I Surrender All

Today reached a peak of 108 degrees; weather that us Grand Valley students never knew existed. We always expect it to be “a great day!” as Ben Post says every morning, but little did we know that God was about to blow our minds (again) before 9 a.m.! Ben set the mood for the day by teaching us a new Hebrew word, shema. This means to hear/listen and therefore to obey. He explained that Jews take this very seriously and keep a mini scroll of this message attached to their door frames for them to remember who they are and who they desire to be. He then introduced the question for us to consider of “What does this look like to us?” As we were walking away, Tanner and Josie began singing “Set a fire down in my soul that I can’t contain, that I can’t control. I want more of you God,” and this became my prayer for the day. Our first sight for the day was more than just a sight, it was a climb. We quickly learned in the first few minutes of the uphill ascension that clearly Miley Cyrus did not sing her song “The Climb” while walking up a mountain. When we reached our first stop, the top of Mt. Arbel, we were awestruck by God’s creation. Stacie conveyed the importance of the land because of the rich soil and the close water resource. She also explained how there were so many opposing views that were all in a close proximity of each other which presented major controversy. However, this did not scare Jesus away; in fact, He began performing miracles right in the middle of it! To get away from all of the chaos, we learned that He went up to the top of a mountain to get alone time with His Father. I couldn’t help but think about how blessed we were to be at the top (of possibly the same mountainside) getting the same experience.

Our next stop was at Peter’s Primacy, the spot where it is likely that Jesus called His disciples. Ben taught us the steps of discipleship in the time of Jesus and how the fishermen that He called had probably not made it through the full steps of discipleship. This shows that Jesus doesn’t call the equipped, He equips the called. The fishermen eagerly accepted and followed. To represent this, we played a game that all of us knew and loved as kids—follow the leader. Surprisingly, this taught us a lot in the importance of how we live our lives for Christ (to be discussed later on.) Near the end of the game, Ben led us to a spot near where Jesus spoke the famous “Sermon on the Mount.” A few of us were given the opportunity to recite it and we were challenged to consider the ways that we do not live up to all that Jesus commands of us. Spoiler alert: Even though we constantly fail, God has unconditional forgiveness. Next we went to a synagogue and the House of Peter in Capernaum. This is where Jesus performed many different healings. It was mind-blowing to be in a place where there is strong architectural evidence of where Jesus dwelled for a period of time. We learned in the story of the healing of the paralytic in the book of Mark that Jesus not only heals physically, but He heals our hearts as well. Before healing the man, Jesus forgave his sins to show that He is doing things only God can do and no one else! This left everyone amazed, both the crowd and the teachers of the law.

We finished our final teaching for the day unlike any way yet—a boat! We never know what to expect throughout our day, but God (and Ben and Stacie) knew that it was exactly what we needed in the scorching heat. We got the privilege to be in the middle of the Sea of Galilee and hear about when Jesus and Peter walked on the same body of water. During this passage we questioned why Peter got out of the boat in the first place. Ben explained that he did this to be like Jesus, but he doubted himself in the process. It was through this passage that we were all challenged with the idea that in order to be like Jesus, we need to get out the boat and take leaps of faith.

Throughout the day, God revealed Himself in many different ways to me. On the top of Mt. Arbel, God’s faithfulness was very apparent. He sent breeze when we were in need of it and provided strength to our bodies through the heat. These little reminders showed me even more that God will always provide what we need whether at home, on campus, or hiking up the side of a mountain. Later on, I saw even more of the greatness of our God through the stories of His healing and forgiveness. We live in an imperfect world, but with a perfect Creator who loves us and cares for us more than we can ever imagine. Although I fail Him daily, He still wants me! He takes all of my brokenness and uses every part of me—I just have to surrender all to Him. Through our game of follow the leader, I learned that it is harder to follow when you are far away, there are many distractions in this world, and others can lead you astray. Therefore, it is crucial to be in the His Word every day and follow Him as closely as possible. As Give Me Faith, one of my favorite songs, reminds me, although my flesh may fail, His never will.

“Praise the Lord, O my soul” ~ Psalm 103:22

Rachel Gatica