Day 06: Spirit Fruits

Or: It's Always the Chains You Don't See that Slow You Down

Or: The Day with Spiritual-Sounding Titles that Are Not Spiritual

A whole day should be enough to let the heat die down, yes? That's what we thought, too...

So we braved the Tec.

We rolled up in our Evange-Van and walked to the gate. Mario, the king of casual, talked to the guard...

and they let us in, no problem, we were right. Well, that was a dramatic buildup for nothing, Sam.

Today was kind of a homegroup day. Matthew and Evan went together, Scott and Riley went together and Travis and i went together. Nothing super dramatic from today, but good stuff, Travis and i had a good conversation, but he split before we could get too deep. Then we ran into Santiago, whose number Monica and i had gotten, but he had entered it wrong in her phone, so we though contact with him was lost (but God's all about seeking the lost, sooo 😉). Then we wandered into a Buddhist meditation center and prayed against misleading spirituality for a while inside of it. Lunch was chill, we talked about what our spirit fruits* were. Afterwards, Travis and i ran into Raul, who certainly strikes me as a person of peace, but he got sick last night and couldn't come to the homegroup we had (spiritual warfare or God's timing? maybe both. Pray for Raul y'all). We spent virtually the whole afternoon talking to him. It was dope (also, the playlist his student group had going was literal perfection. It was like going on a roadtrip where Katelyn Humphrey is your DJ. Do it sometime).

 *spirit fruits ought not be confused with fruits of the Spirit. The fruit of the Spirit, fijate, is not a coconut. However, your spirit fruit** might be a coconut. Mine is a pineapple.

**spirit fruits ought not be confused with favorite fruits. No one said you had to like your spirit fruit. I personally am ambivalent when it comes to piñas - except for pizza. I like them unequivocally on pizza. Especially with jalapeños. That's called a Cartel Pizza. I recommend it to you.

ANYway....we got dinner at Pollo Loco and then headed back to the hotel to chill for the evening. I ran with Travis and Scott, which was a lot of fun. And then i ran between two poles that had a chain strung up between them, which caught me right in my waist (bless). Any lower and i would have flipped over the thing, but it just stopped me. No injury, no death; just embarrassment, now shared with you guys.

Travis and i got to have an extended time to talk and catch up with Sheryl, which is always super encouraging to my heart. And now it's Mexican 2 AM and here i am.

 There's a lot rattling around in my head right now, but i think the thing i want to leave you with is this: You are not made to operate independent of community. You may be able in a given circumstance (be it your college career, your career career, being a good spouse, being a good parent, being a missionary, whatever it is you do) to logistically pull it off, maybe even pull it off well. But emotionally and spiritually and in terms of advancing the kingdom of God, you will not be healthy without a Christ-centered community to help you. Your effectiveness will be limited. You are crippling your potential. You may even see fruit, but it will be less fruit than you could see if you were operating as you are designed.

Why am i so sure? The Bible says so, Logic says so, Experience says so, History (or Tradition, if you will) says so. That's all four pieces of the Wesleyan Quadrilateral, y'all (though, to my thinking, the first one seems pretty sufficient). I am an introvert and i am from an individualist culture and grew up with the Cowboy Hero. i don't like needing people. The only thing that says "you don't need people..." is my pride and my fear. Maybe i'm just preaching to myself, but maybe you feel the same way.

I am so grateful that God made me Needy. Otherwise, my small and utilitarian heart would never see the value in people. But once i realize i need them, i begin to let them in. And as i let them in i realize that they are valuable. Not valuable because they are useful (Usefulness is not the source of Value), Valuable because they are made by God and loved by God. Its an intrinsic and unchanging thing.

So...yea. There's that and there's that. Last day of campus outreach is Friday (that's tomorrow (but...really today)). Please por favor pray for God to move!

🍍