I have been at World Race training camp for the past month… okay okay it was 9 days. I feel as though it has been a month though. I have been transformed. My world has been shrunk and turned upside down at the same time. I had no idea that was even possible. From tiny things to HUGE heart issues, the Lord has rocked this little world of mine. I am just gonna give you a little taste of this week.
One thing I have learned is that EVERYTHING is more fun if you name it.
My backpacks name is: Clifford (the big red pack)
My sweaters name is: Ernie.
My necklaces name is: Elliot.
Some may say I have lost my mind. Just name something that is close to you… it becomes way more real:)
you are expected to eat everything that is put in front of you… most likely with your right hand.
YUMMY.
On the left is Southeast Asia day. Watery rice with some delicious raw fish in it!
On the right is Africa day. I couldn’t tell you what all was in that but it was surprisingly one of the better dishes from the week!
Training camp really did open our eyes to what to expect and to gratefully honor those who feed us around the world. One of the 500 wake up calls I had this week was when a former world racer said that more often than not the kids of the household don’t eat in order to have enough for the guest. I will eat these dishes with absolute JOY 🙂 may not love it but I will embrace it and be thankful.
I have learned who I am going to spend the next year of my life with!!! 
Pops (Daniel Chantlos)
Grandma Nancy (Emily Nance)
Baby Ruth (me)
Aunt Karol (Kerri Chambers)
Bro (Philip Cron)
Ma (Tabitha Blanchard)
I cannot even begin to explain to you how blessed I am to have the team I have been assigned. From the beginning I have had a peace that it is all under the Lords control. It was easy to vocalize that but when it came to complete TRUST was the challenging part. He is good. He has orchestrated this team for His good even before we had all met (just a few days ago!) Blows my mind.
On a more serious note… I have been blown away at the Lords grace. Entering into the week I didn’t expect to deal with my junk or even vocalize it until we were out on the field.. if even at all. Nope, the Lord had better plans. He gave me the strength to deal with it and the courage to open up to those around me to deal with it too! When I say junk, I mean anything that is between me and God… that im holding onto whether on purpose or subconsciously. Before camp I was seriously convinced I am a broken rose that is the biggest sinner out there. I felt as if my sin was so much greater than those surrounding me. Satan has a way of convincing Gods people that. One of the nights I remember Michael Hines speaking and he described sin in a very vivid way to us. He took us back to the bible times and talked about how back then if someone committed murder instead of getting executed that would have to carry the dead body on their back.. this always ended in a slow and painful death. The poisions from the dead body would seep into the living person and would slowly but surely kill them. He connected this to us and sin. We sin, and instead of giving up the sin or “dead body” we try to deal with it ourselves and it spiritually kills us. Or even worse– we claim we have given it to the Lord even though we haven’t. I am guilty of the latter. I convinced myself that I had given up my pain and hurt and brokeness from the past when really I was carrying it on my back and the poision of that was spreading through my body like cancer. I have been broken free of this and I can breathe deep and know that I am a prisioner set free.
I AM CAPTIVATED BUT NO LONGER BOUND BY CHAINS.
I challenge everyone to look deep into themselves and see if they have truly given up their struggles or if they are still carrying them because they don’t think the Lord will take them on Himself. Someone this week looked at me and said, “Get over yourself–your sin is no greater than those around you. Give it up.”
SO this is what i say to you. Get over yourself.
