So this is my favorite story from training camp, and I’ll be referencing it in future blogs because I’ve begun to see some impacts from it already – and we haven’t even left yet! (If you get the chance to ask me about this in person, there’s a lot more bouncing, fast talking, hand waving, and wild gesturing that goes along with it).
Soooo, one of the nights we got to practice hearing words from God (I know it sounds weird to say practicing, but we did), which is one of those things that I’d more or less seen on tv or seen the pastor do and just kind of sat there and disengagedly watched without really thinking anything of it. Most times I probably thought “kinda weird, but whatever”. Needless to say I was out of my comfort zone (again). The whole idea was for each of us to listen and see what God had for us to say to someone else. So we got into two circles – one inside the other – and each of us stood facing someone else. The people in the outside circle closed their eyes (and kept them closed) while the people on the inside circle went to find a different partner. I started on the inside circle, and as my eyes skipped around looking for a new partner, they fell on someone and I thought to myself, “him”.
So I walked up and put my hand on his shoulder so he would know I was there (the outside circle still had their eyes closed) and waited. I stood there with an “I-have-no-idea-what’s-going-on-or-what-to-do-so-we’ll-just-go-with-it” look on my face, and as I waited [Derek] quietly stood whispering inaudible prayers – and slowly his face began to light up and a big smile stretched across his face. He kind of gave me a confused look (eyes still closed) and said to me, “I don’t know if this is going to mean anything to you, but here it goes. I see a big shed – a barn – I see a big barn, and there are all kinds of animals. And there are plots, a bunch of different plots with crops – all the plots have different kinds of crops in them. (At this point I’m thinking to myself ‘noo waaay…’) And its dark out at first, but the sun is coming up. The sun is rising, and when it gets to the top [of the sky] is stays there, and it doesn’t go down, and all the crops and animals are growing big and tall and everything is flourishing” And then the words just started tumbling out of Derek’s mouth, “and Jesus wants you to know that it may be dark now, but the sun is rising, and He is going to raise you up and bring you closer to him, and he’s going raise up all the talents you have and make them better, He’s going to raise up talents that you’d forgotten about, and He’s going to give you new ones that you didn’t even know you had.”
WHAT?!!! WHAT JUST HAPPENED!AAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!! I’ve never met this guy before and he’s describing crops and research plots to me!!???
He opened his eyes and gave me a questioning look, and all I could spit out in my excitment was “I do crops! That’s me! And research! With crops! In plots! I do agriculture! AAAAAAHHHHHH!!!!” We then exchanged a series of What’s! and No Way’s! and This is Crazy’s! and God is INSANE’s!
Seriously – HOW CRAZY IS THAT!!! It was so reassuring to hear that message, because I have been struggling the whole last year it seems and it gives me hope to know that while I may be wandering in the dark for now, the sun is rising. And to describe a farm, and crops, and plots nonetheless! (Now I know that I am definitely meant to be in agriculture because that was not the only time someone got a word from God to me that involved crops/plants that week – but that’s a different story for a different day.)
But we’re not done yet.
Now it was time to switch. I moved to the outer circle and closed my eyes and waited for someone to come up to me. Standing there, I was just thinking/praying “God, I don’t know what I’m doing, I’ve never done this, but what you just did was crazy awesome so I trust you, but I don’t know what I’m doing, please help me,” and then I felt a hand on my shoulder. Now we’re getting into some serious praying – “Crap. Ok God. I need help. I’ve never done this. Please give me something to tell this person. Crap. Quiet. Ok. Quiet. Listen.” And I stood there for a bit, half wondering what to do, half trying to make my brain shut-up. It’s really hard to describe what happened next in writing, but I’ll do my best.
I kind of got half a picture in my mind and I wasn’t quite sure what it was, then all of a sudden I just knew it was an island. And somehow I knew that there was someone on that island, and I knew that they felt lost and lonely. So I gave whoever was standing in front of me a kind of confused look (probably the same confused look Derek gave me at first), and I said “I don’t know if this means anything, – “
Boom. Right here all of a sudden I just started talking and I didn’t know where it was coming from but I knew it was what I was supposed to say
” – but you’re alone on an island, and you’re feeling lost and alone-”
quite literally the next part just fell out of my mouth before I even knew what I said
– “but-Jesus-wants-you-to-know-that-he-is-your-life-raft-and-he-is-going-to-pick-you-up-and-you’re-going-to-sail-away-to-better-waters.”
Say whaaaat?What just happened? Well, okay…
I opened my eyes and a girl stood in front of me, and she kind of cocked her head and said “That’s really strange, I just had a dream a few days ago that I was alone on an island, and I wasn’t sure what it had meant until now.”
WHAT!!! AAAAHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!! GOD IS CRAAAZZZYY!!!!! Again, we both exchanged exclamations and That’s Crazy’s and This is Awesome’s and God is Nuts’s. I can’t tell you how excited I get looking back and thinking about what happened, how excited I get telling people this story, how excited I am right now just writing about it.
Folks we have a crazy God. He is the same today as He was yesterday and will be tomorrow. That means the awesome God who spoke to people, healed the sick, and did crazy miracles thousands of years ago is still doing them today. We just have to be willing to embrace the craziness.
