It’s more than our team name. It’s our aspiration.
3 months ago at training camp I sat around a table enjoying a wonderful Italian dinner with my newly assembled team. We were sent out from camp for the evening to get to know each other and to come back with a team name.
While devouring the free garlic bread the server placed on the table we starting discussing the reasons we all signed up for the race. For some it was a need for change, they were stuck in a rut and knew God was calling them to more. For others it was the desire to awaken the power of God in their lives; they wanted to experience and live out the faith they had read about in the early church. And for others it was as simple as “God told me to go”.
We continued our conversation in trying to come up with a team name. We threw out a few different ideas, “Damascus” “Journey” “Persistence”. None quite fit. We all were drawn to Damascus but we weren’t quite sure as to why. Someone had the idea to read the story of Saul on the road to Damascus to see if anything within the story connected with us.
Acts 9: 1-15
"Meanwhile, Saul was still breathing out murderous threats against the Lord’s disciples. He went to the high priest and asked him for letters to the synagogues in Damascus, so that if he found any there who belonged to the Way, whether men or women, he might take them as prisoners to Jerusalem. As he neared Damascus on his journey, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. He fell to the ground and heard a voice say to him, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?”
“Who are you, Lord?” Saul asked.
“I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting,” he replied. “Now arise and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.”
….
In Damascus there was a disciple named Ananias. The Lord called to him in a vision,“Ananias!” “Yes, Lord,” he answered.
The Lord told him, “Arise and go to the house of Judas on Straight Street and ask for a man from Tarsus named Saul, for he is praying. In a vision he has seen a man named Ananias come and place his hands on him to restore his sight.”
“Lord,” Ananias answered, “I have heard many reports about this man and all the harm he has done to your people in Jerusalem. And he has come here with authority from the chief priests to arrest all who call on your name.”
But the Lord said to Ananias, “Go! This man is my chosen instrument to proclaim my name to the Gentiles and their kings and to the people of Israel. I will show him how much he must suffer for my name.”
As soon as we were done reading the Scripture a few of us at the table made mention of Ananias. Where as some connected with the transformation of Paul’s life, others connected with the hesitation and fear of Ananias reaching out to Saul. Both very different walks of life but yet God was working in both lives when He told them to Arise and Go.
When Saul would arise & go he would be leaving his sinful past behind him, he would now be living a life of dedication and sacrifice to God.
When Ananais would arise & go he would be setting his fear aside and acting in obedience of the things God had asked of him.
Two very different back stories but one request… Arise & Go.
The seven of us that make up Team Arise&Go all come from very different backgrounds and were brought to the World Race for very different reasons.
But we have all been called in one way or another to:
from our pain
from our past
from our fear
from our apathy
from our selfishness
and GO.
And so we are… together.
