A light wind blows through the wooden doors and brushes my face cooling for a second the beads of sweat snaking their way down my forehead and into my eyes. I glance outside and see the sky turning from orange to a hazy purple. The endless fields of sugarcane surrounding our house on stilts turn a deep dark green in the twilight. It is beautiful here and God has blessed me and my team immensely. Earlier that day we had ridden water buffalo, and hunted bee hives in the towering trees. I was so satisfied with the day but in the pit of the stomach I was upset thinking that it would be another week before more adventures.
I’m about to ramble so bear with me.
There is something that’s been on my mind a lot lately and it’s about Christians who go on mission trips. If you’ve never been on a mission trip before they all mostly go something like this: you spend 7 days working in a poor, down trodden part of the world and then on the 8th day you get to celebrate all you’ve just accomplished by staying in a swanky hotel, eating excessive amounts of food, and doing fun things. There’s nothing wrong with fun, Jesus had lots of fun, but when I would go on these mission trips God would rock my world for 7 days and I would vow never to go back to my old way of thinking and vow to live much more simply. Though in the back of my mind I would always be looking forward to the “fun” part of the missionary life and when day 8 came I would forget all I just learned and saw and become a silly, privileged American again living it up in a 32 story hotel with 3 pools.
This was something I worried would happen to me on the Race. I would work hard but always be looking forward to the “fun” missionary vacation times when I’d get to lay on a beach or ride an elephant. I vowed this wouldn’t happen, told God I wouldn’t do that, and then left for the Race. Guess what? It happened.
I didn’t even realize it was happening until it was too late. I had started idolizing the days off from ministry (which is a silly concept in itself; there is no such thing as a day off from ministry in the life of a Christian). I was living for the days I would get to cuddle a tiger, or ride an elephant, or swim in a waterfall. I stopped being excited to see what God would do during the week and lived for the highs of the weekend. I even wanted to do things solely so I could post about them on Facebook to be like, “Hey, look at all the cool things I’m doing…Oh yeah, and God’s kingdom is being brought to earth but hey look at this snake I’m holding!” I had developed a boastful spirit about my Race; which is just ridiculous.
I had promised this wouldn’t happen though. I vowed never to go on a missionary vacation; the “let’s help a lot of people, feel good about ourselves, then have some fun.” I had scoffed at this and of course it happened to me. It usually happens that way.
I’m so grateful God has shown me this huge flaw in my thinking early on in the Race. As Christians our life is a ministry. There isn’t “days off” from loving others. Rather we should find joy in the moments of service and fun in the little things. And I’m not saying that I shouldn’t be having fun; because the world is full of adventure and I know God wants me to experience that too. But I had reached a point of idolization and that’s never ever good.
For future World Racer’s I caution you in this. It’s easy to think it won’t happen to you but I can promise you that it probably will at some point on your Race. If this starts to happen just repent, then seek God’s will and direction for each day. Stop thinking about the weekend; stop thinking about the next hour, or even the next minute. Seek what God wants for your life at that very moment and He will provide all you need and suddenly you’ll feel joy in the smallest moments not just the big mountain-top experiences. God is going to bless you so much this year with awesome experiences but make sure you keep your focus on God and why you are truly traveling the world; to love others as Jesus would. And if you’re truly following God’s will for your days then more adventure than you could ever imagine will automatically follow. Adventures’ that are way better, way more crazy, way more mind-blowing and more lasting than tromping around on the back of an elephant.
