Whatever my lot, thou hast taught me to say...

It is well, it is well, it is well with my soul.

Saturday morning, I was blindfolded and put in a car with three of my friends from school and driven to an unknown location about two hours away from school. It was early, and I was so tired but really excited for the day to come as well. The sophomore class above us has hyped up this experience so much that we all knew slightly

what was going to happen, or so we thought.

We were led into a field, blindfolded still, and told to start singing "It is well" two times over. Once we stopped singing, we looked around us in awe. We were literally in the middle of nowhere. We managed to find our way through the farms and backroads to a small town. From there we got on a Highway and walked from town to town, sharing stories with those we encountered and offering prayer to anyone willing. We had a lot of time on our hands to talk with God. We did have a few miraculous things happen for our group. Like never going the wrong direction once - every time we were at a crossroads, we would pray and ask God to give us a general consensus. He did. We also were blessed with a delicious meal right around lunch time. A woman had driven by us on the highway, and told herself that if we were still there when she went home, she would stop and see if she could help. We were still walking of course, and she pulled alongside and straightaway asked if we were hungry. You have no idea how much joy we had in that moment! We made our way to her cafe while she picked up some food, and we ended up eating and talking with her for a couple hours. We were able to pray for her, and I think she was just happy to be heard and seen. That food and kindness held us over all day. Also, at about the same time we decided we were done and at our wits end for the day, we found a church with an open door. We had a safe, warm place to wait for our pickup just in time to miss the massive thunderstorm.

The best part of it all though, was just to be aware of God's presence the entire time. He was walking with us, and encouraging us the whole time. There were multiple times that I heard His voice specifically -

a couple times we acted on those things and He was so faithful to move as we obeyed. Other things were just whispers to my heart, but they were things I needed to hear. Our group was given a supernatural ability to worship and pray during our walking. Out of the 25 miles covered, I think close to 20 of those were spent in prayer and reading the Bible outloud. We prayed over all the other teams often, and started praying for each individual student in the freshman class. We prayed for each person we met along the road, and prayed over the towns and the churches. It was not by our strength either. If it was, I would have been silent a lot more of the time. Whenever we started zoning out, or focusing on our weary bodies or frustration of lack of rides, that is when we just started to sing or pray. God was there with us, and was the only thing that kept us in such high spirits. My team too was such an encouragement.

I think going into this I was expecting that it was about miracles. I know that it doesn't depend on our faith necessarily, but on what God is doing. It is about us listening and walking into what He is already at work on. I think we were all just expecting, well, an easier ride. What we got to experience was far better. We got to walk like Jesus walked. Like the apostles walked. Like Paul walked on his missionary journeys. Like countless believers have walked in the past to spread the Good News about the love of Jesus and like countless of people today walk, just to meet their daily needs. It was a joy to join in that procession. I didn't do this because I needed anything, or because I wanted to give God an opportunity to do something crazy. He doesn't need me for that. The cross we were carrying represents Perfect Love. We are commanded by God to love Him and to love others, but how can we if we don't understand what love is? Carrying a cross, and spending a day walking with Him will help with that.

We were able to hear people's stories, and share with them our journey. We were able to pray and bless people in Jesus' Name. We were able to grow closer together as friends and experience God's closeness and faithfulness. We may never know what - if any - outcome our walking through those little towns will affect. As radical as this experience seemed to be, I don't think we left very many people shaking their heads at us 'crazy Christians' even if people didn't understand. I think we were able to speak in love and in truth and it was all done in the shadow of the cross. The symbol of Perfect Love. At the end of the road, I can truly say that it was an honor to be deemed worthy to carry such a burden in the name of someone far greater than I can even comprehend. For it is by grace that we have been saved, not through works. It is by His suffering that we are able to share in His glory, because of His perfect and holy love.

Follow the Leader

Tomorrow we are embarking on quite the adventure. Its called a crosswalk.

Basically the freshmen class has been split into groups of four. We will be driven to different locations and dropped off in the middle of nowhere with a big cross. We aren't supposed to bring anything with us besides a bible and journal and camera, and the clothes on our backs. We aren't supposed to ask any questions and are supposed to share the good news of Jesus' love to anyone who approaches us. If we don't find a place to stay on Saturday night we will get provided transportation back to the school. Otherwise, the goal is to make it back to the school Sunday evening.

At first, I really had the wrong perspective of this. I was thinking that it seemed a whole lot like testing God to see if He shows up. I didn't want to put myself in a situation just for fun to see if God feels like providing for us. After talking it over with some of my friends, and talking about it in class with our teacher, I am a lot more excited about this! Our teacher made the comment that if we make it a game, that's exactly what it will be for us. If we go into this with the expectation that God is going to show up and teach us something and reveal more of His character to us, then He will. The purpose is not for us, but for His glory. We are acting out exactly what Jesus told the disciples when he sent them out to do ministry. He told them to take nothing with them, but to trust in the Lord's provision. He told them to pick up their crosses daily and follow Him. This is a chance to take His word literally. To trust Him for His provision, and to trust Him by His provision. To follow His voice and speak with boldness into the lives of those we meet along the way. I know we will have to wrestle through discouragement and embarrassment. It will be a difficult experience. This week in class we have been learning about the works of the Holy Spirit. I think it has been the most well-rounded teaching on this subject that I have ever heard. I really really liked it. I actually feel like my heart has been awakened in a new way this week - it's been pretty cool! I have had such an incredible desire to be in prayer all week. I don't know if I have ever loved praying so much as I have this week! One of the things our teacher said that stuck in my head was that we need to put ourselves in a situation where if God doesn't show up, we are in big trouble. That's what the disciples did. Sometimes they even failed, but I think I would rather fail and be caught by God than live a simple life not expecting much. We are meant to be ushering in the Kingdom of God. This requires action and faith. This weekend will be a pretty good expression of that I think.

Please pray for us. It still makes me nervous, but I want to be challenged. I want to trust that God is good and big and full of love for people I have never even met before. I want to walk that out tomorrow. At the very least I will be experiencing what it would look like to be unable to hide the workings of Jesus in my life. Carrying a giant cross on the side of the road doesn't exactly scream out mediocrity or relativity. I think I need a little of this in my life.