Wanna know a secret? There’s a LOT more to the World Race than cool Instagram posts and inspiring blogs. It’s hard and messy sometimes too (often). Surprise!
Okay but seriously, I feel as though I’m doing a disservice to you if I don’t tell you the whole story. Yes, the race is incredible. I’ve witnessed miraculous healings. I’ve seen demons cast out in the name of Jesus. I’ve flown around Mount Everest. I’ve evangelized in countries where it’s illegal to share the gospel. I’ve walked around an 11th century temple and bungee jumped off a bridge in front of Victoria Falls, but all these moments together have been only a fraction of my race so far.
They say it takes on average 21 days to form a habit, sometimes up to 66 days for something to truly become habitual and second nature. Well folks, its day 146, and let me tell you, somehow this crazy life does feel normal.
I want to give you a glimpse into my world(race).
A glimpse at what the race actually looks like.
No filters, No punny captions.
No lyrics to a cliché worship song.
Just a girl trying to make it through a year on the race when it’s messy, hard, and sometimes just exhausting.
The World Race is:
The World Race is soaking your Chacos in a bucket filled with shampoo because they literally smell like dog poo.
The World Race is sleeping on the concrete floor because your sleeping pad popped.
The World Race is crying yourself to sleep because your heart is breaking from news you got over text about something at home.
The World Race is eating the same meal for breakfast, lunch, and dinner (and trying not to gag).
The World Race is pinching yourself to keep from falling asleep during a five-hour sermon, entirely in another language.
The World Race is sitting in the bathroom because you need even just five minutes alone or you’ll go absolutely insane.
The World Race is hanging out of a bus window puking your brains out because you get car sick and microbuses in Nepal should NOT whip around mountainous switch backs like they do.
The World Race is getting really excited to FaceTime your family, and the wifi (or all the power) goes out.
The World Race is getting food poisoning, having to go to a hospital in a foreign country, and having a rat run across your room.
The World Race is twenty-four-hour bus rides on New Years Eve.
The World Race is living on top of the same people for five months straight and choosing to stand by them even when all you want to do is check out.
The World Race is teaching English to 30 kids everyday without a translator.
The World Race is peeing on the side of the road because it costs money to use the bathroom, and you are absolutely broke.
The World Race is showering in 50-degree weather, in a cement dungeon, with a hose and water heater. Then the water heater breaking, and the water temp going from 95 degrees to 55 degrees in about 2 seconds.
The World Race is your entire team sleeping under one bug net and STILL getting eaten alive.
The World Race is getting woken up at four am every morning by the squeals of a pig being slaughtered because your neighbor is a butcher.
The World Race is constantly sweating, even when you’re in the shower.
The World Race is having to catch a chicken in the bathroom so you can use the squatty potty.
The World Race is missing holidays, birthdays, graduations, and the birth of your niece.
The World Race is taking far too many baby wipe “showers”.
The World Race is only having a washing machine (no dryer), having to hang your clothes on the line to dry, but then it rains Every. Single. Day. So you take your wet smelly clothes to the laundry mat and they say “No wash underwear”.
The World Race is carrying everything you own in a backpack.
The World Race is waking up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom and seeing a colony of 500 cockroaches staring back at you.
The World Race is feeling like you’re letting your best friends down because you can’t always be there for them, even though you promised you’d only ever be a phone call away.
The World Race is long days, short months, and hard goodbyes.
The World Race isn’t always an adventure. It’s exhausting, heart breaking, and some days honestly just boring. But even on the hardest days, I would choose this over comfort.
I will continue to choose this, because the race doesn’t last forever but living out the gospel, in even the most mundane ways, does.
