Just a few days ago, I left World Race training camp for the second time in my life.
A lot of things were different this time around. I had some semblance of a clue what to expect. I understood and appreciated team formations. I did this one with the love of my life (or, I should say, fully aware of the love of my life). I came into this one as a leader hoping to pour out into X squad.
I have to confess that I was not super ready for the Lord to challenge me the way He did at TC. I’m doing this thing for X squad, after all, I’ve been through this before for myself. But the Lord used them to pour into me. And the Lord drew me closer to Himself.
The beautiful paradox about training camp is that we find freedom in our depravity. Secrets are revealed. The shame that we swore was ours alone gets taken away, swallowed, and cast away by a family of love. Stripped of most of what we are accustomed to, we discover more than we could have imagine.
At training camp, people often spoke about us being ‘dangerous’. I really like this. I’m tired of being safe and predictable. I’m tired of the same old whispered lies having the same old influence over my life. Training Camp is a bit like an alarm clock going off. It wakes us up.
The difficulty of incredible experience is that we might become addicted to it. But a dangerous disciple is simply an awakened one. When I think of being ‘dangerous’ for the sake of the gospel, my mind easily drifts to raising people from the dead and healing the sick. But I think the real danger is in living a daily life devoted to God – even when it isn’t spiritually sexy, even when I don’t understand. I could perform miracles all the time but fall asleep between performances.
I don’t want to be a resounding gong or a clanging symbol. I want to have love. I want to be love.
I saw X-squad become real dangerous at Training Camp. The enemies of the gospel cringe when the people of God say, “wait a minute…”. We are most dangerous when our love is not defined by circumstance or understanding. When our love is unwavering and unconditional.
The most incredible thing we can do for the gospel is to step out of the shadows that have darkened our souls and to meekly raise our hands and confess, “here I am, Lord.” Satan can make an idol out of miracles, he can even do some pretty impressive things physically. But Satan cannot contend with a discovered identity.
The gospel lives as it comes alive within each of us. The gospel becomes alive and thriving when we take a deep breath and shout out the lies and the shame and the sin we have held so tightly to, replacing it with forgiveness and peace and joy. Then we become dangerous, not just dangerous in situation but dangerous in identity.
I’m still working on living a life of relentless, spirit-filled identity. I’m so thankful for X squad and the chance to work on these things together. We are becoming dangerously useful for the Kingdom of God, as only the unified Body of Christ can.
