Written 11/18/2010
We are currently in Kiev for final debrief, getting ready to come home.
This blog is the first of a series of lessons I have learned on The World Race that I want to carry with me through the rest of my life.
LESSON #1: Relationships do not depend on time.
I used to think the opposite was true – that 1) relationships took time to develop, and 2) that it took time to sustain and maintain them.
My parents were an exception to the first rule, having met and married within the span of six to eight months.
Otherwise, it was true.
But God started to teach me differently in college.My second year at NAU, after only a semester of having known Jill and Bethany through our small group bible study and not having spent tons of time with either of them, God gave me the boldness to ask if they wanted to be roommates the next school year.
I never regretted following through on that, because God blessed me hugely through allowing the three of us to live together.
Through nine months of sharing life together, God built relationships between the three of us such that time (and distance) don’t really matter.
I know that even if I haven’t seen Bethany or Jill in months (or years), when I do see either one, TIME DOES NOT MATTER.
The World Race is a similar story, in the sense that 50+ strangers came together without knowing each other and (over the course of eleven months) became a family.
I never would have guessed last October that when I became sick with malaria in Ireland, I would be so throughly loved on, cared for, and raised up in prayer.
Or that my teammates would really step in and become my family in the absence of my earthly family.
Yeah, I would have wanted it to be true if it happened… but did I really want it to happen?
Ah, no.
More than that, though, I saw this lesson come to life throughout the course of each month.
Grace in New Zealand.
Lisa Rae, Ricky Bobby, and Tyrone in the Philippines.
Sophi, Eszter, Barbs, and other students in Hungary.
Anya and her family in Ukraine.
And the list could go on for miles.
In the general scheme of things, I didn’t spend all THAT much time with these people.
All I did was be obedient, and invest.
The net result is that I love these people like they are family.
Our relationship defies time and distance.
I know that if I were to go back to New Zealand in a few years and visit Grace, we would be able to pick up where we left off.
I know if I call anyone on M squad after not talking to them for five years, the same would occur.
And I know if I don’t see Jill or Bethany again before we’re all married (or in heaven, whichever comes first), that relationship will not have changed.
All of these relationships have been ordained by God, and all of them are under HIS control.
If He is not bound by time and distance, then why should my relationships be?
