Have any of your read the book Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer ( seeing the movie also works)? Well if you have read the book then you know that it is a story about a guy, Christopher McCandless, who left everything and went on a great adventure around the nation. After graduating from college he gave away his entire life savings and drove across country where he abandoned his car in a gully and set out on foot. Throughout the next two years he experienced many things, such as kayaking the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon all the way to the the Gulf of Mexico, as well as heading into Alaska to live off of the land and off the map. He also grew as a person by giving up all he owned and knew and tramping around the US, his life didn't revolve around money but around the freedom of experiencing things.
In many ways the World Race is similar to Chris McCandless' adventure. We are going to be leaving everything that we know and are comfortable with and are going to be living out of a backpack for a year. We aren't going to have the assurance of knowing what to do and what will happen next, but as long as we trust in the Lord then we can be confidant that everything will turn out just as it was suppose to. Also we are going to experience many things that will change who we are, we are going to witness things that will makes us cry, makes us laugh, make us speechless, and make us fall to our knees in worship. Unlike Christopher however we are not going on this trip to escape society and people but we are going for them. We are going so that we can bring peace to the restless, and hope for the hopeless, we are going to bring God to His people, His Kingdom. Christopher realizes in the end of his life that happiness is best when shared with others and like wise we must also share with others the true source of happiness, our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ.
In Matthew 6 it reads: " This then, is how you should pray: 'Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us today our daily bread. Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.'" In this prayer the first thing that is mentioned is how holy God is how and how we are to hold his name in reverence. The second thing that it mentions is let your kingdom come, this is brought up before 'we' are, so even before we start to pray about ourselves and our needs and our forgiveness we are to pray for the Lords Kingdom to come. The only way to bring about the Kingdom is to go into the world and share it with others. We need to hold the Kingdom above ourselves and above all things but God Himself.
So as we head out on this trip Into the Kingdom we should remember that it isn't really about us but about God. We are here to live for the Lord and to die to ourselves, because if we depend to much on ourselves and not on God we won't live life to it's fullest potential. And to live to the fullest we need to share with others the love of Jesus Christ and how he died on the cross for our sins. So do not hold the crucifixion in vain but instead embrace it and go and spread the grace to all of those people who haven't accepted.
