7/7/20
My first official blog of relaunch on World Race America.
We’ve been in Colorado for almost a week now, since July 1. Our first weekend together was a holiday weekend, so we didn’t have specific plans for doing ministry. Our weekend also didn’t go quite as planned.
Rain really really got in the way. I’m pretty sure Satan was trying to make sure we were uncomfortable so we would stop spreading Jesus’s light, but our team was fortunately undeterred.
So, yes, let me tell you about our 4th of July holiday weekend. We went camping. It was a surprise camping trip for the team. Our coaches who we’re living with here in Monument, Colorado just wanted to give space for us to spend time together and minister to one another, and do whatever else the Lord called us to do. Weekends are typically going to be our rest days while we’re here for adventure and sabbath and those important parts of self-care. This weekend wasn’t intended any differently.
But just because we didn’t plan full out ministry doesn’t mean God didn’t have his plans.
So, Friday we got to the camp and set up all our tents. The coaches were at a separate campsite a few minutes away with their RV. Immediately, things started to go wrong. I forgot my tent poles. But, fortunately, my good friend Erica Jenkins had an extra space in her tent that she was able to share with me. Two to a tent was the norm for our squad for the weekend, so I just got to be normal after all.
The coaches brought their dog, but it turned out we forgot her leash. So, some quick thinking squad mates made a make-shift leash and another crisis was averted. The makeshift leash actually held, and plans were made for another housemate to bring the leash (and my tent poles) that night.
We finished setting up and headed to the RV site where we planned to grill hot dogs and smores. But, the fire pit wasn’t exactly what the coaches thought it would be, so we didn’t have all the right fire equipment and had to find makeshift kindling. But, my boys Randy and Connor are real fire masters, let me tell you. They adapted fast and seamlessly and were willing to even get burned in the process and I’m just telling you they know how to make family feel loved. But as we started getting the fire ready, pipes busted in the RV and a massive water leak happened not once, not twice, but three times that day, which meant panicked turning off the main water outside and cleaning puddles everywhere. But we survived the leaks and Randy’s ingenuity got the pipes working well enough that we could use the RV plumbing again, and as far as I’m aware there weren’t more plumbing issues the next days.
So, we settled into chairs outside the RV as it suddenly started to downpour. We can adapt, just move all of the chairs in close under the canopy and pretend like we like each other. No sight seeing for a while because almost none of us brought rain jackets, but that’s ok. And brother Connor kept tending that fire in the rain, never stopping because he was wet or cold. You truly have to admire him.
We played a charade-type guessing game where you have a phone selecting words in a category that you describe to your teammate for them to guess until a break in the rain finally came. And then Bethaney, Rebekah, and I went for a walk to see the campgrounds. Immediately after we started, Bethaney felt called to turn our walk into a prayer walk. Gotta say it was a great idea. I honestly wasn’t surprised, even in the midst of everything this country is experiencing right now, that the camp was very full for the holiday weekend. Still, there was plenty of room for social distancing for those choosing to do so, and our team tries to be aware of sanitation and wearing masks when in confined public spaces and all of those things. But trying to be safe doesn’t mean you can’t meet new people.
I saw an empty employee truck and suggested we stop and pray for the employees. So we did. And as we prayed, an employee named Ben came up to us and we had such a good conversation learning about his move from California to Colorado and his faith. We got to pray for his continuing ministry in the park and built a really good starting relationship. He lives on site and told us where his and his wife’s (also an employee) campsite was and reminded us to call the after hours number if we needed anything and said he’d be happy to help us out. It was a really good connection. And it paid off because our squad decided we wanted to worship at the big wooden pavilion that evening, and as we all just kept running into Ben he was able to find out for us that nobody had it reserved and got it reserved for us. I have to say I don’t believe the connection of meeting him was just a coincidence.
And as Bethaney, Rebekah, and I continued our walk we got to see a beautiful sliver of a rainbow through the breaking clouds. The view was absolutely beautiful there. And we got to meet another couple with their dogs who were also enjoying a nice walk. Later, we got to meet another employee who had 4 dogs, 2 of which he rescued from Mexico when they were about to be euthanized and they all had their unique special needs because of age and trauma. He didn’t want us to pray for him because he said other people need it more, but I’ll tell you we wanted to make sure he knew that he mattered and we enjoyed making a point of talking to him every time we walked by his campsite. We got to meet 3 of the dogs.
After worship that night, I went back to our tent site with Connor and a couple of the girls, while others went to the RV for the campfire or to the bath houses. The couple at the campsite next to ours came over and asked me for Ryan. He’d talked to them earlier about what we were doing there and who we were and all that jazz. They were leaving the next day, but had met a young man named AZ who was a growing believer that they’d gotten to build a relationship with and they felt like he would really enjoy some more ministry from the guys in our group. I pulled Connor out of his tent as he was getting ready for bed so he could get the details.
