When I was at launch, preparing to leave the country on this eleven-month journey, each of us on the squad was given a key. The man who gave us these keys had prayed for each of us by name and received a word or bible verse for each of us, which he had engraved on our key. Mine said “HOPE”. The idea behind this was that we spend time praying and learning from the Lord what He had to teach us about our word/verse. Once we had gleaned what He had to teach, we were to pray for someone else to be put into our path who needed that word/verse, and give it to them, explaining that they were to do the same once they’d learned what God had to teach them about it. Therefore, these keys are called “keys for the journey”.
Throughout the race I’ve worn this “HOPE” key around my neck. I’ve learned many things about what hope is, but the ultimate lesson was last month in Ethiopia. I learned that hope is spitting in the face of fear, clinging to something that will keep you going even when fear is telling everything within you to stop. God and His perfect love is my hope.
So, now that I’d learned what He had to teach, I needed someone who needed it next.
Okay, so remember that “needle in the haystack” I wrote about a few weeks ago? Well, that guy Zach met day one, his name is Tamerat (which means miracle). As I said before, he came with us to join us in our “Ask The Lord” ministry for the month. He served us as our cook and translator, arranged all of our transportation, and blessed us throughout the month in any/every way he possibly could. He was God’s miraculous provision to us…our miracle! I spent much of my time talking with Tamerat about how amazing God is, and how we can best love and serve Him in all we do. We would also listen to worship songs, him translating the ones in Amharic (his native language), and me explaining the ones in English. He quickly became one of my best friends.
When the month was coming to a close, I was trying to process through what was so different about saying goodbye to Tamerat as opposed to hosts in the past. God reminded me that, unlike the previous months, Tamerat wasn’t a host…he was our teammate. We hadn’t come to join him in his daily ministry for the month. He joined us in the unknown ministry of moving around, asking the Lord to send us into ministry opportunities. That meant that we weren’t leaving Tamerat like we have left our host at the end of every month. No, Tamerat had joined us as our teammate for a month of the Race, and now he was going home, and we had to move to the next place without him. We were launching him back into “his world”, as we would all be doing for one another in a couple months when we ourselves left the Race and headed home.
So I asked Tamerat how he was doing, what he was thinking about how he wanted to live differently now, after this crazy month of ministry. He started talking about what he dreams of doing, even though there was currently no indication of the fulfillment of most of those dreams. He kept talking about just having to cling to his hope in God-the hope that God knows what’s best, and He will love Tamerat perfectly, providing just what Tamerat needs.
That’s when I knew…Tamerat was the person who needed my key! So I wrote him a letter, explaining the vision behind the key and why I was giving it to him. I told him to make sure to learn what God had to teach him before giving it away.
Now, every time I reach to put that key on and them remember I no longer have it, I’m reminded to pray for Tamerat and what the Lord is teaching him about hope. I’m also reminded to live today spitting in the face of fear, stepping out in faith rooted in the hope that God loves me perfectly, and He’s in complete control.
