“Do not be deceived, my beloved brothers.
Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above,
coming down from the Father of Lights,
with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.”
[James 1:16-17]
Our squad has begun ministry on our third continent and as we check our calendars we are shocked to find that we are already 2/3 of the way done with our Race! Where has the time gone?!
The last three weeks have been a wild whirlwind, and I’m just now finding myself in a place where I can sit and just rest. As we woke up at 3:30am in Rwanda on February 25th I knew it would be a while before I got some decent rest.
Kigali, Rwanda to Johannesburg, South Africa (with a pit stop in Zambia) to São Paulo, Brazil to Santiago, Chile to La Paz, Bolivia on a bunch of airplanes took its toll on us. Our team spent the night of the 27th in La Paz and hopped on a bus to begin our trek to our ministry site. 19 hours later we stepped foot in Santa Cruz de la Sierra. The first thing we noticed was the temperature change. La Paz was at 13,000ft elevation (which is really really high up for those of you who are sea-level folks like me) so it was in the mid-50s when we left. Santa Cruz greeted us with temps in the 90s and humidity that rivals that of Jones County, Mississippi. We met our host, Giover (Gio for short), and stayed at his house that night. The next day we hopped on another 8 hour bus ride overnight to San Ignacio. We ate breakfast and lunch with a sweet family there and got on one last van to ride 4 more hours on an extra bumpy dirt road to our final destination—San Jose de Campamento.
And here I am.
Laying as still as possible and still sweating.
Covered in mosquito bites from head to toe (tbh I’m honestly concerned about how the heck they’re biting me in places that have never even seen the light of day…but believe me, they are FEASTING).
Blasting my speaker to drown out the sound of donkeys, horses, cows, chickens, dogs, ducks, parrots, and Doris (our hosts’s pet pig) outside our window.
Hacking up my lungs because I’m pretty sure I’ve contracted some sort of South American bronchitis.
I’m gonna be totally honest here: the thought of going home has crossed my mind more times than I’d like to admit in the last couple of weeks. I guess 7 straight months of this stuff is starting to wear on me. I found myself crying out to God for Him to sustain me because without Him I would have been on a plane to the States days ago and I would be sitting in my steaming hot shower for the third time today scrubbing off dirt that most likely has been on me since the Great Nepali Dust Storm of September 2017.
But no, I’m here. I’m trying to focus on writing this blog, but I’m laughing while listening to Katie and India argue and cut up about some Spanish dance competition playing on the family TV while they cook dinner (a bowl of oatmeal and an apple). I’m slapping my thigh every 22.3 seconds because apparently my little quadriceps look like prime rib to Bolivian mosquitoes.
Everything in my flesh says, “Why don’t you just go home? It would be so much easier that way.”
But yesterday the Lord brought the second wind I’be been yearning for.
He did it through a bunch of vultures:
Katie and I had to get back on the little van for 4 hours and head back to San Ignacio yesterday to do some work related to our responsibilities for our squad (she’s the team treasurer and I’m on of the logistics coordinators). I had good mood toons playing in my earbuds and a seat in the back left of the van by the window which, in my opinion, is the best seat in the vehicle. Don’t you think?
Anyway, I was soaking up the blessed a/c and looking out the window. I was literally praying and thanking the Lord for the air conditioner. Seriously like 2 vehicles in the last 7 months have had a functional air conditioner. Hallelujah, praise the Lamb, amen. I looked up at the trees sliding past the window and saw the early morning sun filtering through. Right then I noticed some unlikely messengers from the Lord. He began to speak to my spirit, so I grabbed my journal and wrote this down:
“There were a bunch of black vultures perched in a tree. My guess is that they roosted there for the night and had just woken up with the sunrise. They had their backs to the light of the sun with wings outstretched to soak up every photon. I remember reading once that vultures need this light and heat to warm up their bodies and get their muscles primed for a day full of scavenging.
Just like them I, too, need that time. I need to sit and bask in the light and glory of the Father in order to function. I want prayer and communion with Jesus to be just that important to me, and the Lord wants that for me too.
Okay Lord, I hear you. I need that time in Your presence every morning. Help me to want that every day. Help me to fight off the need or desire for more sleep. Multiply my hours of sleep so that I can spend more waking hours resting in Your goodness.”
Jesus totally changed my perspective on my day, my week, my month, my Race, and even my life! I don’t want a day to go by where I try to hop off my branch and fly before spending time soaking up the goodness of the Lord. I want to be so dependent on the Lord that I simply cannot function without His intervention in my life. If I take a stance like this, how could I ever entertain the thought of going home? To reject the Lord’s call on my life and go home would be to say, “Nah, God. You aren’t enough to sustain me. I’ll just go home and grab that Baconator I’ve been dreaming about every night.”
Let’s ask ourselves this: how badly do I need the Lord?
Do I need Him to wake me up and guide my every step or do I just do whatever I want and hope He blesses it? You see, I believe in a God who offers fullness of life through surrender and desires intimacy with me and speaks directly to me. Sure, He has given me free will and a brain to make common sense decisions (finally, lol right Natalie?), but do I really rely on the Bread of Life and the Living Water to get me through each day?
With this perspective and these questions in mind, I have the opportunity to look at each moment as a moment worth being lived to the fullest. I want to be fully present with my teammates and in ministry. I want to share the gospel with all of my attention and passion. I want to sing to the Lord in worship with all of my heart. I want to scratch these mosquito bites with sweat on my brow and joy in my heart.
Because Jesus is better—He’s worth it.
So apparently if we just open our eyes, God can teach us lessons through just about anything…
Even vultures.
Thanks for the lesson, you nasty little scavenger birds. Maybe you’re not so disgusting after all. 🙂
