So I’ve been on the Race for a while now. While I certainly don’t have it all figured out, I have realized there’s some myths they tell you about the Race. And so, I’ve gone on a little myth-busting mission of my own. Here’s what I’ve learned.
What they tell you: You will eat rice and beans for a year.
What they don’t tell you: You might not. You might actually eat really wonderful and tasty food. You might eat like an American some months. You might even get a big old piece of chocolate cake every once in a while. Then again, you might eat ox sphincter or cow intestine or who knows what else. Maybe it’s better to not ask what they’re feeding you.
What they tell you: Travel days will be long.
What they don’t tell you: “Travel day” will probably mean “travel week” and it just might take you somewhere between 70-90 hours to get wherever you’re going. It might include day long bus rides, or standing for 7 hours on a bus, or cramming 15 people and packs and daypacks into a 15 passenger van for 3 hours only to run out of gas a few hours later. It may mean delirium. Absolute, pure, ridiculous delirium. If you don’t blog about it immediately, you probably won’t even believe yourself when you retell the stories. It’s not as bad as it sounds, I promise. And sooner than you think you’ll be considering 24 hours of travel easy-peasy, lemon-squeezy.
What they tell you: You will become family with your squad.
What they don’t tell you: Your teammates will go to town for the afternoon and you’ll feel like you haven’t seen them in a year and you’ll run to hug them as soon as they return home. Your teammates will share their clothes with you, their laundry soap, their headbands, their shampoo, their prized Reese’s cups so carefully rationed from the States. Your teammates will share the gospel with you in ways you’ve never heard before and your teammates will be the biggest support system and perhaps the only ones who understand what you’re going through. Your squad will be more than just family.
What they tell you: At some point, your heart will break for a ministry around the world.
What they don’t tell you: It might not. Yes, you will visit 11 different ministries in the coming year. Yes, you will see a million different ways to impact the Kingdom. But despite that, it’s still possible that you will not find the one that God has designed for you. Take a deep breath, that’s okay! Remember that God has designed you just as unique as the ministry he has called you to. And it might just not be one of the ones you visit. Don’t spend your Race seeking to find your calling in life, solely searching for the place you will someday plant your feet. Spend your Race seeking your Creator, your Father, your Provider. He will point you in the right direction at the right time.
What they tell you: The World Race will change your life.
What they don’t tell you: The World Race might change your understanding of God more than your day to day life.
This one might take longer…Let me explain. The WR is an incredible opportunity to walk away from America, to realize that there is so much more in this world besides empty living and working 9-5 and walking down the well-worn path. For some people, that is exactly what they need and it is the beginning of God calling them out of that life and into the life of a foreign missionary. I am so thrilled for people like that who get the chance to travel for 11 months and see all God has for them outside the US. And yet, there are others. Others like me who love America, who love the people and places and friends and life there. I think of my life in the States and I ache for the people there, for the opportunities to explain to complacent Christians the need to be proactive, to give continuously, to actually do something.
I have the world’s best friends. No, seriously. They call me on my crap, they encourage me, they push me to be better and better, to lay aside my selfish desires, to live the life Christ has called me to. They give me Feedback in real life, in real time.
I am in love with my natural surroundings in Ohio, the crunchy leaves on a crisp, October day. The sun beating down as you walk the beaches of Lake Erie. The tulips that pop up on a chill morning just before Easter.
You see, the World Race is not going to make me walk away from my Ohio life. In fact, it’s going to make me walk right back to it! I have a lot of blessings to go back to. The World Race has reminded me how much I am where God wants me, how much he has given me a passion for what I am already doing. For a while, that seemed almost wrong. How can I be on the World Race and still want to go back to where I came from? How can I be a missionary for 11 months and return to the American life? Am I not good enough for this WR thing? These are lies. My story is exactly that: my story. It’s not yours or his or theirs. It’s mine. If I’ve learned on the WR that I love my life in the States and can better understand the blessings I have, that’s okay! And if I am passionate about Americans understanding proactivity, that’s okay!
And if that’s your story too, remember this: that is not something to be ashamed of. You are not less of a “World Racer,” your story is no less significant than your squadmates’. You are a testimony to the good gifts that God gives, whether you travel the world or not. (Disclaimer: Do not give up on the Race and on what God is teaching you this year. Keep being here, because right now, you’re here. That’s another blog. Read it here.) If you have already faced challenges at home that only come up for others on the Race, be a testament to those around you of what it’s like to be on the other side of the Red Sea. You have walked through the challenges and the daunting walls of water on either side. Share your experiences! Testimonies are not only valid if they are about what God does amidst our troubles or of what God does on the Race. We need to share our testimonies as we stand on the far bank, looking back at all that God has already accomplished. So encourage those who are still walking that path. Share your testimony of what God has done and is doing and will do, no matter your story.
