“…I think you really should make a radical change in your lifestyle and begin to boldly do things which you may previously never have thought of doing, or been too hesitant to attempt. So many people live within unhappy circumstances and yet will not take the initiative to change their situation because they are conditioned to a life of security, conformity, and conservatism, all of which may appear to give more of an adventurous spirit within a man than a secure future. The very basic core of a man’s living spirit is his passion for adventure. The joy of life comes from our encounters with new experiences, and hence there is no greater joy than to have an endlessly changing horizon, for each day to have a new and different sun. If you want to get more of out of life, you must lose your inclination for monotonous security and adopt a helter-kelter style of life that will at first appear to you to be crazy. But once you become accustomed to such a life you will see its full meaning and its incredible beauty. I fear you will follow this same inclination in the future and thus fail to discover all the wonderful things that God has placed around us to discover. Don’t settle down and sit in one place. Move around, be nomadic, make each day a new horizon. You are still going to live a long time, and it would be a shame if you did not take the opportunity to revolutionize your life and move into an entirely new realm of experience.
You are wrong if you think Joy emanates only or principally from human relationships. God has placed it all around us. It is in everything and anything we might experience. We just have to have the courage to turn against our habitual lifestyle and engage in unconventional living.
My point is that you do not need me or anyone else around to bring this new kind of light in your life. It is simply waiting out there for you to grasp it, and all you have to do is reach for it. The only person you are fighting is yourself and your stubbornness to engage in new circumstances.
…I really hope that as soon as you can you will get out of [the] City, put a little camper on the back of your pickup, and start seeing some of the great work that God has done here …. You will see things and meet people and there is so much to learn from them. And you must do it economy style, no motels, do you own cooking, as a general rule spend as little as possible and you will enjoy it much more immensely. I hope that never time I see you, you will be a new man with a vast array of new adventures and experiences behind you. Don’t hesitate or allow yourself to make excuses. Just get out and do it. Just get out and do it. You will be very, very glad that you did…”
Alex McCandless, Into the Wild
The latest question we’ve been hearing the last few months is, ‘what are your plans after the race?’… To be honest, I’m still not really sure. I know that the above letter from Alex to his 85 yr old friend reaches the core of my heart. I want to live a life abandoned, a life abandoned for Christ. He has brought me to more places (not just physically) this year than I could have possibly dreamed. Literally, everytime I think that we’ve reached the climax, He throws something else in the mix that makes me take a step back and realize that I’ve only seen the tip of the iceberg. I want to live my life for Him. Something I’ve been thinking about is what it means to serve our Lord wholeheartedly. I’ve found myself struggling back and forth with different things He’s put on my heart for after the race (and this is after I’ve already told Him time and time again that my life is His and I will go wherever His will is for me)…after a bit of tug of war, I say, ‘ok, God. I’m in. I’ll do it.’ And then after I’ve finally come to terms with what ‘my call’ is, it doesn’t work out or it changes to the point where I have to start a whole new game of tug of war. So think of that, times 4 and you’re caught up on my last 4 months of post-race decision making.
So in the Bible, on multiple occasions, after Jesus has called the disciples to follow Him, they ask Him about different situations where you and I would think it was very justifiable to have them stay back or catch up after taking care of some business. One example of this is when the disciple asks if he can go burry his dead father, and the Lord tells him to let the dead bury the dead. An extreme example, but you get the idea… The Lord wants His followers to be ready to follow Him wherever and whenever-but not out of obligation-out of the freedom to say no if they choose to, but hoping they say Yes because they know that He’s in control and we are made to live our lives to glorify Him. When we look at the following verse, we get a better glimpse of what Jesus asks of us…
Matthew 10: 37-39 – Anyone who loves his father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves his son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me; and anyone who does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.
In my opinion, Jesus is basically saying that they would have to give their lives in order to follow Him, yet we tend to be very okay with the fact that we can say, ‘well, yeah, thaat person can and should go do this and that if the Lord’s telling them to, but III don’t have to because of this or that reason’. Is there ever a big enough reason where we can say to God, ‘Naah, I don’t need to do that’ or ‘Nah, I don’t feel led or called to’ when we are all called to do exactly that when we accepted Jesus as our Lord and Savior. Now, I’m not saying that He’s telling us ALL to go do this or that, I think that our callings are all different and that the Lord gave each one of us a specific calling according to who He has created us to be. Do I think that sometimes His plan for us is missed because we’re so caught up in what WE think our calling is or what we want it to be? Of course. I think that’s the path I took for a long time, and I’m often convicted of the fact that that’s the path I continue to lean towards as I try to figure out ‘what’s next’.
As far as what I’ve been thinking for what’s next, ooh, I’ve been all over the board. The latest is between going home and seeing what presents itself – I’ve learned, with the WR as my prime example, that sometimes we need to be patient in order for the Lord to present what He has in mind for the next chapter of our lives. I’m thinking of doing an apprenticeship at AIM, working under those who sent me out, walking people through the initial application process, interviewing and being mentored where I can continue to walk into where the Lord is leading me. I’m also thinking of leading a squad out in the fall in which I would lead about 50 or so new world racers out onto the field with one other person for about 4 months to 4 more countries.
