there THer/
adverb
1. in, at, or to that place or position.
Chills flood through my skull for the first time in my life. Have you ever had such intense goosebumps that they rushed not only through your arms and legs, but through the crown of your head? Neither have I…
This room is packed with 100 souls who are far lighter than the ones that stood here this time last year. Souls that were eager to launch on a mission trip around the world.
Funny how we thought it was going to be a trip.
Something we would go on and return from. Something that was for fun or for pleasure.
In reality, it was a yearlong pilgrimage. Where the climate, lack of resources, and abundance of love and conflict wrung out our souls like Steph Curry’s towel at the NBA final. Quick and thorough.
Because we were drenched in the ways of the world. We had to be wrung out to start dry. Ready to be saturated in the experiences the Lord had planned in order to rebuild us.
“A tethered man free from the lies,” Mumford & Sons plays in the background. That’s us. We were tethered to the lies of who we were and what we were capable of in this lifetime.
And we’re still going…
We haven’t stopped or “returned.”
We were made new and there are no chains to return to.
So here I stand at Project Searchlight. The chills. Those are from the worship. You see, we haven’t worshipped together as a group since we were guppies in this World Race thing. Sweatbands and hardly worn Nalgene’s in tote.
The 200 of us who did training camp together last July and launched together in September were split into 5 routes of 11 different countries across the globe. Each squad was assigned to a different route. From there my squad of 50 was split into 7 teams of 7. Now, a year later, the Holy Spirit boundlessly fills the room as we’re reunited for the first time.
Project Searchlight has been a long time coming, but it hasn’t been the classic reunion I was expecting.
I thought, “I couldn’t make it to my college graduation 4 years ago and still feel like I never actually graduated. I’ll need closure. I’m going.” I thought it was going to be the period at the end of a sentence.
God has been showing me that it’s not a period (.), it’s a semicolon (;).
The sentence goes on. This is openture, not closure.
I’ve been spiritually filled and learned more about my life calling here in these five days than I did in my month back home after the Race. The main thing God has put on my mind this month is living in the present.
Often times, we spend much of our “here” thinking about our “there.”
One of the biggest things I’ve noticed about being back is how many people live in their “there” and miss the blessing right under their nose. They have the wife they prayed for 10 years ago, they have the dream job they trained for for 4 years, they have the 4 healthy kids they’ve always wanted. But they don’t see it.
They see that their neighbor’s house is bigger. They see that John in the department over got the promotion. Comparison can rob you of the joy and gratitude you could have for this season in your life.
Of course you have to have a vision of where you want to go in order to get there, but you do not have to live in that vision. Spending your 9-5 day dreaming of a better life. If the Race taught me one thing it’s that the better life is now.
Why are we waiting to arrive when we are never not living in this moment?
Here > There
Ecclesiastes 8:15
