As a staff team we decided to have a time of fasting during a break between campers to seek God and His strength and to focus on Him for the rest of the season. As part of that fast it was suggested that we also take a time of silence for part of the day. This may come as a shock to you, but I was not very good at doing this. I was so bad at it I actually took note of the words I said, here is the list.
Just so you know we started at 5 so I only made it seven minutes before I said my first word. I’m pretty sure I was deep in prayer for each of these and then said a word out loud as I prayed. Some of the words I get, love, Glory, and thankful. However, I have no idea what prompted me at 6:09 to say “Chilling” out loud. I was really lost in thought and prayer and I think God may have revealed something to me and it was chilling to me, however if it was some other stupid reason I wouldn’t be surprised. Fasting and prayer has become a very dear discipline to me but clearly there are aspects of it that I need more work on.
Our senior high camp can take part in something we call Lions Pride, it is a difficult challenge that requires them to complete many challenging tasks one of which is to remain silent for a great deal of time. All the aspects of Lions Pride are difficult but the most difficult for me would the silence. We have had campers get out for speaking to bugs that were in their face, for being polite and saying, “excuse me” or “thank you”, and just for forgetting they were not supposed to speak. I would not be able to last but about seven minutes which I know is God’s way of saying I need to shut my mouth and listen to Him better.
I’m reminded of the verses in Habakkuk 2:20 “but the Lord is in His holy temple, let all the earth be silent before Him”. We should be silent before God and consider His awesome power and sovereignty and listen for the still small voice Elijah talks about in I Kings 19:12. I’ll continue to work on this aspect of my prayer life.
Speaking of prayer please be in prayers for us, we only have a few weeks left in Kenya, We still have no clear direction from God about what is next but we know God has an amazing plan for us and look forward to Him revealing it to us.
Brett and Bronwyn 