August 2014. G Squad has completed one month of the World Race. For our second month we are in a city called Ongole in southern India. It is All Squad Month, so the whole squad is living together in a building which is still being constructed. There are concrete walls and floors. It is over 100 degrees during the day and over 95 degrees at midnight. The air smells of rotting garbage and the building is infested with mosquitoes, ants (chima), and flies. There is a spiritual darkness in the atmosphere that is tangibly felt 24/7. Our living situation resembles a prison cell block in hell and our squad is anything but unified. Squad activities feel forced. Squad worship events fail. We try to pretend like we love each other and even like each other, but the looks on each and every face and our actions tell a very different story. To tell the truth, at this point we don't even really know each other, how can we know love for each other. While God is working in each of us on an individual level in very big ways, the enemy is prevailing where squad unity is involved. Our attitudes suffer. Misery ensues.
Flash forward six months to February 2015. It is now month eight of our World Race. We have survived Asia and thrived in Africa. We have been through team changes and worked together in various combinations of teams. We have celebrated together at debriefs. We have had our Manistry Month. We have been forced to live in and through some of the craziest community living situations imaginable. We have grown in corporate worship. We have seen God do wonderful things in us ant through us. Healing has happened on a spiritual, emotional, and physical level. Freedom has been found and spiritual bondage has been broken. The walls that the enemy has been building in each of our hearts have begun to shatter and crumble. Through it all we have grown into a family of warriors who truly love each other and are ready and willing to fight for each other.
We are now in Romania. Europe is our third of four continents. The Race is rapidly moving toward completion. We are having another All Squad Month this month. This time around is drastically different though. We are all living in a house this time. Living quarters are tight and it is cold. We have a very small stove/oven to use to prepare our meals. There is a spiritual darkness here similar to India. People have been attacked with nightmares and random sickness. The enemy has a stronghold in this area of the world, but this time around God is victorious in the unity of G Squad.
This time around we are equipped for this battle. God has grown us over the last six months and has given us a love for each other that the enemy cannot shake. We have developed into a culture that is quick to pray for each other and to call each other to a higher place when needed. We have decided as a whole that we will not let the enemy continue to build walls that effect our worship. We worship and pray together as a squad and it comes from an authentic place and doesn't feel forced. We press into the times when irritability toward our living situations starts to effect our attitudes and ask God to intercede and change our outlook. We have become intentional about letting the Holy Spirit minister to us and fill us with His love so that we can pour that love out on each other and on those we meet. We boldly ask the Lord to move and we expect Him to respond. We follow the Holy Spirit into ministry opportunities and don't just confine ourselves to scheduled ministry. We have generally turned into the squad that we desired to be in India, but didn't know how to be. When we left India it felt much like our All Squad Month was an epic failure, but it turns out that we really do have a God of second chances, and for that we praise Him. Thank you for taking the time to read my blog. Before too long I will be back in America with you guys figuring out what the next adventure that God has for me is. Until then I will continue praying that God blesses each of your lives. Love Y'all!!!
