being a man of God is like. He’d want me to prophecy over him
because this cycle of being fatherless stops with Shebi. He’s going to be a
great father and husband. He’s going to serve the Lord and bring light to these
slums. Pray for Shebi… pray that God will send him an earthly father, or a
mentor, someone for him to look up to, someone to play with, to show him
affection. Last night the power went out and he grabbed my arms and wrapped
them around him to protect him… I pray that there are always arms to wrap
around Shebi. In protection and in love, “I will be a Father to you, and
you will be my sons and daughters…” says the Lord almighty…
WOW! What an amazing God we serve, One who
gives us incredible joy in the most horrific times, One who provides for our
needs in the most awesome, terrific ways and One who is our daddy, who loves us
and cares for us as His own. We are His
children. What an incredible God!! My
hopes and prayers are, as these stories have strengthened me in Spirit and
Truth, that the Holy Spirit would prompt you in the same manner. May you walk away feeling encouraged and
loved. Now Act…share the blessing,
create your own story, in this continuous narrative, and reach out to those who
need love. Continue to pray for me as I
am feeling the pressures of this trip, both spiritually and financially. I know God called me, but Satan is doing
everything to distract me and doubt my calling. Pray also not only for me but for the Church at large as God is uniting
it and bringing His Kingdom to the most hellish places on earth. Pray for yourselves and your brothers and
sisters who are running the “race” beside you. We all need others to help us
along the way. Now may His Strength and Peace rest upon you this day and the
days to come. Amen!
Awaiting
eagerly,
