I survived World Race Training Camp! Tons of people have asked me how it was and the only word I have for them is this: DRAINING. It was physically, emotionally, and especially spiritually draining—but in my lowest of moments Papa taught me more than I ever thought possible.
A lot of people have also asked me if Training Camp met my pre-camp expectations. Well, to tell you the truth, I had no idea what to expect so, to answer all you guys’ questions, it was simply a unique, one-of-a-kind experience! I was, of course, expecting some obvious things like having to camp outside in our tents and following a strict dress code to prepare for the mission field; but.…I did NOT expect things like being fed crickets and blue rice for breakfast (YIIIICK. If you’re wondering, I actually DID eat a cricket, which took quite the ounce of courage, but I only did it so I could say I did it….;) and nearly killing my teammates during some frustrating team-building games (we got close real fast).
In addition to these oddities (and many many more) TC was extremely spiritually exhausting for me. Even though parts of camp were emotionally and physically hard as mentioned above (e.g listening to long sessions and sprinting the entire fitness hike in the Georgia heat/humidity, heh, heh), I have to say that the spiritual aspect of camp was, by far, the most difficult part for me. I experienced major spiritual warfare for at least the first four days of camp, and minor warfare throughout the rest of camp. It’s kind of hard to explain but basically I felt Satan attacking everything I stand for and constantly whispering lies about my identity, worth, acceptance, and beliefs. He told me that I’m not good enough to be going on a mission trip. That I’m not “spiritual” enough to be preaching the gospel to others when my own life is a messy roller coaster. And that, since I don’t “fit in” with the rest of the people on my team, I am incapable of thriving in community next year. He sure brought me down low, but someone greater brought me back up.
You know the saying that God meets us in our lowest points? Not to say that TC even comes even close to the “depths of despair” one can experience in a lifetime (after all, even though it was hard, they didn’t STARVE us or anything:) but it was a “low” in its own way—a spiritual “low” in which I found myself crying out to God in full surrender, admitting that I am nothing apart from Him. And He met me. One particularly memorable moment was in worship one night. I found myself standing upright, hands fully stretched towards the heavens and parallel to my ears.
I found myself unable to let my arms down (or even bend an elbow) every time Psalm 2:11 (rejoice with fear and trembling) popped up in my head—despite the physical agony I was experiencing (try doing this for just five minutes and your shoulders will be screaming at you—it’s not easy). I held them up for so long that a physical trembling began and a solid twenty minutes passed before I let my arms collapse. It was during that time that I realized that the Lord is not only my SPIRITUAL strength, guys, but my PHYSICAL strength as well. I’ve said that before but didn’t really believe it. Whenever my arms gave way, I cried out to the Lord and He would instantly renew my strength. It was unlike anything else I’ve experienced before. He taught me that I am nothing without Him nor can I do anything apart from Him. I’m here to say that, left to myself, I would physically not have been able to sustain myself for that long—even close to that long. But the Lord renewed me so He could show me His strength; I have no other explanation.
The Lord meets us in interesting ways, doesn’t He? But he’s so very personal. He doesn’t meet ME in the same way He meets YOU. We’re so different, yet the Lord knows how to perfectly cater to each one of our differences. Do you receive visions? Dreams? Random words? Often times I envy the people who receive clear visions or dreams from God because they seem more appealing than, say, a weird worship experience. But envy is from the devil—not God! Envy can strip away the very beauty of God’s personal conversation with us as individuals. We focused a lot on hearing the voice of God at camp and I have to say that worship is probably the main “pathway” that God uses to communicate to me. How does He talk to YOU?
Please feel free to share in comments below the ways in which the Lord speaks to you. I’d love to hear your God encounters!!!
Well that was definitely one of my biggest highlights from TC. In that moment, it was almost as if the Lord was saying, “Sam, I’ve GOT YOUR BACK; you can cast all your doubts, confusions, worries, and much more on me because they have NO POWER OVER YOU!!!!!!!”. I left worship that night feeling an overwhelming peace about…….everything. Satan has no place here. I am a child of God.
