The beginning of this amazing journey on The World Race is finally here, but it has been slightly a tease. We arrived in Quito, Ecuador late Tuesday, July 12th. The first day was all meetings for the leaders and finance positions, then everyone was reunited again on the 13th. We have had amazing food, slept in authentic hostels (complete with a night club attached—the beat of the base and techno music somehow lulls me to sleep), and encountered God is crazy ways. I’m so thankful that we weren’t sent out to the field straight from the airport!
At the beginning of our team reunion, I was overwhelmed with the love that I had for my team. As a leader, I want my team to first and foremost know that I love them and will serve them! The days have been packed full of meetings, chapel services, and projects; however, we have bonded in a way that I couldn’t have even planned. Unfortunately, yesterday we were gripped with the news that one of our members has to be placed on a different team.
Two days before we all met in Quito, one of the guys on our squad got engaged, which is against The World Race’s rules—it’s hard to have one’s heart on the field in ministry and yet back home with a significant other. Because of this recent news, the staff needed to switch up teams in order to fill the gap on the other team of the guy who left. The staff had been remarking at how awesome my team dynamic was, to which I simply responded, “I know!” But because they believed in my team so much, they thought one of my guys, Evan Kinney, would fill the gap on a different team.
I knew that this was the path that God had for all of us—for Evan, for the team that he was moving to, and for my team—however, it was incredibly hard to see him go. I tried to keep my optimism, but as soon as we got together as a team for the last time I broke! For the short three days that my team was together, we all got extremely attached to one another. We had been open and vulnerable with each other. We had laughed and shared fun times together. So needless to say, this rocked our team pretty well.
I literally began crying out to God to give me strength and to give me wisdom in how to fix this open wound on my team. Then God told me that I don’t have to fix it. He is the ultimate Healer and Provider, even more than I could ever do for my team or myself.
It’s cool to see the belief and faith that the staff has for my team: to allow for one person to leave my team dynamic and they still believe that my team will be awesome is such an encouragement. I knew that God was going to work in crazy ways, but everything is always a surprise. And sometimes I wouldn’t want it any other way.
