Ministry on the Race is going to look different everywhere we go. When I think of doing ministry, usually what comes to mind is going to work in a school, door-to-door ministry, teaching english, or showing love to orphans.
But this week for ministry, we worked on a horse farm.
The owner of the horse farm, HilMary, runs the whole farm herself besides having a few helpers. She desperately needs help, so as a team we were very happy to be able to assist her in any way we could. Daily, my team and I helped feed the horses morning and afternoon, cleaned out the horse pens, filled up the horse’s water barrels, brushed the horses, helped with horseback riding lessons on the beach, fetched the horses from the field, and even rode some horses ourselves.
There was one afternoon where we went out into the field to fetch a couple horses to bring back to the main pen on the horse farm. This field is pretty massive, and consists of many different horses grazing in the field. One horse in particular was very difficult to catch and kept running away from anyone that tried to get near him. As the horse kept being stubborn, I just kept thinking of a shepherd herding his sheep. A shepherd in a field is devoted to tending his sheep. When one sheep gets away, he does everything he can to bring that sheep back to the herd.
This is how Jesus is towards us. As we start to run away and escape from His presence, He desperately wants us to come back to Him. And when we do come back to Him, he joyfully rejoices and welcomes us back with open arms.
Later on that same day, I was sharing with my team the thoughts I was having while trying to catch the runaway horse. Racquel shared with me that during that same time in the field, she started praying. She was praying that God take control of the horse, shine His love through her, and to draw him back in because in our human strength we would not be able to catch the horse. And almost immediately, the horse came right up to Racquel and we were able to bring him back to the horse farm.
God was showing me that He wants us to surrender our control daily, and to be in constant communication with Him. He wants for us to present our requests and prayers to Him, so that through His power alone He can do all things.
God also taught me a lot as we were cleaning out the horse pens. Basically we shoveled horse poop into a wheel barrel to clean up the living space for the horses. We smelled like poop everyday (so many poop jokes it was insane). But nonetheless, we never felt down in the “dumps” (pun intended) and continued to find joy in whatever we needed to do. Honestly, cleaning the pens showed me what the next year is going to look like for me. God wants me to go through the “crappy” parts of my life, dealing with those struggles with people around me that will encourage me/pray for me, and giving my burdens to Jesus to free me from the bondage they have over me.
Thank you Jesus, for being so faithful and trustworthy throughout this entire journey. I know I have only been in South Africa for a week, but you have been so present in more ways I can explain. Thank you for teaching me to draw near to you no matter how far I may stray away, and for being a good, good Father.
