It's the end of month 3. I'm getting ready to leave Nicaragua. All of my things are laid out in front of me. It's time to decide what to pack.
When I left Vancouver to begin the race, my pack weighed 51 pounds (the baggage lady might have pretended not to notice and let the extra pound slide). Too many clothes, too many toiletries, too many sporks. And I'm getting pretty sick of carrying everything from place to place. So it's time to cut loose what I don't want and don't need to make it easier to carry.
When I left Vancouver to begin the race, my heart/mind/soul weighed a ton (there's no scale at the airport for that, so I got to take it all with me). Too much control, too much attitude, too much belief in what the world said about me and who I was. And it didn't take long for me (and my team) to get sick of carrying that crap around everywhere. So back in Honduras, a bunch of attitude and control were left behind. Then in Guatemala the lies were unpacked and thrown in the trash, and the rest of the attitude and control never made it on the bus to Nicaragua. And now as I get ready to leave Nicaragua, it's time to decide what to pack and what to leave behind.
As a World Racer, you do a lot of packing and unpacking. You are constantly evaluating your pack deciding what to leave and take, deciding what you need, don't need and want. But it's not just the physical baggage that gets reviewed. It's the experiences, the opinions, the attitudes, the thoughts, and the changes in you that get reviewed to. Not everything you came on the race with will leave with you. Most of the emotional baggage won't make it past month 2.
So as I prepare to leave Central America, I'm deciding what parts of me are going to make it in my pack, and what parts just don't make the cut. What parts of me are of God and who He made me, and what parts are junk that I've collected from the world and need to be left behind.
I'm flying away from the junk, from the broken, from everything the world has thrown on me. Forever.
I need to make room for more Jesus. For his love, healing, faith, love, peace, gifts, love, and everything He has for me, ready to give, just waiting for me to make room in my heart.
When you're going to start something new, whether it be the World Race, a new job, friendship, church, year, or just a new day, think about what you want to take with you. Think about what you want to leave behind. Pray about it. Not everything should make the cut. You need to clear out the old and broken to make room for the new.
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And because I know you were probably hoping to know what I actually ditched from my pack after 3 months, here is a list of things that won't be on the plane to Romania:
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3 tank tops
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2 t-shirts
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2 shorts
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1 pair of capris
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1 sleep shirt
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dry shampoo
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the rain cover for my big pack
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1 spork
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1 tenser bandage
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1 disgusting Nalgene water bottle
Everything was left at the orphanage (except the Nalgene). Future racers: LESS IS BETTER!