We all made our ways to bed and in the middle of the night it started pouring down rain again. Our coach Dawnette felt bad sleeping in her dry RV thinking about us being in our tents in the rain. She prayed for our comfort and asked God if we should go home, but the Lord told her she was worried about the wrong thing. Our comfort isn’t that important when there are people in the camp who need him. He told Dawnette we couldn’t go home. He had a reason for us to be there. And we all stayed 99% dry in our tents that night.
The next morning, during devotional we got to meet the neighbors at the RV site next door to the coaches. They were a lovely English couple who have lived in the states for a long time. They have considered the possibility of opening their home more to refugees and building a community in that way or of downsizing because they don’t need such a big house on their own, and it was clear and evident they needed to talk with our coaches about what it looks like to have an open community in your house because their potential dream just sounded beautiful. They also were very curious about our stories in mission work and we shared our blogs.
The rains returned as we prepared to go into a nearby city called Manitou to spend some time on our adventure day. Despite the downpour, Bethaney and I ended up together in ministry. She’s fluent in sign language and was conversing with a deaf man as everyone else in our group went their separate ways. The two of us were then pulled aside by a man selling meat whose beliefs weren’t really clear, though I feel comfortable saying he’s not a Christian. He’s a deep thinker, much like myself, and has questioned everything he’s been told his entire life. After delving a bit into quantum physics and string theory, I have to confess I was exhausted and cold and wet. Standing under a concession stand tent doesn’t exactly keep you dry. We still had an hour till we needed to be back at the van, but didn’t really feel like doing much. We sat down under a bus stop for protection from the rain and just decided to wait out the rain for a while.
But then a young man sat down across the street at the bus stop on the other side, and Bethaney confessed to me that she’d felt pulled to minister to him when we first arrived, though she didn’t know why. Maybe it was selfish, but I didn’t want to go have another conversation with someone. I was all talked out and exhausted. We debated on whether we were supposed to go talk to him or it was ok to stay on that bench, but he seemed to start trying to talk to us from across the street and so we decided to take God’s cue, got up, and walked over.
Sean was homeless, and said he had been for the last 4 years. Bethaney offered to buy him a meal and he told us there was a Subway just down the road. I felt comfortable as we walked. He was a gentle man, who just clearly enjoyed having somebody to converse with. The Subway was further than we thought and we were not going to be back to the van meeting point on time, nor would we have time to sit down and eat with Sean. We started to fear we might have to tell him that we were sorry we couldn’t finish the walk. But our squadmates were so kind and generous as they offered to pick us up at Subway instead of making us walk back. So we did to get to sit down with Sean. We did get to learn that he likes his sandwiches toasted twice, before you put the toppings on and again afterward. We did get to learn that Sean identifies as Christian and still has faith and believes despite the hardships that have brought him to this season of life. We did get to encourage him to keep believing. We did get to give him the opportunity to sit down in a dry Subway (although maybe it was way too cold to actually be comfortable). Because of our squad working together to love and minister to those around us, we did get to do these things and learn these things and pray for Sean. And I’m grateful that we found a way to make it work. I feel like I learned an important lesson about acting for God even when I didn’t want to because I was tired and wet. The fact is, those are excuses that hardly matter when people’s souls and basic needs are at stake.
But it was still pouring rain as we headed back to the camp and the things going wrong didn’t stop. We pulled into our campsite to see that one tent had tried to blow away and another had been knocked on its side. We got out to inspect how much water was in the tents just in time to hear the hissing of a tire going flat. While the guys and Eva took on the challenge of caring for the van, the rest of us ran to the RV for cover. We discussed the possibility of leaving now and not waiting till the morning when we originally planned. After all, the guys would have to sleep in the van and my stuff would continue getting wet. But we stayed because the message that Dawnette received the night before was so clear.
It was a struggle to start a fire as it continued to rain, but Connor never gave up and finally starting it with a cereal box in a pan in the RV and taking it outside worked. We enjoyed burgers and sitting in the RV. And as we did so, AZ joined us. The young man that the couple at the campsite next to us told us about. And before we knew it, it was time for worship. So we headed down to the pavilion, where the rest of AZ’s family waited to worship with us. I learned at that point that our squad had actually made several separate connections with this family over the course of the weekend, even meeting the mom and younger sister before that couple told us about AZ. Squad members had taken time to learn their stories and show them Christ’s love. It turns out AZ dreams of being a pastor and his younger sister dreams of being a missionary. His mom and grandma need encouragement and there’s a toddler to bring up in the midst of the chaos in the world. Five family members. Three generations. And we could be there to encourage them. We could be there to pour into this family of believers that dreams of loving others and spreading the news of the Gospel. We were there to tell them that they mattered, that their dreams mattered, that the love in their family mattered, and that they are all important in God’s plans. We spent the entire worship session pouring into them and praying over them and hearing their story.
And if we had left, we would have missed this moment. If we had let the rain deter us at any point, I would have missed those chances to show God’s love. I’m thankful that we didn’t let the discomfort of the rain win and instead let God’s love triumph.
Because of God, despite the rain, it was a beautiful 4th of July. And after worship that night we climbed up to a viewing site, conveniently located right there at the camp grounds and we watched fireworks. And we celebrated God’s love on the 4th of July.
