I am so thankful for the World Race. Seriously, like everyday, I thank God for the opportunity He gave me to go out for those 11 months, either when I’m seeing pictures that are now my memories on Facebook or when I’m reading through old journals from my time on the race or when random things remind me of squatty potties and that one time my team and I were on house arrest in India. The Lord allowed me to see so much in those 11 months, and through everything He taught me more than I could ever imagine.
My first week back in the US, I was asked to speak at a few places in Indiana before I left. As I was praying about what to share, the Lord placed the verse from John 1:5 on my heart: “The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.” As I thought about this verse, I was able to connect it with every situation I had been in, with all the brokenness I had seen on the race. Even in the midst of the pain and hurt in all 11 countries I went to, I was able to be a witness to the restoration and redemption that the Lord was at work at in those places.
And now, a month into working at an inner-city school here in Denver, I feel like I am witnessing more darkness and pain on a daily basis than I did in any of the countries I traveled to. Of course, you can’t really compare hurt, but I haven’t gotten many glimpses of redemption, of restoration here. Whereas that was the norm on the race, as we were partnering with local ministries, at the public school I’m working at I see hundreds of students who are hurting, who are living lives full of so much pain and brokenness I can’t even imagine. I see kids who have walls built up to protect themselves in the only way they know how, kids who have fallen into a culture of brokenness and don’t believe there’s any way out. I see kids who so desperately need healing, but they are finding it in all the wrong places.
On one side of my school, you look out the windows and see the city skyline of Denver: A city where there are so many different people, people searching, people hurting, people lost. And on the other side of my school, you look out the windows at the lake and into the mountains. I was actually just driving through them this morning, and I couldn’t help but thank God for continuing to show me the good. For showing me the Light, and for helping me truly believe the words of John 1:5, even when my school can seem so dark. I know the Lord has called me here, and although it is the most difficult place I have worked so far, I also know He is doing big things in this place. I have found a community in both World Race Alum here in Colorado and in people from my church in my gospel community. They are dedicated to the work the Lord has set out for them, and everyone is praying for revival in Denver- and I am praying it will flood it’s way miraculously into this gorgeous brick building down the road where I work 🙂
I am so grateful that the Lord placed John 1:5 on my heart that first week back home. I am so thankful for the sunsets on the lake overlooking the mountains by my house, for sunrises over the city skyline on my walk to school each morning, for World Race family who come visit me here in Denver, and for Fall (which I haven’t experienced in 5 years!) and the mountain drives and hikes winding through the golden seas of Aspens. The Light truly is shining in the darkness!
**This will be my last blog on this website. If you would like to follow my new blog, I will be attempting to continue writing about what post-World Race ministry looks like here in Denver as an inner-city middle school teacher (and yes, that’s where people shudder) at lbienz.wordpress.com (right now it’s got all my old Morocco blogs on it which are quite entertaining, but I will try to be updating it soon with new posts from Denver).**
