Playing his guitar to himself, Ryan pauses, looks around, and readjusts his
chair.SCREACH!
“Awwww!” I scream.I
didn’t realize that his chair made the noise.
“Sorry,” Ryan chuckles, and continues playing his guitar.
On the surface, Ryan Collison is a warm-hearted, gentle kid.He is a natural talent with the guitar,leading worship for our team and he also
plays in his church band back home in the Baltimore area. He never makes you
feel dumb for an experience he’s had and you haven’t, but rather invites you
into his experience with descriptive details. (Ironically, it makes me want to
witness it more in person.)
From this explanation, you can all get the near-accurate assumption that
Ryan is a really nice guy.As a result
of being an only child, he has learned to keep to himself, but still holds
great conversation.By all accounts,
Ryan is a good guy.However, there is a
lot more beneath the surface that the Lord is working in Ryan to achieve
greatness.
In ministry, Ryan pours all that he has out in everything he does.You rarely see any sign of complaint, and you
can’t see how much it drains him until he gets home and collapses on his
bed.He is always up for everything, and
is doing all that he can to make the most of his time here.Last week, when asked why he jumped so
quickly and without much hesitation from a 20-30 foot high rock, he said,
“I’m in Africa, there’s no way I couldn’t jump.” Like the jump off
the rock, he is truly jumping right in to everything.
“But the Lord is with me as a dread warrior;
therefore my persecutors will stumble;
they will not overcome me.
They will be greatly shamed,
for they will not succeed.”
Jeremiah 20:11
Throughout our time here, people that have been praying for Ryan have received
visions of a mighty warrior.This sounds
in stark contrast to the nice guy that he comes across as.The warrior is brave and heroic; he doesn’t
back down.He’s not always
“nice.”He’s always prepared
to fight and ready for battle.
Ryan has been craving this warrior mentality this whole trip.Whilst jumping in and making the most of his
time, he desires this heroism that he feels he lacks.He wants the Lord to transform him into the
warrrior that we all know he is destined to become.And he knows that he needs the Holy Spirit
moving in him and through him to reach his full potential.
Ryan commented the other day that he has been a Christian since he was 12,
but rarely has he ever experienced the Spirit. It has always been head knowledge to him, but he can’t remember seeing
the Spirit move in his life.Like many
of us in the American church, he has been accustomed to forgetting about and
denying the Spirit’s power in the world, but he is sick of it.He knows that it is only through giving the
Spirit control that God can transform his life in a radical way.
Ryan is ready and willing to see the Lord move in ways that he never could
imagine.We’ve already seen it in his
selfless mindset in ministry, but this is only the beginning of the transformation
that Ryan is about to experience.When
he comes back to America, you will see a change; whether or not he is at his
potential is yet to be determined. However, I have no doubt in my mind that it is only a matter of time
before the warrior that is in Ryan Collison is released.
