My parents had the chance to come visit me during S Squad's Parent Vision Trip (PVT) in India last month. I had been looking forward to this time ever since I launched in July. When they stepped off that bus, it seemed so surreal because I had never been away from home for more than a week before the Race. Having the opportunity to spend time with them was the encouragement I needed to finish the last leg of this journey strong.
I have been on the Race for eight and a half months now. That's a long time, I think. Just like any other job, you are at risk of taking things for granted if you do it long enough even if you change job descriptions and locations every single month. What touched my heart in Guatemala has less of an impact on me here in Nepal. What got me excited in the beginning can seem like a mere responsibility now. Complacency can begin to set in if you don't ask God for a new perspective every single day.
I was in need of a new perspective but didn't realize my parents were going to bring me one along with the Starbucks Iced Via packets, the electric razor, and the black polo shirt that I asked them to bring. They're so great without even realizing it.
The very first day of the PVT, my Mom noticed a hut outside our hotel. I had seen huts like this almost every day on the Race. I had failed to notice the hut before she arrived which is sad because I was there a full 24 hours before my parents were. She was so concerned. She looked out the window and asked me, "Clay, who lives there? Why do they live there?" My response was something like, "I'm not sure. I see those all the time. I'm kind of used to it."
What? "I'm used to it?" I didn't realize it at the time, but later on that week, I realized that this answer came from a complacent heart. Seeing a hut in the middle of a city with buildings surrounding it shouldn't be something that I get used to. It should make me concerned just like it made my Mom.
Later in the week, my parents and I went to a slum to visit with the people who live there. Some of their houses were no bigger than my tent. We entered one home to visit with a woman who so badly wants to be a Christian, but her husband's religion won't allow it. As we were sitting there talking to her, another woman from the slum served all of us a small cup of chai. My complacent heart immediately thought, "Oh, great. More chai. Im' so sick of it." I looked up at my Dad to see tears forming in his eyes. I wondered what was wrong. Then, I realized that he was so moved at the hospitality of the people living in the slum. They hardly have anything, but they still found it important to serve us.
My parents brought me a new perspective. They challenged me not to get used to oppression just because I see it everyday. They challenged me to be grateful for receiving grace that I don't deserve. They challenged me to regain my focus and continue to look at things through God's eyes.
