As Allison Johnston said, “We are not normal. Normal people
don’t do this. They don’t pack up and live out of a back pack for a year.” It
wasn’t until I was accepted for the race that I started to consider this
idea. That the idea of living out
of a backpack, taking cold showers, and working with prostitutes, AIDS orphans,
and street children while traveling the world doesn’t appeal to all
people. People’s reaction to the
coming year is always amusing for me.
They are either excited or think I am absolutely nuts because it is so
different than something they would ever consider for themselves. Spreading the hope and love of Jesus
excites me more than I could ever express. When I think of the year to come, my heart beats faster and
the excitement is almost too much to contain. Knowing that God has empowered me to go and be his hands and
feet makes me feel more alive than I have ever been. He gave me this passion that only continues to grow as the
race approaches. I was made for this.
Training Camp rocked my world. I have come to know God in a
way I never knew before. God is love and FREEDOM. It’s as simple as that. He
has given me freedom, hope, joy, peace, acceptance, and redemption. God speaks and empowers us to bring His
kingdom wherever we go. Health, life, and light will break out wherever we are
because He is there. I want to
experience the full blessing God has for me. That may mean my life isn’t about me. In our self focused society that is not normal. I’m expected to graduate college, join the rat race (as
opposed to the world race), make money, and build a life that revolves around
me. A life where all I do is
geared toward getting ahead to attain the things society says I should have, to
be just like everyone else. A life where status, prestige, and other peoples opinions
can make or break you. Don’t get
me wrong; IM NOT IMPLYING that graduating and getting a good job to make a life
for yourself is bad. I’m just
coming to realize that for now, in this season in my life, that is not where I
am called to be. God has other
plans for me. He wants me to know
the life of abundance in Him. I
will be stripped of all that I have so I can fully experience and lean in on
the Lord. I want, for the first time in my life, to hear God’s voice above all
else. I want to know His desires,
His plan, His thoughts, and to see the world the way that He does. I want to get outside my own selfish
desires and serve others in His name.
I want my life to count for more than just me. More of Him and less of me.
To American society praying for healing and health is not
normal, speaking life into people is not normal, living in intense community is
not normal, listening to God’s voice everyday is not normal. I have come to realize that maybe I
don’t want to be normal. I want to
be alive and awakened to God in a way that I have never experienced before. The reality is that experiencing
freedom and redemption isn’t normal either,
but it can be. I want to experience God everyday, all the time, with all
I have, every fiber of my being. I
want to listen to his voice and do the greater things He empowered me to do
through Him. I want to bring hope,
love, and grace.
Maybe being “normal” isn’t something to strive for. What if normal misses the mark? What
if what society deems as “normal” is something that God never intended for us? So what now? All I can think to do is
keep going until I am a part of a generation that cares more about bringing the
Kingdom of God where they go than getting ahead of the person next to
them. Keep going until it becomes normal to care more about child soldiers and
human trafficking than what brand of $200 jeans to buy. Keep going until all people experience joy, hope, redemption,
and know that their life can count for more than mere existence. Keep going until the whole world
hears. Keep going till people know that believing in Jesus doesn’t mean you
are judgmental and hypocritical.
Keep going till LOVE is the standard. Just keep going…
So there it is.
I am NOT NORMAL, but I have come to realize that is perfectly where I
want to be.
