“Therefore, I urge you brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God – this is your spiritual act of worship.” Romans 12:1
The Greek word for “spiritual act of worship” is Latreia – otherwise understood as ‘living a life of worship through service’. Latreia changed my life. It literally “wrecked me for the ordinary”. And for that I am grateful. Latreia is not only a journey, but it is a lifestyle and an attitude. It is a life of total surrender and sacrifice. It is a life of living that is found only through dying. (Matt 16:25)
Two and a half years ago, the Lord birthed Latreia in my heart – both in a physical and spiritual sense. Let me explain. Upon college graduation, the Lord invited three of my friends and me on an adventure of a lifetime – which we coined “Latriea”. For one year, we lived and traveled out of a 15 passenger van and volunteered for one week in each of the 48 continental United States, Mexico and Canada. This journey brought us from skidrow of downtown LA into the bunkers of an old World War II camp; from humbling sharing a can of corn with orphans in Mexico to gathering around an array of food at a church potluck; from learning how to cut 2-by-4’s using an electric saw to tenderly holding the hand of an elderly women in a nursing home. All Latreia. All Surrender. All Sacrifice.
Please check out the following website to learn more http://www.latreia.org/ and to read our stories from the year of traveling.
Continuing on in Romans, verse two poses a challenge to all of us,
“Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is – his good, pleasing and perfect will.” Throughout this journey, the Lord began to open my heart to his. He began to give me love for people that can only come from Him. He helped to open my eyes so that I could truly SEE – and my ears so I could HEAR the cries of his people. Most of all, I was beginning to come alive. The Lord was awakening my spirit and he was calling me into the life that I was created to live.
I am created to be a “living sacrifice”. I am created to be in intimate communion with my Maker. I am created to live a life of love. Love responds by humbling serving those around me.
The Lord is still calling. The journey continues on. As I embark on this next leg of the adventure, The World Race, I feel the Lord is calling me to take a step closer, to take a step further, to step higher, to come deeper – all in the attitude of Sacrifice and Surrender.
I would be honored to have you come along with me on this journey. While it physically takes us around the world, spiritually it will take us beyond ourselves – into God’s heart – and reveal more than we could ever hope or imagine.
