pleasant it is when brothers live together in unity!” Psalm 133:1
With my 38lb backpack on my back, guitar in right hand, and
airline ticket in left, I held back tears as best as possible as I hugged my
mom, sister, brother and nephews goodbye at terminal 2 in LAX. I immediately walked away from my
family and 5 seconds later walk through the electric sliding doors into the
terminal where I see my world race family of brothers and sisters whom I will
dwell in unity with for the next 11 months.
Since arriving here in New Zealand there has been one
constant theme…BEAUTY! God’s land
here is absolutely beautiful.
Somehow the colors on flowers are a little brighter, the grass is a little
greener, and the sky is definitely a little brighter. (given that the ozone hole really exists here, I get sun
burned so much faster).
It has been a dream of mine to one day go on the adventure I
am on. My heart has always been
pulled towards exploring all of God’s earth. Now that I am doing that, I have come to realize in a brand
new way that true beauty is not simply or
only the land, but it is people. I
look around the room of our YWAM training base here, as 100 other young adults
raise their voices and hands in worship, and I smile with overwhelming
excitement, to see the beauty of the Lord all over and within these
people. It is the beauty of my new
church community, of my new family, of my new fellow warriors for the Gospel,
that I am encouraged to see their passion for God be everything they are about.
changed! And praise God for being the director of it. Chelsie was unable to join us this year on this
mission. God is doing a different
work in her life and a few days before the race she called me with this
news. She will always be a part of
our team…and I AM EXCITED to announce my two new members…LAUREN AND CAT (short
for Catherine). They are beautiful
woman of God whom I am so stoked to get to know and minister with. Lauren was a leader of an all female
team and her team was split into other teams, so I am blessed to have Lauren serve
as my teams Finance Leader.
work at a Christian Camp in Wellington, the southern tip of the North
island. My team is so excited to
partner with 4 other teams. We
will take a long 10 hour bus ride on Saturday morning to arrive for a few days
of training, and then be camp counselors and leaders for the remaining three weeks here in Kiwi land. We will
host children’s camp and a Church Conference of 1,000 people. Pray for wisdom in preaching, worship
leading, kids programming, skits, crafts…and most of all….that we can lead
people to changed hearts, forgiveness, healing, vision, and commitment to the
Lord.
Lastly for this blog, please pray
for healing of my throat. Two
separate times, two other racers prophesied over me that the DEVIL IS USING
SICKNESS to weaken me. They said,
and I know, that I am strong in many areas of life, that is why I am leading,
but when I am sick, I am more weak, emotionally, physically, spiritually. This has been true these days. I lay down in my tent to go to sleep and
I immediately start coughing uncontrollable. I sleep okay.
But then I wake up and start coughing. It doesn’t stop for a few hours. I have so much less energy for the day and am not yet at my
best.
I am so encouraged to be in this
awesome community of believers, dwelling as one body in the unity of
Christ. Every flower I stare in
joy at, each new NZ word I learn like Choice (cool), or each taste of hokey
pokey ice cream I eat, I am reminded of the Lord’s beauty in this land, and of
the beauty of the Lord in life of a human being. I am excited to see God’s creation come alive in my new team
and in the people at our coming camp community.
God Bless
