Strange people have strange talents….
And, quite honestly, I have seen both strange people and strange talents these past nine days that have shown who they truly are. These people at this training camp are beyond strange, they are absolutely peculiar. They are wholistically in love with Jesus and are not abashed of showing His love in the strangest ways. For example:
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Near where I was tenting, there were two of my squadmates, a guy and a girl, who were trying to set up the girl’s tent. Unfortunately, one of the girl’s poles were made out of fiberglass and snapped. However, the guy was not daunted, he used his extraordinary handiness to remove one of the poles from his own tent to create two half-tents that both stood precariously leaning on each other.
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A teammate told me “you have a beautiful mind” which is, indeed a strange thing to say because she was equating beauty and intelligence, two nouns that do not usually go together. However, she used her imagination to create a metaphor that encouraged me.
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One of my squad leaders has unnervingly deep brown eyes which she uses to look into the souls of those with which she speaks to make them feel completely seen and understood without even having to say a word.
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A guy from another squad has the gift of enthusiasm which he used on the mandatory 2.2-miles-in-under-38-minute-hike to encourage others with his bubbly personality and give his lagging teammates a final push to reach the finish line.
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A squadmate walked up to me offered to “pop my back”. I did a double take, but I acceded to this strange request when I realized that she wanted to massage my back, which was sore from two fitness hikes spaced disasterously near each other. And, strangely enough, in that moment, she used her wonderful messuz skill to give me a feeling of well-being despite the pain.
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A guy on my squad has the irritating ability to tell terrible jokes that somehow lighten our situation and make people see joy in the midst of half the squad being confirmed with lice.
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My trainer weeps for just about everything, but with her tears she demonstrates deep empathy and vulnerable unbreakable strength.
From physical handiness to deep sight, from terrible jokes to weeping, I have seen people step out and share Jesus in bizarre ways, but they are all beautiful because it is who we are as individuals who make up the Church; unique. And as unique individuals, we conform a Gap Year church of about 300 people committed to love Jesus and love each other in our own ways on our own terms, without judgement or regrets.
