Whilst in Bali we had a physical representation of what was busy happening in our team. An earthquake followed by a possible tsunami.
The earthquake in Bali was long overdue. It has been building up and getting closer and closer to collision.When it finally did, it was very sudden, unexpected to be as bad as it was. Just a few moments after the earthquake the tsunami warning hit. Everyone was told to try and prepare themselves - possible evacuation.
Throughout this year i have come to love my team more than i had realized. In Bali, we had an earthquake. Things in team collided and things that were long overdue came and cracked the surface. We knew it was bad, but we didn’t realize that it was as bad as it was. Just a few moments later, still in the aftershock of the quake we had a tsunami warning. Possible evacuation and little time to try and prepare ourselves for what was to come.
The big ‘S’ word is what made all of our hearts sink to our stomachs.
“You’re all SPLITTING”
It doesn’t sound that bad, because all of us anyway split every few countries - guys team and girls team.
But this was different. The split was going to be for the next the 3 months ahead. We weren’t going to greet each other in 2 weeks with a heartfelt smile like we used to. Guys and girls, mixed this time. This was a losing situation regardless. You win some, but you definitely lose some too. And that being lost was the preparation of greeting everyone in 3 months time. Now the greeting wasn’t just creeping up anymore but it was scratching our backs sitting on our heels. 2 days is what we had to try and prepare in any way.
No one was ready. No one was ready to greet the people that has been weaved into the being of our journey. The very journey changing each one of our lives. None of us realized how much we came to love each other until we were forced to finish our being-journey without half of our team.
I don’t expect anyone to understand this situation, or try to, but when you live with 20 people for 7 months, knowing the very being of that person; good, bad, growth, space for more growth, what they like, what they really dislike, jokes that fit just right, jokes that you KNOW you don’t joke about, preparing for each birthday that we were certain to share, different categories of chats with every person - different to who they are - but every single category present in our team. Now only being reminded of each one in the countries that we’re all going to experience without each other. It’s loss. It’s a very big loss.
But in the midst of this unpredictable earthquake, God came rushing in. I can actually imagine him coming rushing through a door, out of breath, grinning from ear to ear, “now these 3 months we’re going to have some fun.”
Jesus saw our team, and gave us three-fold.
In my case, an all girls team every now and again, the big mixed team taking over basically everywhere we go, and then also the split - the intimacy of a small team getting to know EACH ONE on a deeper level and now only appreciating each other even more than before, because we now know that we’re definitely not ready to greet each other.
Father is always in the midst of it all. He’s always wanting to have our full attention, wanting to stretch us as far as possible for the most possible growth and teaching. He’s always busy. Always loving. Always looking out. Always identifying growth areas and then challenging us to grow in that.
The journey is still going forth, with or without half of our team. And that doesn’t mean I won’t miss them at all - because I already do. It only means that if God wants to do something in our lives, He surely will. And we get the privilege to watch Him do it.