And we’re back! I actually got back with the rest of the guys
on Saturday night and have been catching up on things since then.
So the solitude time was pretty lonely for all of us. I
guess that’s the point. As it turned out, we ended staying on another piece of
beautiful property in the Nicaraguan wilderness.
Going into it, as I said, I was expecting to find the Lord
in an intense way. God would send an angel to me, I’d see visions like Daniel
saw, I’d have immediate direction for the rest of my life and all my problems
would be solved! I didn’t know why I hadn’t done this before. These were my
expectations.
Reality hit after I had been sitting alone for 9 hours. I
had written three pages in my journal, had read half of Revelation and Jeremiah
and started reading Matthew. I spent some time in prayer for the guys that were
spread out all over the 80 acres of wilderness. I had checked on them, hiked
the majority of the property, eaten seven peanut butter and jelly sandwiches,
drank about a ¼ of my water, and eaten half my bag of pistachios. I spoke in
tongues for a while, took a nap, and did some more lonely things. “This is
going to be a long three days,” I thought to myself.
I wanted to go talk to Baker and see what God had been
teaching him, but I refrained. I didn’t even bother with making a lean-to. It
had rained the day before in Granada,
our first good rain in three months, so I figured I was safe. After eating a
mango, another peanut butter and jelly sandwich, drinking some more water, brushing
my teeth, making a fire and watching it go out, I went to sleep on my roots and
sticks. It didn’t matter to me, though. I was pretty tired. I slept
surprisingly well considering the circumstances.
This continued for the duration of the solitude time. I ate
lots of peanut butter and jelly, finished my pistachios, prayed and read lots
of the Bible, and prayed some more.
Looking back on it all, it seemed to me to be more of a
discipline than a time to be inspired by God and discover him in an intense
way. I set aside my concerns and focused on God for a time. Without anything
else bothering me, I allowed my thoughts to dwell completely on the Lord for
three days. I suppose if I had gone into this with more direction, viewing it
as a time to seek answers from the Lord, or to grow in my relationship with him
in this area, or to focus on that quality of God, I might have more to say
about it. Next time I do this, and I will, I’ll do it with more direction. A
couple of the guys did go into this time seeking a particular thing from the
Lord and the Lord spoke to them.
On the last day, a few hours before the set time, we started
crawling from our holes and “accidentally” passing each other. We were
certainly ready to talk to each other. Just the sight of the other person
brought a gigantic smile to my face and caused each party to laugh for no real
reason.
Incidentally, I
brought along my old journals from years past to read about what God was doing
in me. I thought it interesting that exactly a year previously I was spending
three days in solitude and fasting to seek the Lord. That time of solitude was
on the World Race, with my team spread out over one house. It was different and
we were all seeking direction from the Lord in our ministry.
