Hood-Rat Things With My Friends
The past ten days I have seen Jesus show up more times and in more ways than I could ever imagine or begin to completely recount in a blog. He was there in the help and encouragement from the other men of my squad while we were hiking 20 brutal miles of the Appellation Trail. He was there in the staff and trainers and serve team who sacrificed their time and in some cases their personal money to make training camp happen. He was there in the speakers. He was there in the worship team. He was there in the 200 plus scared young adults from all different backgrounds who were brought together to learn about His love and be filled with His Spirit so that we can be sent out to bring Him to the nations. It is apparent now that He has called all of us to this mission, so He showed up in huge ways.
I guess I should start by filling y'all in about my changing squads. When we got up to Adventures In Missions last Wednesday for the men's hike, they said they needed three guys from my original squad (E Squad) to switch to G Squad. They needed to balance out the numbers so each squad has enough men for safety and protection. (I know that some of you ladies out there are starting to get all up in arms wondering why they need men at all. "We don't need no stinkin men!" The short answer is that we are going to be leaving the first world and going to a lot of places where women have little to no rights at all.) Anyway, we had to figure out a way to get some more dudes on G Squad. Nobody was wanting to volunteer, so we prayed and cast lots with Reece's Peanut-butter Puff Cereal. I drew one of the three dark brown puffs, so my next eleven months got changed around a little. (I will list the countries and order of my new route at the bottom.) As attached as I had gotten to the people on E Squad, I immediately felt at peace about moving to G Squad. I somehow knew that it was in His plan.
So, with all of that out of the way, it was time to hike. We hiked twenty miles in two days. I came into this with the attitude that I had done some hiking when I was younger, so I was going to dominate this hike. I was greatly mistaken. I realized how out of shape I really am very quickly. I may have made it the first mile before I was so out of breath that I started throwing up on the side of the trail. The other (much younger) guys had to stop and help me out. The situation was humbling to say the least. Over the following 19ish miles we were hit with freezing rain, heavy winds, and even some hale. Toward the end I slipped on some wet clay and twisted my knee. God wasn't going to make this trip easy and I'm glad He didn't. We grew closer in two days of hiking than we probably would have gotten in the entire week of training camp without the hike. We reached a point of dependence on each other and on God that set the tone for training camp and will carry over to our Race. The men on my squad quickly became my brothers.
Now it was time to meet our sisters. I had survived the hike and formed a strong bond with the men, but I had never even met any of the women. Growing up with two sisters, I have always formed bonds with my female friends faster than with my male friends, so it was a strange situation for me coming to training camp with little to no knowledge about these girls and there were 40 of them. That's a lot of names to remember. It was hard and confusing at first, but I was able to get to know most of them pretty fast.
During the week of training the staff was very intentional about helping us learn to live in close community while working through some crazy scenarios with very little information. At meals we were given a platter of food from a different region of the world each day and we had to share it between everyone at the table (sometimes without even forks or plates). There were team building exercises. There were talks about things like legalism vs relationship, listening prayer, healing, and the Holy Spirit. There was worship. There were spontaneous dance parties. There were people praying over and for each other everywhere you looked all the time. There were people who had been Christians their whole lives experiencing The Father's love for the first time. There were tears of joy. There was laughter. Chains of spiritual bondage were falling off of people left and right. People were healed and people were used as healers. God was there and He was making Himself known. It was awesome.
Training Camp is not just some fun summer camp for adults though. I had to walk through some issues that had been hiding beneath the surface for a long time. There were times that I thought I wasn't going to make it. The enemy attacked with thoughts of condemnation. He was constantly whispering lies in my ear "You aren't good enough", "You are too old" and "God didn't really call you to this." The first half of the week I was hobbling around on a bum knee. I wanted to quit or cry or just sleep. I was so physically, emotionally, and spiritually exhausted that I almost gave up and went home.
It was at that point of brokenness that God broke through. God gave me peace and squashed the lies the enemy was throwing at me. My knee was miraculously healed through the hands on prayer of some of my squad-brothers. When I was at my most exhausted, He gave me the energy to carry on. I worshipped. I danced. I laughed. I played games. I found encouragement in this squad family I will be traveling with. As hard as it was to walk through that first part of the week, God was there with me and I came out stronger in my relationship with Him because of it.
World Race culture is like nothing I have ever experienced in my life. Everyone is devoted to encouraging each other in their walk with Jesus. Speaking into each other's lives, praying for each other, and pushing each other toward personal growth is a part of daily life. It is truly an example of how the church is supposed to be and how the Kingdom is. I am very excited to be a part of this amazing movement to bring the Kingdom of God to the nations.
As of today I have 36 days until I launch on this incredible journey. When I got home from camp yesterday I found that someone had anonymously donated $5,100 into my support account, putting me up to 91% funded. Praise God!!! That was such an amazing confirmation that I am going exactly where God wants me to go. I don't know what this eleven months is going to bring for me or how God is going to use me. All I know for sure is that He is going to use me and I will not come out of it the same person. (Heck, I'm not even the same person that showed up at training camp a week ago.) The possibilities are endless and I am very excited to be able to share my journey with all of you. As always, thank you for taking the time to read my blog. Love Y'all!!!
Here is a video that kept me and my squadmates laughing during Camp. Enjoy:
My New Route:
Nepal
India
Thailand
Cambodia
South Africa
Swaziland
Botswana
Romania
Moldova
Guatemala
Nicaragua
