2/24/20
Today, for ministry, we split into random groups and went into the world to do ministry. Our chosen ministry form was “ask the Lord” (ATL)
That means we didn’t have a plan. We didn’t have a set location to go to. We knew we had to stay in the walking distance around our base, but for what we were going to do we had to ask God what ministry He wanted us to do today.
Learning to ask and seek the will of the Lord is a skill that AIM believes we can all develop, and so they make this type of ministry a fairly regular occurrence. How else do you develop a skill but practice? And I definitely like the idea of receiving ideas about good things to do each day or even each moment from the Lord.
But I’ll be honest, I don’t feel like I’m very good at ATL. I’m gonna need a lot of practice.
But what I do know is that even if I don’t hear something specific from the Lord, I can still look around and see good things to do.
So, a few of us in our group, including me, did get the impression we should go a few blocks down to this nearby work-out park. In my book, even getting that much of an idea from the Lord for me is a huge success. And I’m definitely gonna keep trying to see if I can slowly build up these skills.
Anyway, the thing I like about parks is that it’s typically not too hard to find someone who’s interested in having a conversation. If you’re at the park, you’re probably not rushed with somewhere to be and you probably don’t mind if I stop and say hello. Of course, in Costa Rica, that also means saying hello in another language that I sort of speak but am definitely not comfortable with.
But I didn’t come on the Race to be shy and timid and comfortable. I came on the Race to be bold! To push myself and develop new skills and new ways of thinking and understanding. I came to learn from people and I came to spread the good news of the Gospel.
So, although I didn’t see a vision of a specific person to talk to or feel drawn to a specific tree to minister under, I did know I wanted to meet somebody. And so I looked around and saw a young lady sitting at a picnic table nearby, eating lunch.
I walked by and commented about the beautiful day we were having to judge her openness to conversation, and she welcomed me into conversation, so I sat down with her and told her about the World Race with my broken Spanish.
Fun fact, people here really do appreciate it when you try to speak Spanish, no matter how little you can. It just seems to create openness and curiosity. Pro tip if you’re ever down here.
I pointed out my team to her and invited my good buddy Connor to come join us. Together, we learned about Jennifer. We learned she was a student studying physical therapy. We learned how important her family is to her. We prayed for her family and her family’s health, and then for her studies because for her family was the most important thing to consider. We learned about her faith background in Catholicism and encouraged her to build a relationship with Jesus.
It was a really nice conversation, and it happened because I didn’t wait and question what I was doing. I did my best to be obedient to the Great Commission in Acts by just diving in to talking to someone and trusting that God would use this conversation for the good of all involved because of my heart behind speaking to this new person in my path.
I don’t believe there was anything better I could have done with my time that day, because I was obedient to spreading God’s love.
The beautiful thing about this kind of ministry is that it can happen anywhere. It can happen at a local park in Texas, or a Saints game in New Orleans, or church on a Sunday morning. I’m going to intentionally work on growing my skills of asking and listening to and seeking the Lord these next 9 months, and then I know I can take all of this back home with me. I can take all of these skills wherever I go next.
And I hope you try this out too. Try waking up one morning and asking God what He wants you to do today. Try setting aside a block of time to go out somewhere local and ask God what He wants you to do. Be obedient to the things you do feel like you hear from God, but don’t let it stop you if you don’t feel like you hear anything. We already got some ideas of how to be obedient to God’s commission in the Bible and the example of what the Apostles did. The first step is to go and be obedient to spreading God’s love in any way you can think of.
Just. Go.
