The Riot’s Gone – Santigold

THE RIOT’S GONE – SANTIGOLD

[I’ve randomly decided all my blogs for this trip will be song titles!! Listen to this guy, it’s a good one.]

The past two weeks have been absolutely insane. Here’s a brief overview of what exactly it entailed…

October 3

Our squad had spent about a month down in the city of Quito, and were traveling to a different ministry up in the mountains to finish off our last week in Ecuador. Or so we thought! We arrived at our ministry location where we stood above the clouds with mountains surrounding us in every direction. It was beautiful! Then we got to work…

All 21 of us slept on the floor in one big room! It was freezing, so we didn’t mind the body heat! 

October 6

We get news that some riots have broken out down in the city of Quito because the gas prices had risen drastically (upwards of 100%). The President of Ecuador supposedly had passed a law that made gas essentially unavailable to the lower income groups in the country. 

More news came that these lower income groups, specifically indigenous groups that lived out in rural parts of the country, were marching into Quito by the tens-of-thousands to protest. There were rumors that they were blockading roads and preventing travel throughout the whole country. And they were heading our way. 

In the back of my co-leader and I’s mind – we are supposed to travel in 4 days…

October 10 

After days of communicating back and forth between our host, the World Race headquarters, and our squad, we decide the safest (and only viable) option is to stay. While we had planned to head south to a city called Banos for our debrief, the roads to get there were covered in boulders and rocks. No one was getting through. On top of that, riots filled the city of Quito and we were safely tucked up in the mountains. We were literally living in a safe house designed to protect women affected by sex trafficking. We were in the safest place in the whole city. Leaving posed more risk than staying…

We start mentally preparing to tell the squad that we weren’t traveling to city that I’d been hyping up all month, and that we were staying up in the mountains…indefinitely. That meant continuing to share one bathroom with 21 people, sleeping on the floor, and continuing manual labor – things that the squad was already struggling with. And we had no idea when we were going to leave. 

October 11

We start our makeshift debrief filled with nights of worship, learning from God’s word, and challenging the squad to push through and run their race well! 

To take our minds off of the chaos we decided to have a bonfire – s’mores and singing included! 

October 12

News filters in that things are getting worse…there is an uneasiness among the squad. We have friends, and even some we consider family, that live down in the city of Quito…and there was nothing we could do to help them. 

As children of God – the loving, caring, all-powerful God – we decided there WAS something we could do. PRAY! We began a squad effort to pray for 24 hours straight. Each member of the squad signed up for one hour, and they lifted up their heart cries and pleadings to the Lord. 

12 hours in, only halfway through, the Lord answered our prayers! The President of Ecuador implemented a new law bringing peace and an ease to the nation. Even up in the mountains we could hear music playing, drums beating, and a great celebration happening in the city below. 

October 13

Even with our main prayers answered, we continued our promise to pray for 24 hours. If there’s one thing this squad has learned it would be the importance of thankfulness. How beautiful that the Lord wrapped His answer to us with prayer and thankfulness on both sides – 12 hours before and 12 hours after. What a beautiful picture – that the Lord deserves praise before, during, and after our prayers are answered! 

October 14

Kelly and I get to share the news that because the roads are clearing up we get to spend a couple days in Banos – one of my favorite cities I got to visit on my Race! This came as a complete surprise, we all thought our chances to visit Banos were completely gone! God is good!  

Even with a hundred plans, a hundred back-up plans, sore muscles, sore bones, bleeding hands, sleepless nights, frustrated squad mates, swollen eyes, and broken spirits, I’d do it all over again tomorrow. I firmly believe that God had a plan and purpose for this time. It wasn’t an accident that we got stuck on that mountain. It wasn’t a mistake that we suffered through the challenges we had for longer than we bargained for.

It’s funny because we pray for growth, we pray to look more like Jesus, we pray to be purified into gold. Do you know the gold purification process? It involves pounding, beating, heating, melting…repeated again and again and again. We ask the Lord to help us grow in strength and holiness and righteousness, but when He sends the trial we pray it away oh so quickly. 

The challenges and growth-growing-experiences don’t always look or feel like we expect them to. They’re hard. You have to choose to fight. You have to press into the uncomfortable, not avoid it. If we do that, if we allow God to use trials and hardships to mold our heart and pull out some weeds, then in time we get to see the harvest.

God, I thank you, on behalf of myself and this squad, for loving us sooo well that You didn’t answer our prayers to take away this trial. I thank You for choosing the hard things for us when we are all too quick to wish them away. I thank You for desiring a deeper trust and love in and for us, and for giving us exactly what we need to receive those things. I thank You for the sore muscles, hard floors, cold nights, and blistered hands. I thank You for stubborn teammates, complaining, and meals that don’t quite fill you up. Because to see Your glory in these circumstances…that’s when it counts. To love people when it seems impossible…that’s when it counts. To give thanks when there’s not enough…that’s when it counts. Thank you God for not giving into my stubbornness. I trust you. I love you. Amen.