The Hike

I decided one day to take a day off from ministry and go spend time alone with God. (I have felt called to take a day since my first month in Romania and never took one) I wanted to be obedient so that morning after breakfast and listening to some worship music I went off alone to find a place to seek God. I walked about 35 min down a dirt road and found a place to sit and be quiet. There are many reasons why I have been hesitant to take these days to be alone with God and one of them is that I’m afraid of what He will tell me to do and that it will change my life completely. I’m somewhat of a planner and like taking things into my own hands, especially my own life. I have taken control of my life in some areas and not fully given that over to God. In my time alone with Him, He revealed that to me and also that I need to drop all my expectations that I still have of this trip or for my future. He is in complete control of my life and His plan is perfect for me. I realized that I would say that He is, but I haven’t been trusting Him completely with my life. In the two hours that I was out there I was praying and God was telling me these things and it was good.  God also knows that I can be a bit A.D.D. and I was having a hard time focusing, so He decided to send 4 boys down this dirt road that have been hanging out with us since we have been in Swaziland. Three brothers (7, 9, 11) and another boy Clive (14) and they wanted to hike up the mountain behind me.

 

I decided to go with them since they asked and it would have been hard to say no anyways. As we were hiking up the mountain I was praying for them and that God would speak to me during the hike.

 

 

As we continued on our walk, I realized that these boys just got up that morning and said lets go on a hike. They didn’t hesitate.  They didn’t go put on their hiking boots, special socks, backpacks, water bottles, snacks and first aid kits. Kids back in North America would have planned a hike like this and made sure they were prepared to go before stepping out the door. These boys were wearing the clothes they had been wearing the last few days, sandals, crocks or flip flops.

 

God was revealing to me that, like the boys going on the hike, I just need to get up and go and serve Him in what He is calling me to do. He doesn’t want me to hesitate and try to prepare before I go.  He wants me to stop analyzing whether or not I’m equipped enough and just GO when he says GO.  He will provide and he knows what’s best for me.

 

Due to recent injuries to my toes (played in a soccer game and wore shoes that were a size and a half too small, yeah, don’t ask), I was debating on walking 35 min back to the house to get shoes and then continue on the hike or walk in my flip flops. I decided to just head out with the boys and make it an adventure. As we continued to hike I was wondering what Bible story I could tell the boys when we got to the top. David and Goliath was laid on my heart and it also reminded me of these boys that didn’t have any fear to hike up this mountain, like David going to fight Goliath. At one point during the hike we had to chop away at all the grass and brush with sticks to even get through.  In my head I was thinking it is time to head back now, we’ve been gone for a few hours and people are going to wonder where we are. But I decided to keep going with the boys and let them decide when they were done. Not more than 10 min later they stopped and said, “we go back home now.” I was glad that I waited for them to make that decision and not me. We did not make it all the way to the top of the mountain but I know they were excited to have gotten that far.

 

The three oldest boys were running down the mountain and I hung back with Musa,  the 7 year old, helping him down and yelling at the boys to slow down and not fall. Well, needless to say, they fell a lot and kept laughing at each other the whole way down – that’s boys for you. When we finally made it to the bottom of the mountain and started walking back on the dirt road I decided to tell them the story of David and Goliath. I asked Clive to translate for me since he spoke the most English out of all of them. I was praying that God would speak to them through me in that moment to show His love and let them know that He is always there for them.

 

We finally made it back to the house, 5 ½ hours after I had left that morning. I grabbed some fruit and water for the boys and then really wanted to go take a nap. But that didn’t feel right to me, to leave the boys outside and just not hang out with them some more. Other people were doing different things but the boys were just sitting there. I asked William and one of the translators “Innocent” (that’s his English name) to come with me to a little store across the street where they sell Coca-Cola. I wanted to buy the boys some Coke and hang out some more. As we walked over to it I asked the boys if they could tell William the story I told them on the way back. One of the boys told Innocent and he translated for us.

 

When we were at the store I was telling William about my day and he said that it’s crazy that I told the boys about David, since he was just a shepherd when he went out to kill Goliath. He didn’t take the kings armor or weapons, he went out just as he was and with what he knew, his sling and 5 rocks.

 

I realized that day that God wants to use me to further His Kingdom and that it doesn’t take any special degree, background or special skills that he wants me JUST AS I AM.