While I sit at a vino and tapas cafe on the Plaza Foch in Quito I think back. I reminisce. I ask, what has God done with me this month? What has he done during this trip? Am I the same person I was? Definitely not. Will I ever be the same as I was, do I want to be that person? The answer is no. What have I become? Royalty.
I had the wonderful cultural opportunity to see the film the King’s Speech while I was in Quito. I sat there with the spanish subtitles, marveling at the irony of watching a film about a speech impediment surrounded by individuals who spoke a different language yet were able to equally share the powerful story with me. If you haven’t yet seen the film, watch it. For me, it was the perfect film to end my time in Ecuador.
This month, I have been really digging into the concept of the children of God being heirs with Christ. God has promised us the Kingdom and simply asks that we accept it. It all started in the small town of El Reten where I stayed for the month. I was immediately blown away by the hospitality and love shown to us by our Ecuadorian hosts. I felt like I was being treated like a king and I hated it. I wanted to be treated normally, I wanted to walk down the street without people following me. I wanted to enjoy a meal without being surrounded by people. I wanted to be alone. I was being selfish and so I prayed.
Here is a journal entry of mine from after I prayed:
Enjoy being treated like a king. To be treated like a king, you must become the part. Kings don’t choose to become kings and once they inherit the throne, they have no choice but to rule and become king.
God has chosen us to be his heirs. We are his royalty. We are his chosen ones and he calls us to inherit the throne whether we want to or not. This inheritance means we are called to act like royalty. We are called to a higher standard. We are asked to do things we would rather not do. We are called to lead in spite of our weaknesses, in fact we are called to lead through our weaknesses.
The film is about King George the sixth and his struggle to accept his calling in spite of his speech impediment and to ultimately give one of the most influential speeches of the twentieth century. The movie outlines the help he received from a therapist who never gave up on him. There were times where the therapist could have easily dismissed his high profile patient simply for patient misconduct, but he didn’t, he stayed loyal. He pushed. He encouraged the awkward king to step into the role to which he had been called. He saw God’s plan for the king when the king felt like giving up.
Before he was King George, he was the Duke of York. While holding this position his father died and his brother inherited the throne. His brother didn’t appreciate the calling on his life and didn’t understand why he was called to a higher standard. He thought that if it was okay for the commoner to behave a certain way, it should be okay for royalty to behave similarly. This frustrated the Duke of York but the fear in his life relating to his disability prevented him from effectively calling his brother out on his errors. God understood, and was patient. Despite the Duke’s inability to communicate his frustration with his brother, others noticed the issue. This led to the brother stepping down from the throne. He stepped down from the throne! Frightened and lacking confidence, George assumed the role he was hoping he would never have to inherit. All of the great kings have been eloquent speakers, thought George. All of the great kings have done this, or had this, and I do not, thought George. Luckily his therapist had the boldness and patience to tell him otherwise.
There is a scene in the movie where the therapist, a lowly commoner with a heart of gold, sits down in the throne during a coronation rehearsal. What are you doing! You cannot sit there, that chair is for royalty, that throne is for kings, not therapists with a common lineage! Why can’t I, asked the therapist, it is just a chair! It is just a chair! It is just a chair.
Here is another one of my journal entries from El Reten:
A table is a table, except when it isn’t. One table can hold food for a king or the last meal before an execution. If it is a king’s table, we attach value to it, we make it more than it is. If it is the table for a prisoner, it is nothing, it is less than a table. We should remove value from things. We shouldn’t make things more than they are, or less than they are, they should just be what they are.
The king made the same mistake that we often do. He viewed things the way others see them rather than the way God sees them. It was because of a patient reminder from a bold commoner that he was able to see the throne as just a throne, just as his new chair. He was able to remove the fear that accompanies sitting in a throne by viewing it as a chair. It became his new seat, nothing more, nothing less.
The film concludes with the King presenting a speech that was broadcast worldwide just before World War II. Whether it was sound directing, wonderful scriptwriting or excellent acting, one can’t help but see that this speech was the King’s life calling. This speech was his calling. This calling didn’t come easy, it took much faith and required him to overcome many obstacles, but he trusted and God used him. The speech was beautiful and eloquent, full of power. There was a line in the speech where the King discusses the fact that while he was King, he felt like he had crossed the threshold into the houses of commoners. This was an honest sentiment as he had gotten to know his therapist so well. He had developed a relationship with someone whom other royalty wouldn’t dare associate. He had visited a commoners house.
Throughout this trip I have been continually amazed by the way that God uses small things for big impact. My team found out on Thursday that we have a new team leader and a new teammate. We found out that we will be losing two sisters in Christ and gaining a new brother and sister. This news wasn’t easy to take. It hurts, we asked, why? God graciously chose to answer our question of why. Growth. He wants us to grow in new ways. He wants us to gain power for him in ways we haven’t yet imagined. He wants us to become even more of a force for him. As I finish my time in Ecuador and look forward to Peru, I am continually reminded of God’s sovereignty and the ways he works to make us Royalty for him. I am fully confident that he brought Jeremiah and Katie to team Kaleo and sent Rosa and Hailey to team Deliverance so that he can use everyone on both teams in ways we never expected. He has a plan for us, and sometimes it looks different than we expect. Sometimes it hurts and sometimes it’s hard, but we just have to trust the truth that he wants us to be Royalty for him. He wants us to be heirs in Christ. He wants us to walk in the authority he has given us. He wants us to be his.
In him,
Jeff
Pictures coming soon.
