Wow.
How did this happen?
Wasn't I just in the middle of nowhere Georgia, trying to set up a tent and get to know 60 other people that were supposed to be my family for the next year?
Wasn't I just sitting on the floor of my hotel room in Salt Lake City, having a coronary because I couldn't figure out how to fit a year into a backpack?
Wasn't I just shedding tears of joy over the plane touching the tarmac in Johannesburg?
Was it not just the other night that I was at the sketchiest border crossing ever between South Africa and Zimbabwe?
Wasn't I just playing with my babies in Pretoria?
Wasn't I just tossing cabbages around in Swaziland?
Didn't I just get off of the train in China?
Wasn't I just in the orphanage in the Philippines?
Didn't I just get welcomed into India with the warmest of receptions?
In some ways, these memories seem like years ago, particularly the ones that involve American soil.
But most days, I feel like I was just there, and the realization that I'm in month 7 of an 11 month trip hits me like a brick to the heart.
Last July, after training camp had passed and we were all headed home for 6 weeks before launch, one of my squadmates said this:
“It's strange to think that a year from now, I'm going to be missing you guys.”
I knew it then, and I know it now; One year is SO SHORT, when you look at it in the light of a lifetime. The World Race will be over for me in a little over four months, and I can hardly bear it.
When I think of all God has taught me, all He's brought me through, all He's done through me over the past seven months, all the people I've gotten to meet and love…I don't want it to end. I know I'll never get this year back, and in some ways, it's paralyzed me in fear, preventing me from enjoying the moments I have left. I think I may have banked too much on this eleven months.
If I'm being honest, the World Race is an adventure. It's absolutely amazing. The crazy travel days and the hard months of ministry and the challenges of living in community don't make it not worth it. Not even close. However, as much of an adventure as it is…it's not THE adventure. I forgot this somewhere along the way. The fact that I'm dreading the end of it so much just proves it. The end of the World Race isn't the end of The Adventure. The Adventure started long before I ever even heard of the World Race, and will continue long after its conclusion.
Knowing God is The Adventure. More fulfilling than community, more beautiful than the architecture of Romania and the colors of India and the red dirt of Africa, more wonderful than all the wonders of the world. All of these experiences have only served to give me glimpses of the Real Thing.
He is my Adventure, my Story, and my Process. Whether my World Race ends in a week or in five months, the Journey will go on. Knowing this gives me the freedom to enjoy the adventure of today.
Thank you for walking it with me.
-Anna
