If you have been following my blog from the very beginning you many remember me talking about one of my worries before coming on the race was leaving the routine and comfortability of my church and not knowing what church was going to look like on the race. Well as envisioned church has looked very different every month. In Zambia our team nearly outnumbered the congregation, in Swaziland you dance in church, and in most churches you never know what they are preaching about because there is rarely if ever a translator. In Bulgaria I wrote a blog called Church in Bulgaria because I was amazed at the freedom I found within the church there. Only 27 years ago Bulgaria was a communist country and everywhere you look you see hopelessness, yet in the church we attended we found hope and freedom. Freedom to dance and worship Jesus anyway they wanted. It is still something that has stuck with me. I hadn’t encountered anything like it until Colombia.
In Colombia we lived and served at Ciudad Refugio (City of Refuge) Ministries. They have a variety of ministries other than being a church including running a homeless shelter, a drug restoration program, feeding programs, and street ministry. In order to stay at the homeless shelter or be a part of the drug restoration program you need to attend at least 1 of the 3 church services a week. While I would understand going to church with people from these walks of life may make some people uncomfortable I loved it and looked forward to church more than I ever have in my entire life. The reason being was the passion these people worshiped God with. Before every service the men would sit around in a circle with arms slung on each other’s backs praying fervently for one another. During service everywhere you looked you saw passion. People jumping up and down with their arms in the air even if they were well into their senior years. People praying and shouting and singing at the top of their lungs crying out to their redeemer. People collapsed on the floor sobbing in an outpouring of love and thankfulness yet undeservingness for what Jesus has done for them, for all of us. Worship, like church, was in Spanish and while I recognized and knew some of the songs in English, I didn’t need to know the words to know what the songs were about or to see how they moved the people attending the church, that was evident by the energy and passion in the room. These people knew firsthand the power of Christ in their lives and the redeeming work he is capable of and they were going to sing His praises with all they had and more.
Back home it just so happened that the start of Colombia lined up with spring break. Spring break is synonymous with two things for me, snowboarding and Soar Heartland. Soar Heartland is an inner city youth missions trip that is near and dear to my heart. Every year I live for 10 days of the most amazing passion filled worship that fills my heart to overflowing. I knew not being there this year would be hard and while it was something I was homesick for having the church in Colombia to worship with in such a passionate way was exactly what I needed and such a gift from God. So thank you Colombia for unashamedly sharing your passion with us, like Bulgaria it will be something I will never forget.
