I love Australia. It’s girl’s month, aka 9 women all together all the time. We’re in a tropical climate, aka bright sunshine day after day, with nary a rain drop in the sky.
We’ve made it to month 10, and at the time of this post, there are only 40 days left on the Race.
Now let’s unpack these statements.
Nine women- nine different women- all in a community with restrictions like, ‘you can’t go anywhere alone,’ and ‘you’re on a super tight budget so you can’t really afford to go anywhere, anyway.’ She loves to chatter; she can’t be coaxed to speak. She gets up early to run; she stays up late discussing the deeper ideas of the supernatural. She wants to eat healthy; she’s trying to get everyone around her to join in her midnight binges. She’s obsessed with living in community; if she sees one more person heads will roll.
Nine women. One community. Let’s talk about iron sharpening iron… or perhaps baptism by fire?
Tropical climate- this means there are two seasons, wet and dry. We’re currently in what’s lovingly referred to as the buildup, when the sky gets cloudy like it might rain, but then it doesn’t. With temperatures clocking in somewhere around 90+ degrees, the buildup is really a sick way of saying it’s so humid the sky has to find something to do with all the moisture, so it picked clouds.
It’s so hot you wake up in the middle of the night thinking someone poured water on you as some sort of cruel joke, only to realize it’s your own sweat. Add nine women who couldn’t escape each other even if they wanted to, and you’ll start to get an idea of where I’m going with this.
40 days left. For some, that’s a monumental number- it’s the number of days Jesus fasted in the desert, it’s the number of days of Pentecost. For us it feels like nothing– after all, we’ve been on the field since before we can remember- what’s five more weeks?
Nine women in the blazing heat who can’t escape each other but know the end is breathing down their necks.
Now let’s not forget ministry.
Here at the Darwin Christian Outreach Center, the Takamamas have been doing all sorts of manual labor to help the facility run. It’s a perfect month 10 ministry- you don’t have to be overly nice or spiritual, all you have to do is know how to clean a toilet or make some sandwiches, rake a yard or fold sheets. The days are long (and hot), but it’s always nice to fall into bed exhausted rather than bored.
Today was officially the hardest day.
I over slept my alarm once again- this community thing is great when you’re bored and want someone to talk to, it’s significantly different when you’re dead tired and just want to sleep but other people want to chat it up- so I was running a little late and was still half asleep. I didn’t even open my Bible, choosing instead to cut up yet another shirt in hopes of soaking up some rays (today the sun was supposed to be directly overhead- tans for Thanksgiving, anyone?).
Brilliant, Natalie.
With that excellent start to the morning, Rachael and I report to the office to receive our duties, being the outdoor unit for the day. One of the hired hands didn’t make it in, so we ended up on rubbish bin duty.
Changing trash bags- what an easy task. Grab the bag, throw it in the back of the trailer (that’s right, trailer, love my life), replace the bag.
Right?
My first clue should have been the offer of gloves, but I missed the memo somehow and found myself, ten minutes later, covered in angry red ants, trying to wrestle out a trash bag that was over full and ripped and incredibly smelly, wondering if my team would notice if I skipped lunch to run to the airport and catch the first flight back to the land of the sane.
“Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving.” Colossians 3:23-24
Um, excuse me, what in the world is that doing in my mind?
Sanctification, Natalie. You asked Me to sanctify your mind. This is not the time to rain judgment on all of the people who put trash in the can; it’s a time for you to remember that you’re serving ME, not them.
Funny how God always pops in with exactly what you don’t want to hear, usually about the time you so desperately need to hear it.
I got the trash bag out, replaced it, killed enough of the nasty ants to continue on my way, with only a slight limp (I kid you not- these guys are monsters).
One down, about thirty to go.
The trash didn’t get any less smelly, the ants didn’t magically decide to take a vacation and attack the trees, gently swaying in the buildup breeze. A lot of the bags were ripped because they hadn’t been changed all weekend, and I didn’t suddenly discover a passion for trash that I hadn’t previously known existed.
But the Colossians passage never left my mind, so even though I squirmed and struggled and literally fought tears as I fought rubbish bins, the whole time my thoughts were consumed with serving the Lord.
When I met Rachael at our next break, the first words out of her mouth were, “I officially understand the value of Scripture memory. Today was the worst day, but the whole time all I could think of was that verse, ‘and whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.’”
That’s from the same passage in Colossians, by the way.
We eventually finished the job, washed our hands, and even had the opportunity to shower (and running water is still the world’s biggest blessing). I’m getting ready for bed on a real mattress, a little sticky from all the sweat, but reminded of a prayer I prayed this morning:
Lord, reveal Yourself to me in a crazy way that’ll make a great story today.
What a dangerous prayer.
But He certainly came through. The old Natalie would have spent the whole morning grossed out and complaining, if not out loud, then certainly in her head. This new Natalie that I’m watching the Lord reveal can walk up to an overflowing pile of rubbish, swarming in red ants, and deal with it, because her mind is being sanctified, daily renewed, brought under the authority of Christ.
That counts as a miracle in my book.
And tomorrow’s prayer is going to be for the weather, because I don’t think I can handle another day of mental sanctification in the form of red ants.
