Sure of what we hope for, certain of what we do not see

Before I came to Guatemala, I was smugly satisfied with the amount of faith I have displayed in my life.

Faith is something that has been spoken over me ever since I took a spiritual gifts class six years ago. I had no clue what that even meant at the time, but it was all coming into focus over the past two years: quitting my career, going on the World Race, interning at a church, applying for seminary (in Texas, of all places), and again quitting my job to lead a Real Life trip to Guatemala.

I thought I was all stocked up on faith. I was confident … maybe even a little cocky.

And then I met the Southbound Global Challenge team. And was humbled. And inspired.

Global Challenge is basically South Africa´s version of The World Race. They travel the globe for a year, spending 3-4 weeks of ministry in one country before moving on to the next location. But this group was special … full of people with a faith I had never witnessed before.

One of their crazier ideas was the "Luke 10 Journey." They hit the streets with nothing but the clothes on their backs and a pathetic amount of money (used only for ministry purposes) and spent three days/two nights trusting for God to provide.

I imagined all of them huddled under soggy newspapers, shivering all night long on the streets, and fasting for three days since they had no money for food or shelter.

But that didn´t happen.

All three of their teams came back with epic stories of ministering, saving, delivering, (even baptizing, in one case) the people of Guatemala. God didn´t allow any of them to spend a single night on the streets … one team even stayed in a four-star hotel. God used families and strangers to provide them with shelter and food, and they ate well. Some even had cake.

So like I said, I´ve been humbled. I´m no longer satisfied with my idea of faithful living, and I NEED to amp it up a few notches. Not saying I´m going to live on the streets for the rest of my life, but I´ve been examining every area of my life to see how and where I can grown in faith, and I´m not nearly as ¨"stocked up" as I thought.

The Global Challenge team only crossed paths with us for about a week-and-a-half, but God used them to send a message … not just to me, but to a lot of people on my team.

And now it´s our turn to keep that message alive and send it to others.