We’re in Costa Rica now. We got here about a week ago. The World Race thing to do is to find a place to do ministry for a month until debrief or the month is over or you find yourself on a new continent. Well, my team got together to talk about where God is leading us.
“I got this picture of kids rumaging around in a dump,” Jeanette said. “But I’m not sure if it’s necessarily for this month.”
“Yeah, I also had a vision of trash and children,” Traci said.
“I see children playing at McDonalds,” Aaron said.
And that’s how it went. Nobody else had much tangible direction from the Lord. Just a bunch of, “this month isn’t so much about where we’re headed, it’s more about how we allow ourselves to be.”
I was named temporary leader as Molly traveled home for a wedding, so I went about researching options for my team. Then I had this thought: “I’ll put a bunch of cities in a hat and draw one out and that’s where we’ll go. God can use that. They casted lots in the Bible and God was there.”
Moin, Costa Rica.
Two days later I found myself walking down a dirt road that is Moin with Aaron and Traday.
Rewind…
Heather came to the leaders previously with a vision she felt was from the Lord: we’d live together as a squad in this westernized society here in San Jose (there’s a TGI Fridays for goodness sakes!). Everyone would have the freedom to do with their day what they will. The idea was to simulate life at home as best we could. This way if someone didn’t take initiative and really live the lifestyle of ministry there’d be people to bring them back and walk thru it with them in love.
So I’m walking down this gravel road and I have an out of body experience:
“What are you doing, Seth?”
“I’m leading my team into the great unknown… I don’t know, Seth.”
Then my heart and mosquitoes kept telling me more and more that the vision Heather shared is from the Lord. We found a place to pitch our tents for free, right by the beach and a resort (both certainly not as nice as they sound). My heart ran amok that day. I killed a lot of mosquitoes.
We came back pretty quickly that same day after some of the best conversation I’ve ever had on this whole adventure. All of us were certain of what the Lord was saying.
I learned something very important about myself upon reflection. As I said, I was going to be the fearless leader, guiding my team confidently into the great unknown. Come what may, but I know God’ll provide! Look at me, I must have some pretty terrific faith huh?
I’m like a guy quick to jump off a cliff, with radical trust in the Lord. Praise the Lord for his patience and grace! There’s a time for that radical trust, but man if you jump off a cliff without hearing a word from the Lord, you’re going to find that the ocean is a lot more like concrete than water. This is about discovering the Lord and being a part of what he’s doing rather than force faithing something.
Praise the Lord than he spoke to me and my teammates and gave us a clear vision to grab onto.
Needless to say, we’re now back in San Jose waiting on the Lord each day as we transition ourselves as best we can into American society.
The World Race can be 3 things:
- A fun trip around the world
- A program of 11 short term mission trips
- A struggle to develop a lifestyle of ministry thru a movement (and a lot of fun as well)
One of the greatest things about the World Race are the tests. It will put you in situations where your faith will be tested. Then you will stand beside yourself and see the image of God you’ve constructed and watch as the King obliterates it to offer you something real. I guess the truest test will come at the end: Does the lifestyle we’ve been trying to develop stand the test of America.
