This
past week we have been busy at training camp.
We’re talking fourteen, sixteen, eighteen-hour days of loving people,
speaking truth and walking people into wholeness. It’s one of my favorite weeks of the
year. Exhausting, but life changing.
World
Race participants come to training camp for eight days of preparation. They eat ethnic
food, learn to live on a budget, sleep in their tents, try out community living
and listen to a stream of amazing speakers (my husband included).
We
push participants a lot during this week.
They learn to function without a schedule-we only tell them what’s
happening, one session or activity at a time.
They push through personal preferences, as they love those around them
more than themselves. And they dig into
painful wounds that have sucked too much of their lives (sexual abuse, distant
fathers, eating disorders, unhealthy relationships…).
the week we also challenge participants on their view of God. We encourage them to actively believe in their
God-a God who acts, speaks, and loves. A
God who is more than enough. And He
showed up.
is one of the participants going on the World Race in July. He is 90% deaf and wears hearing aids to be
able to function in our world. During
our Wednesday night worship, the world racers started huddling around him and
pleading with their God to heal his ears.
many, many minutes of prayer the speaker for the night started to quiet the
participants to transition them into the talk.
As the room turned to a hush, Jacob interrupted the silence and cried
out “JT,
I can hear you.”
cannot hear without his hearing aids.
didn’t have his hearing aids in.
teammate JT was whispering near his ear.
the first time since 1st grade, Jacob could hear. We even have video of Jacob carrying on a
normal conversation later in the week.
Jacob can HEAR. Training camp may
be a time when we push participants to actively believe in their God, but this
time around I’m pretty sure it was me who was pushed to believe. And believe I do!
