(Quote above from this song by All Sons and Daughters)
To say that I was nervous about going to Honduras would be an understatement. Honduras is one of the most dangerous countries in the world and one of the poorer countries in Latin America and I didn’t have the slightest idea what this place could hold for me on the World Race. On top of it all that month my team was designated to do Unsung Heroes, a ministry where a team can organize wherever they want to go or go wherever they feel led to go in that particular country. Yeah, it was pretty chaotic. It was also incredible in the most unforeseen ways. God led us to beautiful people across the country who took us in and showed us the love of Jesus. I never for one second felt unsafe or scared.
Like many of you know, I am a team leader for the race. Let me emphasize that though this position is an honor, it is not a title or a role to find significance in. It is also a position that I find God using to daily mold me like a potter molds his clay. I have to make hard decisions, I am looked to for direction and clarity, I am often a spokesman for the team, and I have to spur others on in their walk with Jesus. For my team of seven people last month, I was praised, but also often criticized about how I was leading them. I saw fruit, but I also saw a wide field in front of me in which I need to step in to and grow in to. If you know me well, you know I am in no way a type A person and I struggle with the details and with specifics. And if you didn’t know this about me, you know now. I think about my last 2 years living in Nashville and how I would go to the supermarket, and walk around on end, barely able to make decisions about groceries. And no I would never make a list of things to get! How could someone like that lead a small team around the world? Let me tell you it’s possible, and it’s by the good grace of God.
“You reached into my soul and rearranged the position of my bones. You rebuilt my rib cage so Your heart could be home.”
When you A S K things of God, do you ask with an expectant heart? Do you know who your loving and good Father truly is? While I started getting ready for the race last fall I encountered some challenges. It became pretty clear to me that I had a lot of preparation to do, and I had to start making lists. I hate the word “lists” but they had to be my best friends in order to get things done. I had to start becoming a hundred times more organized. I had to just…do so much in preparation. So like it says to do in Matthew 7, I asked of the Lord. I asked him to change me. I asked him to make me more organized, bold, and assertive. I was, and am still to this day, expectant of him to change this in me, because He is a good Father. I am seeing him take my faults and brokenness aside, and turn me into something beautiful. He is changing me through the tiniest of things. Being a team leader is a huge answer God has given me. Yes it is difficult, but a sprinter on the track team doesn’t win the race without hopping over those big hurdles.
“Ask and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you…your Father who is in heaven gives good things to those who ask him.” Matthew 7:7
I am currently in Guatemala and it’s been a blast! I have a NEW team and my next blog post will be up soon about what’s going on where I am.
Love you all. Thanks for reading.
Kevin
