On the World Race, we expect that we will be living in less than glamorous places, eating just enough to get by and pouring our hearts out in service to the people we meet in each country.
We expect to go around the world showing God’s love to people by serving them and doing life with them. We expect to be the biggest blessing to people and that we will change lives.
What we don’t anticipate is how much the people we meet will change ours.
We don’t anticipate how much we will learn and grow.
In Ireland, I was able to spend a lot of time with someone that taught me what it looked like to rely on God for all things. He taught me how to put others before myself and what it means to be generous.
The first time I met Hutch was when he came to the Boy Scout Hall we were staying in to bring pizza for our entire squad of fifty-five people. Feeding that many people is not an easy task and it’s definitely not cheap. I sat beside him, eating my yummy pizza trying to figure out why he would do it. Over the time we spent in Ireland, the list of things this man did for our squad and me personally got longer and longer. There were barbecues, more pizza, ice cream, chocolate, pasta nights, American football on Sundays and tours around the coast of Ireland.
In the beginning, I thought Hutch was rich. There really was no other explanation in my mind for why he would be spending so much money on people he had never met before and would be gone in a month.
Hutch isn’t rich. He isn’t a doctor or a lawyer; he doesn’t make millions a year. He installs blinds for a living and he doesn’t have money in savings. When he gets paid, he gives and trusts that God will give him more houses to work on.
His way of living is so contrary to anything I’ve seen before. What happens when you are unable to work? What happens if jobs don’t come in and you don’t have money to live off of?
Trust happens.
“Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?” – Matthew 6:26
If we don’t give opportunity for God to provide and meet our every need, He doesn’t have to and we miss out on the blessing of knowing God more intimately. He wants to know that we trust Him – in all things.
It is so difficult to have complete faith in God. When we first got to Ireland, Deborah (a girl on my team) challenged our team to fast from something while we were there. Food has always been my one true love and the hardest thing for me to give up, so naturally I felt like I needed to give up any extra food other than what was given to me; no seconds and no snacking. It took me forever to finally agree to do it. I came up with all sorts of excuses as to why I shouldn’t give up snacking; the biggest reason being that I was planning on running a marathon at the end of the month.
I didn’t trust God to take care of me. I didn’t know He would send someone like Hutch to make sure I got all the carbs I would need – and more – to run the marathon.
The morning of the marathon, I convinced myself it would be okay to break my fast and that I needed to buy myself a Snickers bar because I would be weak and in need of some form of energy when the running got tough. So we began running and I ran for a few miles with my Snickers bar in hand and realized I wasn’t trusting God to come through. God was more than capable of giving my body the strength it needed to finish a marathon without the help of a candy bar. I looked down at the bar in my hand… the bar that now symbolized the limitations I put on God’s power, love and ability to provide. I gave the Snickers away but I was so frustrated at my lack of faith.
Half way through, Hutch showed up with a van full of squad mates, Gatorade and honey oat bars.
God always provides.
I want to be the person that jumps of the ledge, knowing God has already provided a soft place to land. I want to live my life giving what has been given to me, knowing God will always show up.
I want to give God the credit he deserves.
