Wild & Adventurous (Part 2)

Queen in Gold

Wild & Adventurous (Part 2)

8/16/2019

Following God into the unknown – I happen to think this is pretty much the definition of adventure. If you read Wild & Adventurous (Part 1) then you’ll know about how God challenged me to be adventurous and go on a mission to rural Botswana. I’d like to share a story from the mission about following His voice. Brace yourself as this might take a while.

But first; let me give you some background information.

The no GPS game

Here’s a random fact about myself – I usually don’t use a GPS. I look up the destination beforehand; write down a few relevant street names and hit the road. Needless to say this approach has often led to some disorientation.

So that’s when I started playing this little game; where I practiced hearing and following the voice of Holy Spirit. I would get to an intersection and literally pray about whether I should turn or continue straight. God has been so faithful in leading me where I should go.

"I would get to an intersection and literally pray about whether I should turn or continue straight."

The longer road

On one particular occasion as few years ago, I had some time to spare before a band rehearsal at church. Although I didn’t know the back road so well, I decided to explore. I trusted God to direct me. By the time I knew where I was; I was no longer in the city or in an area I would consider safe to drive through. All of a sudden I wasn’t only trusting for Divine navigation, but Divine protection as well. Eventually I found my way to the church, but ended up taking the longer, more dangerous route. This was confusing.

I sensed God asking if I trusted His way was better – even if logistically it didn’t seem that way.

Deeper into the bush

A few years later I found myself in a similar situation in Botswana.

One afternoon we got dressed into our working clothes and headed into the community to fix a roof. On arrival, however, it was decided that only the men will be doing the physical labour, while the ladies will be heading into the community to engage.

The village houses weren’t clustered together, but spread out within the bush-veld. In a group of about eight girls we approached the first house. There was no one home.

At the second house we met a woman and her two little children. She was, however, not too interested in conversing with us without her husband present. On our way to a third house we met an elderly couple who wanted to sell things to us. They quickly left on hearing that we didn’t have any money with us.

"The split-up didn’t seem so significant at the time, but this was when things started to get interesting."

We decided to split up and walk in opposite directions. Four of the girls continued towards the third house, while our group promptly made our way deeper into the bush. The split-up didn’t seem so significant at the time, but this was when things started to get interesting.

We prayed for direction and came across another house with no one home. Something seemed suspicious. Where were the people who lived in this village?

The road less travelled

At a fork in the road we prayed and agreed we felt led to take a small footpath not a lot of people seemed to have walked on. I made an arrow in the sand so we would eventually be able to find our way back. One of the other girls took note of the position of the sun in order to determine the direction we were going in.

It was starting to feel more and more like an adventure.

A word from God

As we were walking one of the girls encouraged us to pray for the people we were going to meet. I experienced the Father’s love for these people. He was taking us deep into the bush only so they could have an encounter with Him. One of the other girls shared that she experienced the people we were going to meet were expectant to hear from God.

"He was taking us deep into the bush only so they could have an encounter with Him."

No more houses

After some time we came to an open space. It had been a while since we saw any houses and we wondered whether we had passed the village and were now only walking deeper and deeper into the bush. We gathered to pray once more.

Mid-prayer four cows passed by. Considering that these cows were the first living beings we encountered after splitting up; it seemed like something to take note of.

“There are four cows and there are four of us,” one of the girls remarked. “I think we should follow the cows.” It seemed crazy, but we all agreed. The cows passed through the open space and headed deeper into the bush. So did we.

"...these cows were the first living beings we encountered after splitting up; it seemed like something to take note of."

Should we consider turning around?

As the little bush path was becoming quite dense we quickly lost the cows, but continued never-the-less. I remember asking God to close the road before us if we were supposed to turn around.

It wasn’t long until we came across a pile of elephant dung. Although we visited an elephant drinking hole just a few days before, the thought of coming across elephants in the bush somehow didn’t occur to me before this point.

None of us were experts when it came to tracking wild life, but after using a stick to test the dung we concluded that the elephants passed through there only a few hours before.

"...the thought of coming across elephants in the bush somehow didn’t occur to me before this point."

Asking for a sign

Coming across evidence of elephants on our little expedition, suddenly made me aware of the dangers around us. This time we prayed for a sign telling us to turn around – we asked for another pile of elephant dung. We continued walking and not even a minute later God answered our prayer. Even though we didn’t encounter anyone we could share the gospel with; it was now time to turn around.

And then...

While walking back I started sharing the story I earlier told about following God’s voice instead of a GPS. The next moment we heard an elephant trumpeting somewhere behind us.

We started running. One of the girls got her scarf stuck in a shrub and struggled to get it loose. Someone else went to help her. This was definitely not my most selfless moment on the mission. Instead, I aimed for a big tree and started planning a way to climb it. Thankfully, no elephant shaped figure appeared from between the bushes.

"This was definitely not my most selfless moment on the mission."

I was first to find my way back into the open space we earlier passed through. Somewhere behind me I heard someone exclaim about a huge, fresh elephant footprint.

Finding our way back

Instead of heading back the same way we came, we decided on a different footpath. We hoped it would cross a wider road that might be a quicker way back. It was somewhat harder to discern God’s voice this time. Realizing the sun would set in the direction we were heading; we ended up following the sun.

"It was somewhat harder to discern God’s voice this time."

The wide and the narrow road

Just as we anticipated our footpath led directly onto a wider road. Unfortunately, this wider road was covered in very clear elephant footprints. As it was a windy day, we assumed they were left there quite recently.

Our only option was to continue following the sun, sticking to the footpath. We prayed without ceasing and finally heard music playing in the village.

The rest of the team were already looking for us.

Made no sense

We don’t always understand the adventures God takes us on. It didn’t make sense for Abraham to head into the mountains to sacrifice his promised son (Genesis 22) or for the Israelites to march around Jericho (Joshua 6). It also didn’t make sense for Peter to get out of the boat (Matthew 14:22-33). As a matter of fact; did it even make sense for the disciples to head on over to the other side without Jesus (Matthew 14:22)? Yet, their actions revealed obedience and trust in God.

"...their actions revealed obedience and trust in God."

'On our little bush-veld adventure, God revealed how much He loved the people we were going to meet and how He was taking us all the way into the bush only so they could encounter Him. Little did we know that we were those people. We were the ones with an expectation to hear from Him.

The beauty of this story is that for every one of us the story carried a different message. God took us on this little trip to teach us how to walk with Him. What is He teaching you?

"He gives us the choice of whether or not we’ll be adventurous enough to follow Him."

He gives us all one life with a unique purpose. He also gives us the choice of whether or not we’ll be adventurous enough to follow Him. Are you living a life of mediocre Christianity or are you intentionally risking your life to see what God has planned for you?

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