We were asked to write this blog speaking about our hopes and dreams for ourself on the World Race, and the person that we want to become over the course of the Race. It’s funny because I’ve been circling around this idea a lot myself, and while I’m not huge into writing in the third person here is my shot at it.
Dear Pre-Launch Andy,
I know that this next week or so is going to be hectic, packed with goodbyes and spending time with all the people that you will leave back home, but I wanted to take a moment to just pour out my heart for the man I want you to be and become over the next eleven months of your life. Your growth over the last year has been amazing, and I can’t wait for the next moment you stop and look back at your life and get to just stand in awe at the places God has solidified in your heart, and the healing he has given, and just how much you’ve grown.
This brings me to my first and deepest prayer and want for you, to always believe that God can call you deeper into His love. Your life as a Christian will always be fueled by the world’s most inexhaustible resource, the beautiful, restoring, life giving love of Your Heavenly Father. There is never a moment when you will become a perfect Christian, there is never a time when you can’t learn more about Him, He is infinite and everlasting, and the depths of His love and character are such that even spending millions of years directly in His presence you still wouldn’t know a fraction of His love. I’m praying desperately that you believe this and understand that there is unending joy in knowing Him, and that knowledge and joy move deeper the more you get to grasp His character and love for other people.
The second prayer I have for you is that you start to understand everything that it means when God calls you His son. You have taken so many beautiful steps in this area, to fight past the stranglehold Satan tried to keep you in, urging you to do better and that only there would you find acceptance, and stepping into the unconditional love that God has for His children, but I don’t want you to stop there. There is so much delight in Your Heavenly Father’s eyes for you, and a I don’t want you to live judged by how you measure up ever again. I want you to walk in the freedom that Christ poured out into your life, and understand the places that it allows you to step into. If Christ has justified you, and called you righteous, in how many ways does this set your identity, and anchor your acceptance, and if everything in your life is taken care of, then how much more should the purpose of your life be to help others be set free in the same way you’ve been set free?
The third prayer I have for you is like the second, but I want you to fully and sufficiently find your identity in Christ. Regardless of whether you knock ministry out of the park, or you’re struggling with the day to day, I don’t want there to be a single day when you even fantasize the thought of choosing your righteousness over His. You will never be good enough to save yourself, and you will never out-sin the cross. Please don’t ever forget this. Your identity has to be anchored here! I want you to believe that God has called you loved and cleansed and pure and humble and flawless and patient and kind and peaceful and joyous and free and that if he calls you by these, then they are who you are, regardless of what the world will ever try to tell you, because you are not judged by the world, but by He who searches all hearts.
This brings me my final prayer for you, and it’s been a concept that’s been on my heart for the past month, and I want it desperately for you, and that’s for you to finally step into life. For so long I feel like you have been ruled by sin and despite finding your salvation through Grace, your everyday life has been under the law of sin and death. I want you to remember that “through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit WHO GIVES LIFE has set you free from the law of sin and death” (Romans 8:2). I know you feel like a newborn kid right now, and I can’t wait for you to find all the things that life in the Spirit gives you. Please remember that God is not in the destination, but the journey, and that living life means being present emotionally, spiritually and physically. Live inside each moment, not hoping for a better ministry, or country, or sleeping situation, but live in the day that The Lord has made, rejoice, be glad in it, and learn to number the days that you may gain a heart of wisdom, eleven months goes faster than you think, please don’t waste your newly found life on your own agenda!
I love you so dearly, and I cannot wait to see the ways God uses you this year, and the Man of God you become by the end of it,
Pre-Launch Andy
