I messed up and didn’t get last week’s Thursday done (wowza Christmas and planning travel and doing ministry and not having wifi all add up really quickly), but here on the Race we adapt a lot, so we’re adapting and we’re rejoicing.
It wouldn’t be a stretch for me to have material enough to write a blog a day on saying “YES” on the race. It’s a daily, moment by moment choice that always, most certainly, without a doubt makes all the difference in the world. The right yesses have proven not to be easy and comfortable, but challenging and stretching, but fruitful and beautiful nonetheless. These past days were YES days more than most. Here are three things I said yes to…..
- The Free Fall: Livingstone, Zambia is home to Victoria Falls, a waterfall spanning the space between Zambia and Zimbabwe. Because of generous Christmas gifts from my homeys (like my home people, but the cool way to say it), I got to experience a day off in this place in two beautiful ways – swimming on the edge of the falls and swinging from a 111m bridge spanning the gap between the two countries – all before 10AM. It wasn’t until I was on the edge of the platform that I really though “hm, maybe this isn’t a McCrea thing to do,” but it was kind of too late for that. I had said my yes, I was harnessed in, my toes were over the edge and arms wrapped as tightly around my dear Grace as possible. And we walked right off the bridge. And we fell. And I screamed. And I experienced so much freedom and absolute joy. And I was reminded of truth that was revealed during cliff jumping in Greece that became even more evident this month: our fears that grip our ankles and keep us firmly planted right on the edge of all things great have no hold on us when we jump with all we’ve got.
- The Sermon: Last Thursday we worked with a pastor and some church members. On Thursday he asked one of us to preach on Sunday for his “small, growing church”. I know that for a lot of World Race scenarios, that’s actually quite a bit of warning, but for McCrea, it’s certainly not. Did I want to preach? No, probably not. Did I consciously make the decision that I was going to preach? No, I really don’t think so. But before I realized what I was doing, I said yes. In the adrenaline of the answer, I felt confident and assured, but as I sat down to prepare, all the thoughts of me not being prepared enough or old enough or wise enough or fill-in-the-blank enough set in and set in hard. But I had said yes, and my yes was my yes. So on Sunday, I stood before a very packed house and preached on saying yes to whatever the Lord has, no matter how worthy or “ready” we perceive ourselves to be. It was scarier than jumping off the bridge, but still, those fears couldn’t hold me when I jumped with all I had.
- The Children: I like children, I really do, but I also really like doing the job set before me. Many times this month with children living in our home and as neighbors, I’ve been distracted from what’s in front of me. This week, we worked with yet another pastor to evangelize and tell the story of Christmas to those in his church’s neighborhood. Day one, we began with the pastor and two young girls following along. Two and a half hours later, we returned to the church with 64 children on our arms, at our heels, and in our hearts. Along the way, I struggled to feel like we were doing what the pastor wanted us to do, as most of us had to occupy the children while one or two went to speak to others. There was absolutely, certainly no way of telling them no, you can’t follow us right now. So we said yes. And we shared Christmas and truth and light and love with 64 children that day and 30-some more the next.
