It started with the rain…
I’ve started out my adventure with X Squad by first venturing into Moldova with three of our teams for a week. They were given a schedule (a rare thing on the Race) and the pastor shared his vision for the church here and for his country. We were off to a great start. But day 3 of ministry turned out to be a little different than expected. The contact had talked to the team leaders the night before and set up what each of the teams would be doing. The next morning we all woke up to the soft patter and sweet smell of rain. Ever since my first Race, I’ve fallen in love with rain. The newness, the freshness, the promise of life — it just brings me a peace and a joyful expectation of something good. So I was thankful for the rain… even if it ended up changing everyone’s plans for the day.
Pastor Vitale decided that since most of the work we had planned to do was outside, the day would just be a day of cleaning around the ministry site and prayer. I was slightly disappointed, having hoped to spend more time with the teams in “real” ministry, but I’ve learned that a day spent mainly focused on prayer and worship is a sweet sweet gift from the Lord. Especially on the Race. Within 30 minutes, the 20 of us had gathered together in a small room, ready to spend some time with God.
Now, there’s something you need to know. This squad is needy. Like crazy needy. In the most beautiful sense of the word. They want so much more of God they can’t even stand it. They buzz with this continual yearning for intimacy with their Lord. The word “more” has been spoken in the last week than I think I’ve ever heard before among a group of people. And not only do they want it all, they want it desperately. So when they pray, they pray hard. And when they worship, they worship with a purpose. It’s crazy beautiful to witness, and crazy humbling to be a part of.
Even with my awareness of there they’re at, I never expected what happened yesterday to go down. In that small room, 20 people came together and the Lord met us there. With His power, with overwhelming love, with sweet words of promise, and with a tangibleness to His presence that I haven’t felt in a long time. We worshiped. People shared what was on their hearts. And we prayed. We prayed over each and every person in that room. And God knocked our spiritual socks off with the magnitude of blessing He gave us in that time.
We got the more we were looking for. And it was so sweet, it’s left us wanting even more than the more we had asked for. It was a dissatisfying satisfaction.
I turned to my co-leader after it was all over and had a hard time finding words for what we had just witnessed. This group of Racers has been on the field for a little over ten days. They’d been in ministry for three. I think “did that just happen?” was all that I could utter. I’m still blown away by it all. And I’m convinced now, more than ever before, that this is a squad that is going to shake the grounds of this earth and propel revival throughout the nations. They’re waking up. This is their time to shine. They were born for such a time as this.
