As most know, I have gotten back from 10 crazy intense days in the red dirt of Georgia! I met 50 strangers who are now the people I get to spend the next year of my life with! I worshipped under the stars, i have ate questionable food, and used bucket showers that made me feel like i was doing the ice bucket challenge! God broke me!
I came to camp thinking I would have it all together because that’s what “Christians” do! I came to camp thinking this will be like any other thing I’ve done before, all the things we talk about on the mission field, all the talks about God I thought I knew it all! Boy does God sure have a funny way of catching your attention…
Here are a few thoughts on training camp!
1. X-squad is the best squad and we got moves!
As we were pulling in the parking lot, we grabbed our packs and headed on the trail to where I noticed everyone was setting up tents! This was them. This was the people I have spent months talking to on facebook, Google hangouts, group chats and all these places and now they are going to see how weird and awkward I really am!!! That seriously was a thought. I checked in and set up my tent and so began the process of building relationship with my new family! Let me just say there was so much unity and love in that place. It was something so beautiful and rare. Side note: When Squad Wars came at the end of camp we came in first during the dance competition and had a blast doing it!
2. I am a daughter not a servant.
I realized that yes I love Jesus with my whole heart, I always have, but I am guilty of this mindset that I believe others may have as well. Am I doing enough for God or am I walking with God? I know there’s been times where I have struggled with worth and value and Acceptance. I find it easier to serve and do whatever I can to get Jesus to like me more. I realized God is saying “thats great that you love to serve but don’t let that be your identity.Don’t hide behind that because you are my beautiful daughter that I have created for such a time as this to be bold, to take on the world with this incredible group of people!”
3. The best sleep comes from under the stars.
You can laugh at this point all you want to but truly every night either in the tent, the hammock, on the porch,in the middle of a state park on a tarp, it was peaceful. It was those nights I forgot about the worries of home, my own bed, even the air conditioner. The only night that was not so peaceful was “airport night” bright lights and loud airport noise. There is reason blindfolds and earplugs were invented!
4. Buffets are so overrated.
The food was quiet the experience. Every day we got to experience food from other cultures community style! We shared a plate of food between 8 people! After Eastern Europe day I’m sure the majority of the squad wanted to switch to a Europe route because that food was incredible. African day was very entertaining but the food was a little sketchy! All the women sat on the ground while the men came in hand and hand to sit around colored greens, corn meal powder, and lentils!
5. The American Dream is not for me.
I feel like this is pretty self explanatory. I have realized my dream is not American at all, it is a Kingdom dream! I don’t care about the fancy big homes or a good paying job, I have realized my dream is much larger, much bigger then I ever thought! My dream is make Jesus famous and to make Gods love brighter for people surrounded by darkness around the world. That’s what I am setting out to do.
6. Tigers, cliffs and strawberries? Oh my…
On one of the nights, one of the training camp speakers told us a story! And well.. I just happen to love stories so I was listening! By the end of it I thought he should of done the drop mic thing after it because it was on point! The story in a nut shell goes like this…
There was a man who was being chased by a tiger! Now it wasn’t just some plain open area, he was being chased in a jungle. I picture him dodging tree’s, trying to avoid fallen objects in the middle of the path, and probably frantically saying a prayer! All of a sudden… He puts on his breaks! He comes upon a cliff! With the tiger coming up behind him prowling low about ready to pounce, the man keeps taking a step back, and back. He knows if he takes one more step back he will be off the cliff… I don’t know about you guys but the only choice this guy has is to either be a flat pancake or dinner for this tiger. I am not sure which one would be worse. I mean with my track record I probably would of never made it to the cliff… I would of ran into a tree or something! But back to the story. He looked down and there was little a ledge about 20 feet down. He jumped.
He jumped off the cliff and he landed on the ledge. He looked down and there was no more ledges. But what was below him was like something you would picture in a nightmare. There was bottom and there was fog rising! He looked up and there was the hungry tiger pacing thinking he was the one with the upper hand. He looked down and there was nothing but darkness he looked straight ahead in the the little mountain rocks and there was a beautiful strawberry plant.
He decided why not eat this strawberry. An as he started chewing, he realized something. He realized it was the best gosh darn strawberry he ever had! The End!
So now your thinking that I’ve probably lost it and this whole training camp just made me more weird, but here’s the drop mic point. That tiger that was chasing the man, prowling, pacing, that totally is the past chasing us! Making some of us run with fear, making us frantically regret our past in some cases! The cliff is like our future! It’s the unknown, the part where everyone asks us questions like what are you doing with your life, and then it doesn’t seem to go as planned. Everything changed. And the strawberry, the thing that makes no sense in this story of danger is this, It’s the thing in our life that represents God. God’s provision, His furious radical love, His grace, His hope, His faithfulness, His favor.
Thank you so much for taking the time and checking this blog out! God is doing some incredible things and showing me what it is to step out in faith and to trust Him more and more. With that being said I am still in need of around $5,000 for my second goal to be able to leave in September. I believe that it can happen. I want to encourage you to pray about giving maybe $5, $20, $100. Pray about an amount the Lord might be asking you to give. It might mean you stepping out in faith a little bit but, i have seen obedience bring the harvest and I know that God wants to turn that faithfulness into a miracle. If you would like to partner with me on this journey just head on over to lindseymiller.theworldrace.org and hit the “support me” button.
Thank you,
Lindsey
