Well…surprisingly, The World Race isn't actually a race. It’s a missions trip that violently rips you out of your ‘comfort zone’ and throws you into the peace that passes all understanding. A year of relying on the ONLY One who will or can give you ‘comfort’ or a ‘zone’, the Lord Jesus Christ. Or at least that’s what it’s looking like it will be. Why is it called a race? On this trip I’ll be continually moving each month for 11 months, even in countries where it seems like we could do more good if we stay longer, or countries where it ‘feels’ like were not doing any good at all, the idea of the Race is putting it ALL in God’s hands and going. It’s not about how many days we’re in a country, it’s not about how many hands we shake and friends we make. About how many houses we help build or bible studies we help lead. It’s about what God is at work doing, and sometimes we don't even see it. Often, in the times when I feel the most exhausted and useless, God opens a door for an opportunity to show His love. Like the story of Martha and Mary in the bible. I relate so much to Martha. Wanting so badly to go and do and see results, when in reality it’s not about what we do or how we do it, it’s about being like Mary, “who sat at the Lord’s feet listening to what he said”.
But let’s get to the question at hand,
“WHY AM I GOING ON THE WORLD RACE?”
As exciting as it sounds, the contrast of the situation is that it also sounds devastatingly hard to not have anywhere to call home, to have all my possessions on my back, to have new smells, sounds, sights, new friends each month, and my old ones left back home for so long. I am going because the Lord has called me. There’s no other reason. I have prayed about this and wrestled with what I wasn’t sure I actually wanted to hear, when He said, “GO.”
In the end, I desperately want to be able to say, like it says in II Timothy 4:7 “ I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I HAVE KEPT THE FAITH.”
