I have decided to follow Jesus, no turning back. No turning back.

the new Hillsong live song, Christ is enough, is my anthem. Christ IS enough. When it goes into the “I have decided to follow Jesus, no turning back, no turning back..” my mind and heart go back to Ethiopia January 2012. I was with a project 61 team in Shashamene at the boarding school visiting our students in the program. We had a Christmas celebration (their Christmas is january 7) and had a great time celebrating with the kids. We also put on this awesome carnival & played fun crazy games. We were there several days & the night before our final day our team circled up in the courtyard of our hotel and prayerfully considered what god would have us do that final day. We decided on a “gospel explosion”.

[“big boys” LtoR: Eyob, David, BIligne, Yohannes]

We would preach the gospel. We would pray. We would give them the opportunity to respond. We would break up into small groups after & share. Share prayer requests, answer questions, love on & pray for each other. We had the older kids first, in the morning & the younger kids in the afternoon. My time with my big boys was sweet. I loved having that intentional conversation about Jesus & I loved hearing the prayers on their heart so I could help bear their burdens.

But the smaller boys….the elementary school ones….

We started our time with worship. Most of the team was from Nashville so you know we had an acoustic guitar & some twang mixed into our worship. The older kids had not been that into our fun & interactive worship set. But the younger boys ate it up. We would teach them a song & the hand motions then they would come up & help us lead it. Then they wanted to teach us a song. you guessed it- “I have decided to follow Jesus”

We sang it in English AND in their native language, Amharic. I can’t remember all the words to their Amharic version, but when I hear the new hillsong song all I can do is hear those sweet 8-10 year old boys ethiopian accents singing to god that they have decided to follow him. It brought tears of joy to my eyes that day & it does still today.

Life with Jesus, a life spent truly following Him is not all butterflies and roses. It’s hard. But like the song says, ” no turning back”. That song & the sweet reminder of my boys all the way in Ethiopia’s voices, reminds me of the weight of being a follower of Christ. Some days I want to give up. But my momentary afflictions cannot compare to the eternal weight of glory in store. ” the cross before me, the world behind me, no turning back NO TURNING BACK”