A place God has continually kept me since the day we met. This year has been no exception;
Coming on the race: in over my head
Team leading: way in over my head
Preaching in Africa: way way in over my head
Teaching English to blind Vietnamese: pretty in over my head
In Over My Head is the place where I hold the tightest to the promises of Jesus and where I trust He will be with me. And he always is. He always always shows up when I fall short. God is most glorified through my life when I’m in over my head. And isn’t that the point of our lives? To point to Jesus and glorify the Father in all we do?
The world race is known for being an adventure, and while hopping countries every month is quiet the experience, day to day the race isn’t as much of an adventure as social media and stories of petting tigers or holding adorable Filipino babies make it out to be. Many days life on the race is just like life at home. We get up, we go to ministry, we come home, we meet as a team, we go to bed and do it again the next day. I’ve learned this year that I don’t always need a “great adventure” to experience God or to do His work; that meaningfulness is not restricted to a physical location or a big event. Knowing, experiencing, and sharing Jesus needed to become the adventure of it all.
As the end of this journey on the race nears I’ve refocused on why I came in the first place: the mission and the opportunity. A great deal of what I’ve also realized on the race is that the mission I have here is the very same mission I have at home. The opportunities to live out this mission may just look different. Some are called to “go” and some are called to “stay”. Though I have been called to “go” for the past year and half, I have prepared myself for God to call me to “stay” in the coming season after my race.
I was fully prepared to come home for a season, I was prepared to get a job and save up some money, pay off student loans, and invest in a church community. I thought maybe I would go back to school, really just take a minute to establish myself. This all seemed logical and like the wisest next step to take.
God has another plan for me though; one that I wasn’t prepared for and one that will most definitely keep me in over my head. He is still calling me to “go”, in this next season God has given me the huge privilege to squad lead! I am beyond excited to walk alongside B squad as they bring the kingdom to the nations next year. Though it wasn’t my plan to only be home for a month, or to go on the race again, and though I wasn’t prepared to be sent again I am ready.
I am ready for whatever God has for me today, tomorrow or next year; ready to travel or to stay, ready to continue to love on people and communities, and ready to continue on this crazy adventure with God. I’m beautifully in over my head.
“Further and further my heart moves away from the shore
Whatever it looks like, whatever may come I am yours
Then you crash over me
And I’ve lost control but I’m free
I’m going under
I’m in over my head
And you crash over me
And that’s where you want me to be
I’m going under
I’m in over my head
Whether I sink
Whether I swim
It makes no difference when I’m beautifully in over my head”
-Jenn Johnson, “In Over My Head (Crash Over Me)”
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