I’ve been avoiding writing this blog. I never had one of those “Ah ha!” moments or a moment where God said “GO NOW!” For me, it has been a long time desire that has been building in my heart. I wanted to go after college but God had other plans. Now as I complete my master’s degree I realize there were things I had to learn about living independently that I didn’t know as a fresh-faced college graduate.
My friend Wade Carlton went on the October 2011 route (B Squad Generation 2!) and reading his blogs about all that they were doing and all that God was doing in them awakened a desire in me to see those things. After graduating from Asbury, I moved to Fort Collins to graduate school. And although I agreed to come, I whined and moped about it for most of the first year. I didn’t like being far away from my family; going from a Christian undergrad to a secular college for graduate school was a huge transition; and living in a town where I didn’t know anyone when I moved out here was much harder than I thought. I’ve made many good friends in my time here and it is going to be hard to leave. But I think the lesson I was supposed to learn is starting to sink in. At Asbury, I lived in constant community and the accountability was amazing, albeit hard at times. Living out here, it’s easy to fade into the routine of life, go through the motions, and easily slip out of Christian community. being part of community, when it’s not instantaneous like it was at Asbury, is difficult. After classes, teaching, and working, it’s easy to rationalize sitting at home and watching TV just to relax. At some point, I realized, this is not all there is to life. I don’t want this. To live for the weekend so I don’t have to go to work or class. There had to be more.
I had felt deadened by the hum and drum of normal American life. I lost focus and drive in a way because every time people asked what I wanted to do when I graduated, I couldn’t answer. So this past fall when I saw the routes for January 2015 released, something in me reawakened.I love traveling and even if I am something of a homebody, I’m also not one to turn down an adventure. I will admit that I have felt pretty far from God a lot of this past year (un-sugarcoated reality) and so I wasn’t even sure if this was what I should do. But as I worked through the application process and went through the interviews, a peace settled over me as well as a renewed excitement. I don’t want to sit on the sidelines while God is working. And I feel that He is calling me into a greater adventure that I could not have imagined, even a year ago. So I am happy to be going on this new adventure with Jesus and see all that he is going to show me through this experience.
If today is any example of what next year is going to be like, I’m already SUPER PUMPED to go. I’ve probably had 800 notifications on Facebook with my new friends who are all part of Route 2. I’m ready for it to be October so we can all meet each other in person! We’ve had so much fun just talking and even though it’s just online community right now, I already feel a special connection to these men and women and the journey we are all going to share. God has given me a huge community of brothers and sisters to get to know and I am thrilled about this. Seriously, I can’t contain my smile right now.
While the next 8 months are going to filled with preparing my heart for this trip, the Lord also reminded me to focus on living in the present. The excitement will wear off and the newness of it all will fade. And I want to be able to still be excited 8 months from now when we hop on that plane to fly to the Philippines. So while the World Race is what I’m working toward, I’m also going to continue to live in this moment, where I am planted now. Because God is using this time to prepare me for whatever is to come on the World Race and beyond.
