This month the men of K Squad went on a weekend excursion to Antigua. It is such a blessing to surround yourself with like-minded men to encourage and push each other to greatness. During the weekend, I was able to connect with the Adventures base and see most of the people I’ve gotten to know over the past year.
When we arrived in Antigua, we were able to have lunch with Gabe from the base. He is a man I met at my Training Camp from second generation G Squad. It was cool at Training Camp to have a kindred Miami person to connect with from the start. We launched at the same time and traveled with different squads but both went on similar journeys.
After our trips, we reconnected at Searchlight, which is an event Adventures puts together for returning squads to connect to the organization and to present opportunities after the race. It’s a great tool the help see where the Lord could be calling you. This is where Gabe heard the call to go to Guatemala. I was also able to see him in Gainesville when he came to attend a good friend’s wedding!
When the men arrived in Antigua, we met up with Gabe at our hostel and right away I could tell something was very different. He walked in, sat down next to me and just started in like we had never been apart. He told me that when he heard we were coming to the area he began to pray for me to see what the Lord had to say. It was cool to have this mighty man of God speak prophetically over me about things the Lord had stirred the day before. He told me that I was on the right journey and that there was blessing in what I had taken up coming back on the World Race.
He told me that he heard the Lord say He was proud and was going to bless the sacrifice. What an encouragement for me!
This is when I began to hear the Lord speak so clearly about the process in which we as World Racers set out on. While walking to lunch, Gabe began to tell me about how he was a mess when he got home from the Race and that he did not know what was next. He told me that during Searchlight he got wrecked by God and then heard the call to go to Guatemala. Praise the Lord he heeded that call. In my past interactions with Gabe I knew he was a good man in pursuit of the father, but this time there was something so sweet about him. In the year he had been at the base in Antigua he had been transformed. When he sat beside me at the hostel he began to speak life and love, he spoke prophetic words for me and for the base. He told me about the direction the base was taking and that they were in the process of training locals to go out into the nations to proclaim God’s glory. Gabe had something on him that was such an encouragement to me seeing what the Lord would do with a willing Racer. God took him on a journey of brokenness and abandonment on the Race to a place ready to be built back up through discipleship at the Antigua base to truly bring Gabe in to his spiritual beauty. I came away from my interaction with Gabe so inspired and encouraged with what I feel is the calling on my life – working with Adventures in Missions.
Seth Barnes, the CEO of Adventures, often talks about the three-year discipleship structure Jesus modeled in the 12 apostles. Walking out the Race to strip away what the world has weighted us down with, coming off the Race seeking good discipleship and mentors to build a strong framework as Christians, and finally to be empowered to pursue the God-given calling on our lives. During my time with Gab, the Lord confirmed to me this process is divinely inspired. This inspired my heart to dive deeper into walking this out with others knowing what was on my heart was truly a divine calling.
