As I think about where I am, who I am with, what my everyday
life is like, I can’t help but look back on the past year before I came on the
race… (cue fuzzy dream sequence)
I remember when I first started looking at the World Race
and what could possibly come of traveling around the world spreading the Love
of Jesus Christ. I read so many blogs (like this one, but way better)- it was
like my devotion time. Forget about facebook or checking my e-mail- I just wanted
to read as many blogs as I could. They talked about healing of the sick,
leaving everything behind in The States, living in community, living with
animals (or bugs the size of animals), eating crazy foods, and meeting amazing
people from different cultures. I couldn’t peel my eyes away from the screen,
checking every blog I could. The application process was stressful but
exciting, knowing that if God wanted me to come on the Race, I would get
accepted, no matter how bad my interview went. So after I was accepted, I had
about six months to wait until training camp to meet my team, the people who I
would grow in relationship with and would share everything with. The excitement
built as time went on and I thought to myself, “God is answering my dreams! I’m
going to be a world-traveler and see twelve different countries!”
Even
training camp was like some sort of fantasy, never really sinking in that this
is the real thing. Sleeping in a tent with a sleeping bag on hard concrete,
eating beans and rice every day, going to the bathroom in a hole in the ground…
all of these things seemed so glamorous, as if it was only reserved for the
experienced, old missionaries we read about in our church newsletters. But
little did I know how real all of this would become in only a short while…
When we
were in the Philippines, we
were so involved with the orphans and the Tunnel community that it was hard to
really grasp the idea- “We’re in the Philippines!” And even being in “Big
Red” was surreal and unfathomable. We are just so immersed in ministry and in
bringing The Kingdom of God into Earth that it never really sinks in.
Before
coming on the Race, you think that it’s all some sort of dream-life, and every
day is like an adventure, exploring the movies we watched so often as kids. We
have read so many books or played so many video games that our expectations are
blown up into these dreamy paradises, filled with exotic culture and rich
history. But when you spend every day praying for the pastor you live with, or
hugging the children who don’t have any family, you begin to see that it’s
nothing like what our dreams said it would be. You don’t wake up in the middle
of “The Lion King,” and most Chinese people don’t know Kung Fu. You wake up to
a cup of tea and a piece of dry bread with some fake butter on it. You walk in
the constant cigarette smoke filling the air. You walk along the dusty road
holding the hand of a child who doesn’t know the touch of a caring parent. You
have to keep order in a place where drunkenness and getting high off of glue is
normal, feeding the empty stomachs of men who don’t know the definition of “respect.”
You go to church in a building with a dirt floor, crooked logs as the support,
and metal sheeting as the walls and roof.
The life of
a missionary (as best as I can tell so far after three months) is not a
glamorous one. We haven’t visited fancy churches with stain-glass windows, and
we haven’t been initiated into a native tribe. We haven’t fed 5,000 people at
one time, and we haven’t found homes for 100 children without families.
However, this is not to say we have not been successful. This has nothing to do
with whether or not the Holy Spirit is working through us on The World Race. This has everything to do with the movement of The Living God in our world. 
We
see one child who is given a new home with a loving new family, and think of
all the other children around the world who already have been blessed with a
family who loves them. We see one boy get a sandwich, remembering all of the
other people around the world who get another bite to give them nourishment
from The Lord. We see one girl get healed from headaches, knowing that there
are millions of people God has already blessed with good health. God shows up
everywhere we go, in the good places, and in the darkest of the darkest places.
He is faithful and will not leave anyone He has created. But if He doesn’t show
up in the way we expect Him to show up, or if He throws us into an experience
that we didn’t expect to be a part of, has He not shown up?
Of Course
Not! The Creator of the heavens and the earth is among us, at all times, in all
situations. Do not doubt that! The World Race may or may not be what I dreamt
of a year ago reading the blogs of Kim Daniels and Aaron Bruner, but everyday I
see, feel, and hear the Presence of The Lord and He is at work around the
World. He is working in our everyday lives. The Living God, Jesus Christ, is in
The World Race!
