Whenever I have mentioned the World Race to people, I have received one out of several reactions. I either hear about how expensive it is, or how crazy it is to leave home for that long. People have expressed concern over my safety. Or some think I am entering into a reality T.V. show for The Amazing Race. Personally, those are my favorite because I actually get to take a few minutes to explain the crazy plan for my life after I graduate college in less than half a year. And it’s made me realize how badly I need to catch up on my pop culture…. Anyway. But, the best reaction is when someone mimics my enthusiasm and I get to share my excitement with someone who just gets it. They just get me.
They understand the wanting to just GO. Like me, they have that entrenched desire that is deep in their bones to see the world. They empathize with my need to just show love to others, no matter their age, race, religion, or home on a globe. They have the same longing to share Jesus with others, wherever they go. There is just a yearning to share the beautiful story that the Lord has given us and to have others be able to walk in the same light. We share the aspiration to leave this life and this world in a little bit of a better place than what we found it in. Our only wish is to follow Jesus and make our life count.
And both of those things require you to walk a road that isn’t necessarily evenly paved or cookie-cutter perfect.
So, for me, that means leaving home for 11 months going to 11 different countries. It means that I will spent nights sleeping in tents, going days of taking bucket showers, weeks without eating comfort food, and months without seeing friends and family. It means abandoning the life I have known for a different one for almost a year.
People ask me why I want to do the World Race and all I can say is I just know I have to go. And the verse that the Lord has really laid on my heart about this is from John 12:3.
“Then Mary took about a pint of pure nard, an expensive perfume; she poured it on Jesus’ feet and wiped his feet with her hair. And the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume.” (NIV)
I was alone one night in my college dorm room just days after I had applied to the World Race when reality had started to seep in of the journey I was about to attempt to go on. Fear has a way hitting you when you least expect it. But, another cool thing about fear is that it can draw you closer into the embrace of the Lord.
I started to feel suffocated by the doubts of not raising the funds and the worries about the most trivial of things, like my need for my daily morning showers (I have this thing that I think that I have to wash my hair every day…..if I don’t I feel like I can’t function. I’m learning.). I decided to take a moment to read out of the book of John and I stumbled to this passage of Jesus being anointed by Mary.
What it must have been like to witness such an act of reverence and love. Then, it hit me. Who am I to not be doing the same thing? Christ deserves that of me and so much more. Mary poured out an expensive perfume that cost about a year’s worth of wages on the feet of her Lord. Why can’t I pour out almost a year of my life spreading the gospel? Mary lowered her self beyond the normal social custom to wipe her Lord’s feet with her hair. Her hair. I am grossed out by the thought of not being able to wash my hair on a regular basis while Mary was humbling herself so low to wipe Jesus’ feet with hers. Who am I to let my need for comfort stand in the way of bowing at the feet of Christ?
By no means am I elevating who Mary was or what she did to put it on a pedestal, but I am saying that we should mimic her complete surrender in our lives. We should cast aside ourselves to follow after the Lord.
And that is truly why I want to go on the World Race. I want go audaciously. This means I want to go boldly and daringly on a journey to 11 countries in 11 months.
So I ask you as friends and family to please support me in this race financially and prayerfully! I absolutely cannot wait for what the future holds and to see the Lord work. Whenever Mary poured out the perfume, it said that the whole house was filled with the fragrance of it. It is my prayer that is exactly what happens with my life; I pour it out all over the world and people can see the love of Christ.
Keep checking in with my blog, this is where you can make donations! Also be on the lookout for t-shirts and stickers! Follow me on Instagram @audrey_nix or on this blog audreynix.theworldrace.org.
Love,
Aud
