When thinking about the lens in which I choose to view things as I embark on this crazy journey next year, a lot of things come to mind. Over the past few months, I have wrestled with issues such as trust, faith in the Lord, truth and living life to the fullest. But when I think about why I am doinig this and what I want to come out of this experience with is actually quite simple. I want to know Christ. I almost sounds like a cop out answer and something you might hear in Ms. Browns Sunday School class. But the truth of the matter is, my whole life up to this point has been driven by my desire to simply know who He is.
One primary way I think I will come to know him is through suffering. When I look at the backpack I am bringing, I see the container of all things valuable to me. I will only really be able to bring what I can carry: a few outfits, a tent, sleeping bag and pad and some hygiene necessities. From day one I am confident I will be stripped of everything I find comfortable in my life. Not to mention my health. I am pretty sure I will be more sick than I remember and will undergo hours of laying on my back with some foreign bug having the time of it’s life ripping my body up. I will cry, I will mourn and my heart will be broken. But all these things will be nothing compared to the suffering Christ endured for my sins on the cross. Nothing.
My heart resonates with the words of Paul:
“Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith– that I may KNOW him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.”
That I may know Christ…
That my body will hurt and my heart will break so that I will resonate in a small way with my Lord.
And the power of his resurrection…
Not only in my life, but in the lives of my teammates, and in the lives of those we will come in contact with.
Who is Christ, and who am I in light of that? Stay tuned…
