We’re in the middle of month 7, making our way quickly into month EIGHT! Holy smokes! That’s crazy! In these past 7 months and even longer I have expressed how genuinely grateful I am for each of you that have supported me in any way along this journey. And let me tell you… I truly truly am beyond grateful.
However, today as I sit and reflect a bit over these past months and take a deeper look into what God has been doing, I realize that I’ve had it all wrong! And I want to apologize! My eyes have been on me.
You see, I didn’t commit to this race for ME. This whole journey isn’t about me at all actually! And if I’m being completely real with y’all… I surely have made it about me haven’t I?
Here’s the truth.
Financially… I very seldomly see the money that you all donate. But what I do see is what God does with your money. He turns one thing into another (he has a tendency of doing that eh?). On this end of your offering, I see food and clean drinking water, I see a bed, a shower, or in the case of this month, a piece of land to set up our tents and a bucket with water to wash off our bodies after being covered in dirt and cement. I see how God takes what you have offered and uses it to place my team in a very specific location in this world.
Let me break that down a bit, cause this is the unbelievable part.
1 World
7 Continents
195 Countries
7.125 Billion People
Signing up for the race, we already knew that we would be going to 11 of these countries. So we picked out of the available routes the 11 countries that caught our attention.
After we committed to those 11, our route got changed, 2 countries got cut and 2 completely different countries replaced them.
Prior to arriving, we have NO idea which part of the country we are going to be in. We have 5 teams in our squad, generally that means 5 different provinces of that country, and which team goes to which province is left up to prayer.
So, to say that it is by “chance” that we are in a very specific part of Laos, in March of 2015… would be Ludicrous! It’s not by chance! It’s by divine purpose.
And to go even further with that, the people we cross paths with each day at each moment is in no way by chance either. Whether it’s our host, the people at our hostel, the guy we’ve seen 4 different times now at different coffee shops/restaurants, the street kids, or the homeless guy who is also a father to the most precious 5 year old little girl. It’s not an accident. There are 210,000 people living/visiting this one city, we could cross paths with anyone of them at anytime… However, because we are here by divine purpose… God has it all planned out, He already knows who is going to catch our attention, he already knows if we’re going to take a left or right at the next street, and he knows exactly who/what is going to be waiting for us when we make that turn.
He’s already gone ahead of us in all of this!
Isn’t that incredible?
So, to go back to what I was talking about earlier, with your donations, I see purpose being played out. I see people who have never heard the word Jesus, hear it for the first time because God placed us right where someone needed us in the right time. I see relationships being formed that would never of happened if it weren’t for your donations. And because of those relationships being formed, I see an entire buddhist school ASKING if they can bring the students to a place where the gospel is taught through teaching English!
There’s absolutely no chance or accident or anything ironic about it! It’s pure divine purpose!!!
So like I mentioned earlier, it has nothing to do with me. It has everything to do with God and His kingdom! THANK YOU for supporting Gods Kingdom, thank you for supporting people learning who Jesus is, for people being shown what God’s love looks like through building relationships, and thank you for supporting lives being forever changed because one or seven “falong” were in the right place at the right time, and God chose to use us to fulfill His purpose in that very moment!
To add even more to that, think about the divine purpose and role God has used you for in all of this! This is what really blows my mind!! Whether it’s been $1 or $1000, there’s a reason you felt that shove to give. To say $1 goes a long way is an understatement especially when it comes to what God is able to turn that dollar into! The possibilities are endless!
I hope that encourages you, because seeing first hand how all of this comes together, I pray that one day I am in the position you guys are in to be able to give and support God’s Kingdom, whatever that may look like!
