I am back in Minnesota! I was at World Race Training Camp for two weeks and I wanted to write a blog about how it went and what I learned.
I went a day early to training camp to go to a storytellers workshop which taught us more about different ways to tell stories on the race such as vlogging, video, photography, writing, and interviewing via podcast. I personally was very intrigued by the video and vlogging. I am not a huge “film myself doing everything” kind of person, but I really want to be able to film segments of life on the race as well as the ministry we will be doing next year so everyone back home will be able to see and feel more connected to this journey. I made my first video ever on youtube! (You can check out/subscribe to my page by searching my name or with this link: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UClLSNESoDSTurPISEs04EKA?view_as=subscriber ) I am so excited to learn more about making videos and to share them with you all! I might try to make a quick video montage about training camp so stay tuned for that 🙂
You may be wondering why I titled this blog “burning ships.” Well, there is a song out on the radio called “Burn The Ships” by for KING & COUNTRY. (I love music so it is possible a lot of my blogs will be titled after songs.) When I first heard this song, I didn’t pay much attention to the meaning behind the song. But as I kept hearing it, I really listened to the words and they are very powerful. The band has an awesome story behind it, but to me it’s about burning your ships and cutting the ties to what has been holding you back while stepping into a new day with God and not looking back. A lot of this happened for me during training camp. There were quite a few things that God wanted me to leave behind and step into a new day with Him. I first had to face them head on, really dig to find where the root of those lies were, and then surrender them to Him.
Lie #1 I always fall behind in making friends
The first few days of camp were crazy. There were so many people to meet, new schedule to get used to, not knowing what each field scenario had in store for us, and also the lack of sleep since it was so cold at night and I did not pack enough warm clothes. If you know me, you know that it takes me a while to get comfortable with people. I don’t talk a whole lot at the beginning of meeting people; especially in group settings (which was the case for the entire training camp). It’s just something I’ve gotten used to. I would see others grow close friendships right away and before I know it I feel like I have been left behind. On day 3 or 4 we had one on ones with a leader to talk about how things were going. I have never really talked deeply about this topic with anyone before. I’ve expressed it to people, but this was the first time someone took the time to dig for the root of the lie with me and to bring God’s light into it. I won’t go into all the details, but ultimately it had been a lie the enemy had been using against me since I was little. I believed that most people would rather be friends with someone else than me. That I wasn’t good enough. And that kept me from being confident in myself and being who God created me to be. BUT THAT SHIP WAS BURNED PEOPLE! It was taking me in a direction that was away from God. There is a lot more I could go into that stemmed off of this root, but it doesn’t matter. I let God break that chain on my life that night and I am embracing who God created me to be.
SHIP BURNED!
Lie #2 I haven’t been able to hear God’s voice in a long time so, my relationship with Him is not good
I know this is a huge lie. But sometimes it gets discouraging when you are around people who feel God’s presence so strongly and who can quiet themselves enough to truly listen and hear from Him. But what I learned from one of the sessions is that practicing to listen for God’s voice is like exercising a muscle. It takes time to become comfortable with acknowledging His voice.
I was also reminded during training camp that there are many ways you can hear from Him. It doesn’t have to be audible. What I love about God is that He will communicate with us in a way that is special to us. I may not audibly hear His voice all the time like some people do and that’s okay! I reflected on all the times that He has spoken to me in my lifetime and it was through His Word, through nature, and through dreams/visions. And He continues to do that for me so I am grateful.
And about the second part of the lie: just because He hasn’t been communicating to me as often as I would like, He is God. His ways are not my ways. He loves me more than I can comprehend. And I know that He would do anything for me. I shouldn’t worry if I don’t hear from Him constantly. I think the big thing God wants me to work on is to just be still in His presence and just spend time with Him. If you think about it, I don’t expect my best friend to talk to me all the time and to give me life advice 24/7. I just want to do life together and I think God wants the same thing with all of His children.
The most incredible part is that I told a couple of people on my squad this and they completely understood and said they have moments where they feel the same way. We are all on a journey together. We are all still learning and growing in our faith. It felt really good to know I am not alone in this. SO, I surrendered this to God and…
SHIP BURNED!
Lie #3 I am too weak
I am talking physically here. I haven’t been on top of my gym game in a while. I have been slacking and I will admit that. Day 6 was when we did the hike (2 miles in 38 minutes with our big packs). I trained on a path by my house 3 times before training camp. It had a few small hills for some variation. But it did not prepare me for what I was about to have to do. It had been raining the night before and all morning. Then when the time came, the rain stopped and the clouds parted. It was beautiful! But… everything was so muddy from all the rain and there was a HUGE hill that felt never ending. Not only did we have to go up it once, but twice! I am going to be real honest and say I felt like throwing up several times because I was pushing myself so hard. I wanted to stop and take a break so badly but right as I was about to stop, there was a girl who was smaller than me and was running it. RUNNING IT! I was in shock at how she was doing that. As she was passing me, I heard her singing “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me!” And I instantly started repeating that in my head over and over and over again through the rest of the hike and people… I finished with 4 minutes to spare! God truly will strengthen you when you have nothing left. Without Him I don’t think I would have made it. In our weaknesses, God is our strength. Even though God came through, it made me realize how I need to get back to exercising on a regular basis. Not only to “stay in shape” but also so that I keep this temple healthy to do what God wants me to do.
SHIP BURNED!
Lie #4 Being a follower of Christ is exactly what I thought it would be
If you want to talk to me on a deeper level about this one, please feel free to reach out and ask! I would love to talk more on this topic and dive in deeper. However, for the sake of length and having just too many swarming thoughts in my head about this I will keep this one brief. Pretty much everything I thought living out a Christian faith was got flipped upside down during this training camp. I have been a Christian my whole life. I thought I knew what it meant to live a Christ following life. But it goes so much farther than I have been taught. I think more churches, organizations, and people in general need to talk more about the Great Commission and how to live out what Jesus sent us out to do. I will leave it there. I am still processing everything. It’s just really cool what I got to learn and I am excited to keep learning and growing in it.
THE SHIP IS ON FIRE BUT BURNING SLOWLY BUT SURELY!
Training camp was so much more than just the tent camping, international food, field scenarios, and squad wars. Of course those were all so fun! But during all of that we grew closer together as the body of Christ, worshipped on a deeper level than ever before, cried a lot, prayed C-squad style over many people, and more.
What was so powerful and beautiful about this training camp was that it wasn’t just me that had chains broken and ships burned. Most everyone if not everyone had chains broken in their lives too. It was so freeing! In 10 days we became a family and I am so excited to launch with them in January and let the journey begin!
Isabel
