We have another squad of World Racers this month, and this is quite a special one. I was actually blessed to be at their training camp last May, and now, eight months later, I’m able to get a glimpse of the journey God has taken them through. Where I once saw a bunch of people looking around trying to settle into their identity, I now see a confidence in who the Lord made them. I’ve literally just opened the door with a few ministry opportunities, and they have flown straight through them. There have been a couple of times where I’ve gotten too busy to come take them and they’ve just said, “No worries, we’ll get there ourselves.”
It has been such a refreshing group of people to have around. One of my favorite things is how involved they’ve gotten with the prison ministry. Of course, it’s one of my favorite places in the world, but when other people agree with me, I just find such joy in that. Today, I just sat back as two guys played a tag game with the minors, a couple of girls were just sitting and holding hands with the women and learning Visayan, another few guys were at the cell behind belting out classic rock and other hits, and another guy was sitting on the ground and teaching through the Beatitudes.
I walked up to see Tommy sitting cross legged in front of cell five, walking these men through the basic truths and the promises God lays out in Matthew 5. The previous day, right before we left, the men asked Tommy what God meant in this chapter. As a seminary guy, Tommy told them to read through it a few times and they would talk about it the next day. He showed up to have a Bible study with them. He sat there for longer than I stayed around and kept pouring into those men. As I took in all that was going on around me, I couldn’t help but experience the joy and faithfulness of the Lord.
Over the rest of the day, Tommy and I had several other conversations about ministry, the World Race, and just life as a Christian man in general. It was so refreshing to have a guy this passionate about the Word and sharing the teachings of Jesus around, because it just helps me to know and realize that there’s a lot more of us than Satan wants us to realize. God promises us that He will never leave nor forsake us, and He often reminds us of that by just showing the others around us.
If you want to read any of Tommy’s blogs, go here. I encourage you to subscribe to his blog and follow up with his thoughts. He’s not only jumping head first into the ministry out here, but he also tends to have some pretty interesting thoughts. Again, sometimes God sends other people around us to show how comforting and even easy sharing His love CAN be. Please don’t misquote me as saying it’s easy to share God’s love, because it’s not always. It will cost our lives. But sometimes, it’s just as easy as answering a question you already know the answer to…
