So I am currently sitting in a Waffle House in Southern Georgia about halfway through my 8 hour drive from Orlando, FL to Gainesville, GA to start training camp. I wanted to make sure that I wrote a pre-training camp post and I know this is squeezing it in at the last moment but hey, points for completion yea? I wanted to make sure that I did this because every racer I have observed seemed to talk about how TC changed their life forever and how they were never the same and got home floating on sunshine and unicorn tears. Knowing that it would be pretty impossible to view my WR journey leading up to TC through the same lense after the TC experience as it would before, here I am sipping Waffle House coffee and typing on my phone.
As as a person I can’t say that I have ever felt a grand calling on my life. Though I am a seamstress and I have a passion for the arts and for theatre, it was really something I stumbled into doing. I never got stopped on the road to Damascus by a bolt of light and the voice of Morgan Freeman telling me that I was being called into costuming and the theatre would be my mission field. I happened upon costuming my senior year of high school and up until that point had no plan for my future life and said to myself: “Hey, this is a thing I can do, why not do this?” After graduating it was just more bumbling around the country working at this theatre and that, basically sewing for anyone who wanted to hire me and moving to wherever that was. There was passion and love for the art but it was always something I did because, what else would I be doing?
That kind of wandering spirit is quite prevalent in the other areas of my life. Don’t get me wrong, I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that God is calling me to the WR and this is the next step that he has for me, but not for the reasons that you might think. I went to a small Christian liberal arts university so as you can imagine missions was a big topic. We had great commission chapel every year, human trafficking was discussed constantly, there was compassion chapel where we were all urged to sponsor a child in a third world country, and missions trips leaving every summer for those who needed to fulfill their “cross cultural” requirement. But through all this my reaction was different from everyone else’s. Whenever someone would come speak about these big problems or issues like child hunger or human trafficking I felt like everyone would get really passionate about taking the gospel to these people, which is amazing! We are called to go to the nations and speak His name! Absolutely that is true! But sitting there I found myself a little overwhelmed. We were being presented with these huge issues with no practical steps for how we could help. You’re talking to college students with limited time and resources about global issues and not giving them any ways that they can make a difference.
My reaction was almost never: “We need to go preach to these people”. It was always: “Ok, how about clean water? What about medical care? Can we get doctors involved and how do we support them?”. I have no skills as a missionary. Please never ask me to preach it will not go well. My spiritual giftings are limited but I can dig trenches or hold babies or carry supplies. What if being the hands and feet of Christ wasn’t just preaching and teaching? Hear me, those are essential spiritual giftings that the world desperately needs. I just don’t have them. My call to the World Race has always been “how can I help?” Which is part of what drew me to the race in the first place. The whole function of the squads is to go and support the local organizations. I’ll get to spend 11 months saying “how can I make your life easier?”.
I feel like sometimes people, myself included, get indimidated by the concept of being a missionary. But what does Christ call us to do?: Feed the hungry, welcome strangers, heal the sick, love one another. I am not a preacher or a teacher but I can dig wells, play with kids, carry heavy things. That is what going to the nations means to me.
Well, I’m sitting in my car now. The meal at Waffle House was delicious. Diners are one of my dearest loves and this one certainly did not disappoint. 3.5 more hours and I will be at training camp and the next step of my World Race journey begins. Please pray for me as I drive. The journey has been uneventful so far and I would like it to stay that way. See you in 10 days!
