A Week In The Desert (Burn Week Part 2)

Hello everyone! If you haven’t read part one, go check it out to see how the first part of BURN went! 

If we had free time a few of us would play soccer tennis, throw the football, and just fellowship together. I am really blessed to be on a squad who loves community and spending time with one another. 

Night 6: At midnight we had the opportunity to decide when we would go to the prayer yurt. The rules: at least one person had to be in there at all times. So if someone ended up missing their shift you got to stick around until someone else came. I was able to pray from 2-4 am this day. It was a sweet opportunity to start the final day with prayer. I loved seeing and hearing how the Lord stretched people, a lot of earlier sleepers ended up praying at early, early hours of the day. 

As my squad went on a prayer walk through the river gorge, I had a sweet opportunity to walk with my friend Mary. During this time we prayed for each other and different requests we had, whether that was for family, or our time back home.

We are a squad that LOVES worship, we were able to fit all of us in the prayer yurt for worshiping and prayer together. We had every teaching and time of worship in this yurt, it wasn’t big, but it was the perfect fit for all 29 of us. The race is big on intimacy, missions, and community, in this yurt we were all to experience all 3. 

Day 7: September 19th 

To finish our week we had an entire day as a squad. We started with breakfast together and headed back in the prayer yurt for worship. Following worship, we went on a prayer walk through the river gorge. After our prayer walk, we had lunch and took a nap. I ended up jumping in the lake instead of napping and laid in bed for a few minutes before we met again. Then we met back in the prayer yurt for a final teaching and picked out truth statements that came straight from the word. Due to our upcoming travel day and 8 am breakfast/meeting we had a packing party. We went back to our yurts packed while listening to worship music. Dinner rolled around shortly after and we had our final dinner together. Then we jumped into a time of prayer and worship, we had a bonfire, and around 11:30ish we went to the beach and walked the stars. We stayed up until midnight and completed a 24 hour 7-day burn. 

Travel Day: September 20th 

So there was our schedule for the burn. It was one of my favorite times on the race and something that took me to the deep end of my faith. I grew up going to all of the camps and all of the conferences but nothing will compare to a week in the desert with Jesus. There are countless times in the Bible where even Jesus was tempted and stretched in the desert. The Lord desires deep intimacy with us, you don’t need to go out to a desert to get that but it does take an effort of quieting yourself before Him. Putting away your vices, going to a quiet space, and laying down everything before Him. This week was a week of learning how to pray and the depth of what Jesus did on the cross. For me, it was a week of understanding how much our sin impacts us, what we consume impacts us. I learned how intentional we have to be with what we listen to, what we watch, how we talk, Jesus did so much for us, and how little He asks us to lay down for us to experience this intimacy with Him daily. This was a week of confession and repentance, lamenting, worshiping, and praying, all of these things are doable even at home. Do you feel like you can go deeper? Like there’s more to your faith? Do you want to hear and experience the Lord’s presence? I know I did even living like this the last year. 

I challenge you to start by reading your Bible 30 minutes a day and see how something that small can change your faith. If you do that already I challenge you to do a silent retreat for a weekend. Turning off your phone, going to an Air BnB or somewhere quiet, and not talking for the weekend. Spend that time in prayer and listening to the Lord. Even in a Christian community where this should be normal, it’s not. Unfortunately, this is what radical faith looks like. We’re called to the deep end of the pool. It’s not easy and it takes a level of effort, yes it starts with reading your Bible daily, praying daily. But we’re called to more than that, we’ve just been taught a watered-down version of the Gospel. We’re too scared to go deeper because we’ve never been taught how, in church, you get weird looks for getting on your knees before the Lord. You’re seen as too much, so start small and see where the Lord takes you. I started two years ago just by reading my Bible and praying and now I’m in Kyrgyzstan writing this blog to you.