During training camp, World Racers were told we would have more free time on our race than we have ever had before and will ever have again. We would have more free time than we would know what to do with. I would not believe that. Yeah okay, we’ll have rest days and adventure days, but we’re going to be doing hard work. Come on, Bill Swan, I’m not about to have that much free time.
*LOL*
Our first month, we partnered with the only evangelical church in Požarevac, Serbia. The five women went to the sisters’ meetings, the two men went to the brothers’ meetings, and all seven of us went to church. We helped facilitate discussion, led a few meetings, and gave our testimonies at church. We got to pour into the members of the church, offering rest and encouragement. But we had so much free time. And we didn’t know what to do.
We talked with our ministry host and decided as a team we would do café ministry in addition to what we had scheduled. And so every day, our team split up and went to different cafés in the town’s center. We struck up conversations (attempted to learn Srpski), formed friendships, and got to know the people of the town we would come to love.
The first day of this type of ministry, my smaller group spent several hours at a café. We walked to the park to wait for the other half of our team where a little stray dog came up to us and started playing at our feet (ankle biter). Only, surprise! He wasn’t just a cute stray.
Looking around, we spotted a small group of women on the other side of the park. They had a stroller and were starting to leave, but were hesitating; they were looking for a dog. A cute, small, ankle-biting dog. Despite our best shooing efforts, the dog refused to leave our side. We started to walk the dog in the direction of the women, hoping he’d spot them and go the rest of the way. The only thing he was interested in was the hem of my skirt, at which he bit the entire way to the women.
As we walked to the women, I thought about what my teammate said earlier that day. Most of the people on my team felt awkward striking up a conversation with random people in a country whose language we don’t speak. How do you even start that? My teammate’s suggestion was to approach people with pets. It’s much less awkward to approach someone with “wow, what a cute dog! What kind is it?” than “hey, you don’t know me but want to be friends haha?”
This in mind, I thought “oooh, Holy Spirit, you are so intentional. Look at you providing us with this dog so we can meet these random people in a less awkward way. Praise!”
We walked the dog over to the women, awkwardly laughed at each other, then started to walk away. Wait, what? One of my teammates is incredibly in tune with the Holy Spirit. I couldn’t help but question why she wasn’t using this clear opportunity to talk with these women and try to form community. The second I finished forming that thought, my teammate stopped walking away, turned around, and started walking back toward the women.
The three of us walked back to the women, introduced ourselves, and made plans to meet them in the park at 3 pm the next day.
They never showed up.
My team was disappointed. We really thought God was going to use that moment, and when they didn’t show up, we questioned that. But God did use that moment. Those women weren’t placed in our path for our team; they were placed in our path specifically for me.
I have to ask myself this, and maybe you do too: Do you stop yourself from speaking up, from taking action on what you feel is right, from what you feel the Holy Spirit is telling you, because you feel that someone else is better qualified? Someone with a deeper faith? Someone who holds greater weight in the kingdom of God? Someone who has a superior authority to you? Do you stop yourself because you feel someone else is better? I have. I stopped myself when I thought the authority in my teammate trumped the authority in me. I stopped myself when I thought she had more of a right to accessing the Jesus inside of her than I did the Jesus inside of me.
My immediate reaction: shame. I felt shame because I didn’t immediately listen when I felt the Holy Spirit tugging at my heart. I felt shame because I do that often. And then just as quickly I stopped feeling ashamed. Because guess what, there’s grace for that. Those women were placed in my path so that I could practice what it means to listen when I hear. There is no shame in learning how to follow Jesus. There is no shame in Jesus; anyone who trusts in him will never be put to shame (Romans 10:11). In fact, those who look to him are radiant. Their faces are never covered with shame (Psalm 34:5).
Here is my challenge to you, to myself, and to everyone in between: recognize the authority Christ has in you, and the authority that Christ in you has. “All authority on heaven and on earth has been given to me (Jesus). Therefore go…” (Matthew 28:18). Did you catch that? That’s a call to action. Step out in faith.
Okay, but what does stepping out in faith look like? I’m glad you asked. So, you know that thing that makes your heart beat out of your chest? That thing that makes you nervous beyond belief because “you’re not good enough” and you’re definitely “not the right person for the job”? Do that thing. Do the thing that Jesus is calling you to do, but you don’t want to because you don’t know how. And hey, if (or when) you mess up and don’t do that thing? Leave your shame with the lost opportunity, because you don’t need it. Learn from your mistake(s) and recognize that Christ has all authority, and Christ is in you.
He has called you. He will give you the moments. He will give you the courage. The strength. The answers. The words. He will give you everything you need, use what He gives.
“For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the spirit of Sonship.” Romans 8:15
