Back the church I
attend in Greeley, Colorado, they are heavily involved in international
missions. Among many, two of the ministry sites they are involved in are in
Kenya and Uganda. Before I left for the race, the Lord placed on my heart a
desire to get involved in either one of those ministries.
Then I joined the World
Race. Our race route was going to both Kenya and Uganda. I never once thought
there would be an overlap…especially because at that time, I was just a member
of a team. When I became a leader, the desire intensified. I thought about it,
prayed about it, asked God if He meant now or after the race. I never really
got any confirmation, except that I couldn’t shake the thought of getting
involved with them. I emailed Pastor Steve back in Greeley to see if there was
any way that we could work something out. Honestly, I was looking for him to
say that there was no way to work anything out so that I would get an
answer…one where I didn’t have to disrupt the peace with the race and our
ministry contacts. Well, he didn’t tell me no. But he didn’t tell me yes
either. I got information from him to contact Mark Hagen the director of the
ministry in Kenya. I had seen Mark in church before, but I didn’t really know
him very well. I emailed him and didn’t really get anything back. But my heart
just wouldn’t rest.
I was running last
month in Thailand with Kathryn and I just exploded. I asked her what she
thought I should do. Do I bring it up with the squad leaders? Or do I just wait
until after the race? Then she gave me some pretty brilliant advice: “The worst
they can do is say no. It won’t hurt to ask.� Duh. I should’ve thought about
that.
I called my squad
leader the next day. Understandably, she said it was a little too late (this
was about 2 and a half weeks ago). She said that if I gave her the information,
she could get it to AIM to potentially set something up for another team on
another race. There was my confirmation. Ok, so I was cool with it not being
now. Time to focus on what AIM had set up for us.
We flew to Nairobi,
Kenya to start our sixth month. On Friday, our team had debrief and then went
out to lunch together at the Java House near our Hostel in Nairobi. We were
just sitting there, joking, laughing, talking. Then I saw this man. He looked
really familiar. I told my team about this guy from my church that works with
this Kenyan ministry and that the man with his back to our table looked very
much like him. They told me to go check if it was him (only after we tried the
whole thing “I know this guy Mark Hagen…�
just to see if he’d turn around because he heard his name). I tried to play it
cool like “I’ll wait guys, no big deal.� Really I just had to get over myself
and my nerves. So I finally got up the courage to go talk to him. He was in a
meeting with another man and woman. Here’s our conversation:
I said, “I’m sorry to
interrupt, but is your name Mark?�
He said, “yes�
I asked, “Mark Hagen?�
He replied, “Yes!�
And I, being so very
classy, responded by saying, “SHUT YOUR MOUTH!!�
So he put his hand over
his mouth and refused to speak until I told him he could open his mouth again.
Essentially, we
discussed what was going on with the Race. He gave me his card in case our
contact fell through, or if we could work together with our ministry contact.
He told me there was stuff that our team could do if we needed to do something.
Ok so honestly, I still
don’t know if God is saying now or after the race. We still have to solidify
things with our ministry contact. The Lord is asking me if I’ll continue to
pursue Him and His will if this doesn’t work out. Will I be obedient and come
back after the race to fulfill this desire? I’m giving this up to the Lord
hourly. I get excited and think what a Divine appointment that the Lord gave me
on a silver platter! I also have to be carful to not read into things, but
rather follow Him and trust that He will take us where He needs/wants us to be.
It’s a journey of trust. I going to still say “Your are good, no matter where
you take me!� Am I strong enough to walk in the truth that it’s not about where
we are, or what we’re doing, but Who we’re trusting in and serving. If I’m
confined to a hut in the middle of now where and my only ministry is to pray,
is that ok? I still don’t know what God is trying to say, but so far, I’m
laying it down at His feet, trusting that He really is in control. Even if we
find out what we’re doing 15 minutes before we leave Nairobi.
