just as God raised Christ Jesus from the dead, he will give life to
your mortal bodies by this same Spirit living within you.
Romans 8:11
Yesterday
I hopped on a plane in Minnesota hoping for a much more pleasant trip
than my flight a few days back. Of course, as I approach my
window-seat, I look to see a very very
small baby directly in front of me. And it’s already howlig. We’re not
talking a tired whimper, we are talking blood curdling, spine tingling,
skin itching screaming.
So. There I was. Exhausted. Sitting next
to the most outspoken, stereotypical vegan feminist animal rights
activist who is lecturing the man in the aisle seat about the
injustices of keeping goldfishes as pets. While the crying child
drowned out any hope I had of listening to a Tim Keller sermon while
waiting for take off.
So I began to pray for peace. For the fruit
of the spirit to center me. For the cross to humble me. Then I slowly
began to pray for the people around me, especially my middle-seat mate
who was then reading “A Dangerous Idea: Nonviolence”. And then I moved
on to the parents in front of me. I asked God to give them a way to
silence their child. I prayed over the parents for a long time. Then I
remembered being in Haiti and watching Robby’s physicians hands heal in
prayer. And I thought, maybe if I could just get my hands on that
child, He’d be quiet. Of course, I didn’t stand up and reach up and
take their child, so I had to sit and have faith that God heard my
prayers. And as i prayed, the verse above, Romans 8:11, echoed through
my head. So I quietly and boldly prayed that the baby would stop
crying–whether from hunger or from sinus pain or from whatever was
ailing the poor thing. And no joke, the mom began breast feeding the
child in that moment, and the little girl barely made a sound the rest
of the flight.
It was incredible to see that truly I have the same power as Christ because the Spirit of God lives in me.
But it was more than just a great moment of intimacy with our great
Master, it also felt like a coming attraction. I got SO stoked for the
race. If God can be glorified by quieting a child, I can only imagine
the incredible things and ways He is going to use me and each of my
incredible squad mates on our race.
I’m ready to be a part of the
mountains God is moving all over this earth.
