Hey guys!
I have a story for y’all from week two of training camp! It was a moment where I had to die to myself and realize that my agenda is not as important as seeing people, hearing their story, and telling them about Jesus.
On Monday, it was almost time for dinner, and our leaders told us we had a scenario. As treasurer for my team (in charge of the budget and distributing money), I was told to meet in a room a little early with the other treasurers to get prepped for the scenario. The scenario was that our whole squad was traveling by bus, and we were making our one and only stop at an international market where we had to buy dinner. As treasurers, we had to get our teams to the market and buy dinner in 15 minutes. Immediately, my brain went into hyper-focus mission mode. We had a task to complete in a certain timeline, so my goal was to be as efficient as possible to get the job done. I led my team to the gravel parking lot at the bottom of camp to where the “market” was. Some of the staff stood at vendors behind rows of tables with all sorts of different meals we had had throughout the week, and the staff members who didn’t have a food stand were acting as people we might come across in a market. They dressed up as tourists, beggars, prostitutes, drug dealers, party goers, literally any type of person you could imagine. It was crowded, and every few minutes, a party van would drive straight down the middle with people yelling out the windows. It was essentially chaos, but I wasn’t going to let them get in my way. I led my team quickly from stand to stand to get them all the food they wanted. If the price seemed unreasonable, I aggressively tried to barter it down (keep in mind they gave us fake currency to use to get dinner). Any staff member/market goer who tried to sell us something or ask for something, I ignored because time was short. When the market closed, my team had gotten what we came for: plenty of dinner for the seven of us. But as we ate, I asked myself the question at what cost had we gotten that food? While this seemed like a silly scenario, markets like the one the staff set up are real all over the world, and I will be entering into many of them in these next nine months. The people the staff pretended to be are actually real people and real situations that many people are in across the world. In reality, the world is desperately broken. I’m going to witness it firsthand. It sounds cliche, but this world NEEDS Jesus. Jesus has the power to set anyone free and save their life. Jesus it the one person who can transform their lives from brokenness to beauty. I’ve experienced transformation by him firsthand. I know his love and goodness that brings true joy. Knowing Jesus is the greatest gift anyone can receive, and I get to partner with Him in sharing this gift with the world. And yet, in this scenario, I let my own agenda and goal blind me from seeing the people who need the gift of Jesus. I went into the market from a worldly perspective, focused on me, my eyes and attention on my own desires. But Jesus does not see that way. His eyes are always looking outwards, to all the people of the world who need him. He came to seek and save the lost. His eyes don’t look with judgement, they look with love. My goal is to see people with this love everywhere I go. Jesus is always at work, and anywhere I go I have an opportunity to lay down my own schedule, timeframe, agenda, and desires to tell someone about the person who saved me. Love is not the easiest thing to do, it actually looks like sacrifice. But Jesus gave me so much love, he gave everything for me, so how could I possibly just not be compelled by that to do anything? It could mean buying a meal for someone who is begging and eating with them, or stopping to ask someone about how their day has been, or even letting a vendor charge me the gringo price or allowing someone to pickpocket me. Earthly possessions don’t matter in the end. In fact, anyone who loves the world cannot love the Father too because you can’t serve two masters. I’m part of a different kingdom than this world, one that doesn’t value efficiency or my own agenda. This kingdom looks like sacrifice and servitude. After this marketplace scenario, my eyes were opened that being a servant for Jesus is a non-stop job. It’s not just at ministry, but wherever I go! How exciting is that! That everywhere I go, God is moving and invites me to join him! So yeah, I was humbled this week. The Lord has taught me that love doesn’t just look like being a nice person, it looks like sacrifice, and dying to myself and my own desires. Who am I to be stingy with someone else when I’ve been given the greatest gift ever that I did nothing to deserve? I’m slowly surrendering my way of doing things, and allowing Jesus to show me his way that’s opposite of the world, but so much better. I’m praying to have Jesus’ eyes to see people the way he does: as children of God in need of a father and a shepherd.
