Why World Race? The simple answer to this question is that it’s a completely “Elisa” thing to do – it’s traveling for a year, it’s experiencing different cultures, it’s caring for others, it’s sharing Jesus, it’s trusting God with reckless abandonment, it’s me. But I’m told that blogs are for elaboration. So this is me elaborating.
I’m going on World Race because I’m confident this is what the Lord wants me to do. Everything in my life – every decision, every struggle – has been preparing me for this leap.
Let’s rewind a couple of years to my freshman year at Chapman. I was one of those overly-eager individuals who decided to take all major classes her first two semesters of college. I was obviously very excited about my English/journalism track of study. I knew I wanted to be part of a Christian organization so I joined Cru (formerly Campus Crusade for Christ), but I was hesitant about 100 percent committing to it. I wanted to see what college had to offer and, after all, youth group is just for high school right?
It’s weird looking back at my freshman self. I had a strong desire to explore and take risks, but my comfort zone and I had a mutual understanding – we would never completely leave each other. Fear wasn’t a construct for me. It was a reality.
My sophomore year, I started desiring a deeper relationship with God and more Christian fellowship in my life. I don’t think I consciously made a decision to start going to Cru and church more, but that’s what happened. I was at a fall retreat with Cru when I first fully absorbed the message of The Great Commission (Matthew 28: 18-20). Jesus didn’t just call missionaries to share His Word and make disciples, He called all his followers to spread the good news. My anxiety spiked undeniably, leaving my insides all squirmy and uncomfortable, and my chest tight. No wonder Jonah ran the other way.
Try as I might to forget this feeling, everything in my life at that point kept bringing me back to this terrifying realization: In order to continue growing in my relationship with Christ, I was going to have to get over my fear of sharing my faith with others. I was going to have to learn how to be vulnerable about my life and my beliefs. I was going to have to learn how to communicate the gospel to the average human.
Dec. 31, 2013 was the day I decided to surrender my fears – my way of life – to God. Surrendering isn’t a one-time thing and is something you continually have to work at, but Dec. 31 was the first time I really let go and told God that I would go where He wanted me to go, do what He wanted me to do and give what He wanted me to give.
My physical response to this spiritual commitment was going on a Summer Project with Cru. Summer Projects, now called Summer Missions, are a mix of evangelism, ministry and leadership training for college students. It was truly a transformative summer. I broke up with my comfort zone and although it calls me back every single day, I try my hardest to dive head first into the unfamiliar with my familiar God. It was on Summer Project that I first heard about World Race.
Let me backtrack a little for a moment. Before all these spiritual realizations and internal battles happened sophomore year, I realized that I didn’t want to be a journalist. In high school I could write and report on anything I wanted, which was usually something artsy like interviewing a Broadway actress or writing a movie critique. In college (and real life) journalists write about what they are told to write about – hard news, which I’m not particularly fond of.
I thought about what I really enjoyed doing and what I could see myself doing longterm and that was and is helping people. So I switched my major to communication studies with the intention of eventually going into the nonprofit sector.
Why World Race? Because God has been preparing me for it for the past three years, probably even longer. Everything – choosing to go to Chapman, joining Cru, switching my major, going on Summer Project – has lead me to the race. Am I scared of heading into the unknown? Yes. Am I anxious about raising support? Yes. Do I doubt myself? Of couse. But I know that the same God that takes on all my fears (and wins the incessant fight against my comfort zone) will be with me always.
