I knew from the time I was accepted to The World Race that it would be one of the most difficult yet rewarding experiences of my life. Off and on I have wondered when exactly these “tough and challenging moments” would arise and how tough they really would be. Well, last week rattled almost everyone on Kate’s and Hugh’s teams. For me, three major experiences pretty much came out of nowhere and rocked me to my core. Below is the first experience of that week.
Last Thursday, we drove an hour away from Apastepeque to hand out food, pray, and provide a church service to a poor, rural community in the middle of nowhere. The group I evangelized with prayed over two households and handed out a large bag of beans to these families. Nothing out of the ordinary, right?
Well, as we were walking down the dusty road to pray for another family, a middle-aged, El Salvadorian woman came up to a couple of us and told us about someone to come see. From what I overheard, I thought we were going to the home of her very sick relative and praying for him. This was not the case. As soon as I walked through the doorframe of the house, I saw a fully-clothed, dead middle-aged man lying rigid on a bed with a small, lace handkerchief draped over his head. This man had died less than two hours ago. My eyes immediately opened up more and took a double-take. I was not expecting this whatsoever, and it caught me off-guard. I continued to walk in though because I sensed that we should pray over this man.
As the rest of my group entered the home, the facial expressions quickly changed upon seeing the dead man. Hugh Roberts, a team leader, said matter-of-factly, “Well, let’s raise the dead.” We all silently affirmed him and looked at the mother of the man and asked if we could pray over him. She nodded in agreement, and although some of my group were apprehensive, we all immediately stepped out in faith and prayed for the Lord to raise this man from the dead. What? You don’t think God still performs miracles?
While praying for this man, many thoughts were swirling in our minds. Does this man deserve to be raised from the dead? Does the Lord even want him raised? Should we even be here while the grief is so fresh on this family’s mind? Is the Lord going to perform a miracle on month 2 of The Race? How long do we pray for this miracle?
One fact we know is we didn’t doubt God’s omnipotent power. Although this man was not raised from the dead, we know that we were supposed to pray for this man and his family that afternoon. As it turned out, as we were finishing our prayers, a group of three men from the morgue came to declare the death and take the body away. Coincidence? I think not.
As we left the home and headed to the church service site, some had heavy hearts, some were in a state of confusion, some felt light-hearted, and others had a million thoughts racing through their minds. What was the impact we had in that moment? We will never know. But what we do know is that we stepped out in faith and believed in the power of the Holy Spirit.
