As my 11 month experience comes to a close, I’d thought I’d get clever and share the 11 things I’ve learned during the last 11 weeks. This journey has changed my life. Why did I come on the world race? It’s simple really, I felt the Lord telling me I needed to go. I remember calling my Mom on the last day of school (after my first year of teaching).
June 2012: I called my Mom with such overwhelming joy. I had just finished my first year of teaching and I was so in love with my students. They were a great first class to have. I wanted to watch my students grow up and graduate from high school. I had been looking into the World Race for about 6 months, but in this moment the idea of leaving was not an option. I was in love with my job, living my dream. I had dreamt of becoming a teacher my entire life and here I was teaching children about math and they liked it! I remember telling my Mom, “How do I leave something good?” Usually, people leave something bad for something good. Rarely do people leave something good for something great. I knew that the Lord wanted me to go on the World Race. As I sat on the phone crying I said, “The question God is asking me is not do you want to go on the world race or not? You are going. The question is are you going to go joyfully or kicking and screaming?” So in that moment I realized it was not my choice, the choice had already been made for me. Through excitement, because I wanted to go on this adventure, and through tears, because I was leaving the classroom, I told my Mom about my plans.
The other reason I also give people for, “why did you go?” comes from a scene in Transformers. There is a scene where Shia Labeouf and Megan Fox are standing outside the transformer car, and the car says get in. Then Shia says, “If we don’t get in the car wont we always wonder, what if we had gotten in the car?” This is how I felt with the World Race. If I don’t go, wouldn’t I always wonder, what if I went on the race? [Video clip below]
Lesson 1: I learned to listen to God’s leading
I am a person who believes in God’s provision. I believe that God has a plan for my life and I believe that He will reveal the steps to that plan in His own timing. I have learned to listen to this voice inside my head. God gives me promptings about little actions He wants me to take throughout the day and major decisions He wants me to make. Throughout this year, I have learned to speak up and share my thoughts, step out and speak to someone in a crowd or on the streets, listen to His voice in order to give advice to someone who needs help, and to say no when necessary. Some of my favorite moments on the race have come from listening to God’s voice. There have been many times where I feel God telling me to speak out and share encouragement into a microphone or to share my struggles. My hearts starts beating out of my chest and doesn’t calm down until I’ve listened and opened my mouth. It’s really awesome to follow the Lord’s leading. Most of the time I feel freedom by speaking out or another people feels loved by my actions.
Now don’t be extreme, this doesn’t come naturally. It is a choice I make. Sometimes I don’t listen. Sometimes I look back and think, man I should have listened to that instinct. Sometimes I don’t listen and the person walks past me. But it is really cool when I do listen. When I act under God’s authority I am a part of His kingdom and it is always rewarding.
