8/1/20
I haven’t told you yet about the ministry place we spent most of our time in Monument. We got to help a family who are actually friends of our coaches and that is how we got connected with them. They live on a ranch where they do a lot of community outreach activities and have a small house church on Sundays.
We were there because they’re getting ready for the big Watermelon Festival.
You can imagine how many projects there are to do on a ranch. It’s hard for a family to get to them all while also going through the daily routine of feeding and caring for animals and doing basic maintenance that has to be done in a timely manner. But, when I say family, I mean family. The 12-year-old literally is involved in the work. They do it all together. That’s just the ranch life. So, even while we’re working, they’re working too, doing the things that need to get done because there is a lot before the Watermelon Festival.
So, some things I got to do included digging up rocks, taking down fences, repairing fences, painting, putting up tube swings, putting up and moving corral fences, herding large animals so they don’t get in the way (which isn’t something I’ve had to do much, but is something I’m comfortable around because I grew up in a state of big animals), putting together giant tents, and emptying out and sorting through storage units of everything that’s needed for the festival.
But honestly, it felt like the relationships with the people mattered so much more than the work. They were intent on serving us as we served them. They fed us lunch once a week when we were there and the husband came over to our coaches’ house one evening to do an entire teaching about love for us and pray over our needs.
God’s Kingdom is so beautiful because of this reciprocity. We do for them what we can do and they do for us what they can do. Nobody expects either to happen, but we’re compelled by our love for Christ and our love for others to outdo one another in honor (Romans 12:10 Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor.ESV). I didn’t really expect going on the World Race to see so much love being poured into us as racers, but I think I should have. I knew I was going to serve and I knew I was going to be served and learn from those I encountered, but actually experiencing it is different. And here in America it’s different once again just because of the cultural connection. Serving one another means different things in different cultures, but there’s something in common between us and our hosts here because we’re all American. We all have pieces of our culture in common to share. It’s kind of really cool to be a part of that.
