Like I’ve said in a previous blog (or two), it’s really impossible to sum up the Race, all that God did, all that we saw, all that we felt…but I think I’ve found a song that really communicates it well. If you truly know me, you know that music is one of my many passions, one of my biggest connections to our LORD Jesus. Music is one of the many ways He communicates to me and I absolutely adore it; and he does it in both subtle ways, as well as ways that literally scream at me exactly what He wants to tell me in a way that is both disciplining and kind, like a parent does. God also talks to me through others of course, but also through my tears, through my drives to work, around town or on long travel days (because anything more than an hour is called a travel day to me now: a post-Race effect). Y’all I CANNOT stress this enough: we serve a WONDER WORKING GOD! And with that, let’s get into the song.
The first verse is: “I’ve lived stories that have proved your faithfulness,
I’ve seen miracles my mind can’t comprehend,
There’s beauty in what I can’t understand
Jesus it’s you, Jesus it’s you”
If you’ve read all my blogs, or at least some, and/or have seen the pictures I’ve posted along the way, you’ve seen (and read about) the evidence of how God has proven faithful throughout our time on the field. The biggest blessing the Race gave to me was the an example of how to TRULY live everyday in a way that honors Christ, in a way that you are literally LIVING TO SERVE the Kingdom and build it up 24/7. Or maybe when you saw the pictures I took, you just saw it as a glamorized vacation…BUT I can promise you it was ANYTHING but that. We were fortunate on our route; when we left Gainesville, we weren’t expecting to spend each month in some pretty fancy places for what you’d “normally” see on missions.
Trust me, you guys weren’t the only ones who were surprised and there was a time (as I’m sure was the case for everyone else) where I was bummed because I was expecting to trek everywhere with my backpack on at all times, walking around and ending up establishing a house of peace to live in, or living in hostels all the time. We stayed in a couple hostels (the one in Jordan was definitely my favorite), but overall, I’d be bold to say that we had Gods favor in our living conditions. And it was hard not to compare our route to the other two squads who had two drastically different experiences from ours, but we did it from time to time because we were expecting our route to look like theirs; instead, we were essentially putting God into a box with our expectations and that’s not our place. However, I’d be lying if I said that I wasn’t hurt by those assumptions because even though most of the time when it was said, it was done so with humor and in a joking manner, it still hurt a little that there were some people who actually thought that, even if only a little bit, and it actually served to damage our own point of views on what God did (my squad mates included; there were a few that had said the same thing about how some people reacted when they returned home).
But, through God’s faithfulness as well, all of us saw that it wasn’t said to hurt us, and we all still value and love those who did joke in that way because that’s what Jesus did/does for us then and now. Then, the chorus says:
“I believe you’re the wonder-working God,
You’re the wonder-working God,
All the miracles I’ve seen, too good to not believe
You’re the wonder-working God
And you heal because you love
Oh, the miracles we’ll see, too good to not believe”
Our God would never lead us astray, he would never hurt us or abandon us, and he loves us FAR more than we deserve. My favorite line in the chorus is “Oh the miracles we’ll see, too good to not believe” because it says that we WILL SEE miracles; this is basically saying that, if we didn’t already know, there’s SO many more miracles coming our way because that’s what He does. His way WILL be done with or without us; he doesn’t need us to do anything, but He WANTS us to do so. THAT is why the Lord gave us His mission: to share the news with ALL people, ALL the nations.
In verse 2 it says: “I can’t resurrect a man with my own hands
But just the mention of your name can raise the dead
All the glory to the only One who can
Jesus it’s you, Jesus it’s you!”
This verse is POWERFUL!!! It’s illustrating the power of His name, the power that comes when people HEAR His name for the first time and going forward. It’s also declaring that God is the only one who can truly resurrect the dead, who can truly make the old, dead person into a new creation! It’s a humble way of saying “I can’t do it, but I know God can; however, He gave me all the authority I need in order to SHARE all about His story, His life and death and how it was the best example of sacrificial love the world has ever seen. He deserves all the glory because we couldn’t do anything without him; those talents, gifts, traits, everything that makes us US was ALL given to us by Him when He first knit us together in our mother’s womb (and even before then).
And then the bridge…probably my FAVORITE part of the song:
“We’ve seen cancer disappear
We’ve seen broken bodies healed
Don’t you tell me he can’t do it, don’t you tell me he can’t do it
We’ve seen real life resurrection
We’ve seen mental health restored
Don’t you tell me he can’t do it, don’t you tell me he can’t do it
We’ve seen families reunited
We’ve seen prodigals return
Don’t you tell me he can’t do it, don’t you tell me he can’t do it
We’ve seen troubled souls delivered
We’ve seen addicts finally freed
Don’t you tell me he can’t do it, don’t you tell me he can’t do it
We’ll see cities in revival and salvation flood the streets
Don’t you tell me he can’t do it, don’t you tell me he can’t do it
We’ll see glory fill the nations like the world has never seen
Don’t you tell me he can’t do it cause I know that he CAN!”
I mean…the bridge kinda speaks for itself: LOOK AT OUR GOD!!! I’m so happy to say that I LITERALLY saw all of this ON the Race, but also throughout my walk through life…before I met God and then while I was a fresh believe too…even now! Our God can do so many things that we can’t possibly fathom!
I’m going to speak freely now. Life on the Race was incredibly difficult, it was heartbreaking, it was frustrating, it was confusing at times, BUT it was also so joyful, so freeing, so all-consuming in the BEST WAY! It’s where I learned that it’s actually best to be both fully sad and fully joyful, where it’s always best to be yourself even if people reject you, it’s always best to follow God because you can’t possibly do life apart from God. There were good days and bad days with my squad, all-in-all but also individually. There were times we rubbed each other wrong, and there were times where we helped each other up, BUT because we were all walking in tandem with Him, he gave us the ability to truly live in God-honoring, Christ-like community: the church. And, if I’m being 100% honest, nowadays, most churches in America are WAY too focused on branding, or potentially advertising their building as a way to just get more people to attend and they forget that the building is NOT the church…it’s the people, BOTH inside and outside of it.
Y’all we have to change that; we CANNOT let this exist! The church is the PEOPLE!! The buildings allow us to gather easily, sure, but at the end of the day, they’re just structures. The people are the ones who truly matter and if someone decides to go to a different building, it should NOT change how we love them. Our God loves us unconditionally, and THAT is how He wants us to love others: unconditionally. If we are only loving on the ones who come into our building, the ones who may be in our immediate circles (family, friends), we will NEVER reach the ends of the Earth as Jesus wants us to do. Nations imply ALL people of all different cultures, backgrounds, skin color, sexuality views, and the list goes on; we need to stop being afraid of offending people for the sake of the Gospel. Does that mean we go around thinking we are holier than thou? No, not even remotely; if we did that, we wouldn’t be loving unconditionally. It all comes back to love.
