Ok, I’m
going to be honest. The World Race is not exactly what everyone
thinks it is when they sign up for it.
Ask
anyone who has been a part of the race, and the majority of people
will tell you that one of the main reasons they signed up was for the
adventure of it–the chance to travel around the world and
experience exciting new cultures, try new foods, do daring things
like jump off bridges into the rushing waters below, see places that
you’ve only ever seen in really cool magazine pictures before.
And then
there’s not just the adventure of traveling–there’s also the
adventure of spreading the gospel, telling people about Jesus,
bringing the kingdom of heaven to earth. You read blogs about people
being healed and drug addicts giving their lives to Christ and street
children being rescued from horrendous circumstances. There is the
adventure of doing things like feeding starving children, bringing
electricity or clean, running water to places for the first time,
rescuing women out of brothels and the sex industry.
And all
of those things are incredibly exciting–really, they are. I have
been so blessed on this journey so far to be able to do a lot of
things and see so many people and places that I never would have
thought I would in my life. I have had the joy of leading someone to
Christ for the first time and praying for miracles and healing and
seeing the power of God literally change entire communities.
But the
truth is that often our time is spent doing the unadventuresome
things–like going on a million and one door-to-door house visits or
becoming a human concrete mixer or planting and weeding an entire
corn field on your hands and knees. And that even the things that
seem like an “adventure,” often involve pain or struggles or a
lot of hard work.
In the
article “We Need Boring Christians” (which is a really good
article, by the way–you should read the whole thing), Andrew Byers
offers some wise words:
“Many of us want to do something
awesome, something epic. We tend to think that the more normal, the
less “spiritual.” So it is quite possible that our aspirations to
be radical stem from dangerous ambitions to perform biography-worthy
feats of global glory.
But radical discipleship is not
adventure tourism.
Following Jesus is not to be
romanticized through impressive Facebook status updates or photos of
exotic places on our blog. Discipleship is often ugly, messy and
painful. Faithful service will regularly lead us into dull labors and
bewildering struggles that would make unexciting press. To
romanticize social justice or cross-cultural evangelism is to promote
an idealism that will be inevitably vaporized on the field,
inadvertently leading to burnout and cynicism.”
Sometimes
it’s hard for us to see how the things we’re doing really matter-the
things that aren’t exciting or an adventure. I mean, that’s a big
part of why we chose to do this right? We came to do something
grand, epic, something that would change the world.
But
what I’m finding more and more is that although that idealism is an
important aspect of our motivation, it’s not going to get you very
far if it’s all you’re going off of. We do need to have the belief
and hope that what we are doing is making a difference, that we are
bringing the kingdom of heaven to earth. But we also have to be able
to see reality–that change happens in the little things–in the
“dull labors and bewildering struggles that would make unexciting
press.” Real change happens in the things that probably aren’t
going to make for an exciting blog–things like sitting around a
dinner table and sharing rice, potatoes, cabbage, and conversation
with a family of Muslims. Or helping little girls with their
homework so their education can give them an opportunity to do
something with their life besides sell their bodies.
Or
coming home with blistered hands from “mowing the lawn” with a a
dull machete, but knowing that you just helped clear the land for a
new church to be built.
Change
happens when I smile and respond for the thousandth time to children
jumping up and down yelling, “Mzungu, mzungu, howa you?” (Mzungu
is the swahili word for “white person.” It is also apparently
appropriate to make it the name of every single white person in
Africa.) The joy on my face when I look at those kids is powerful;
it has the power to heal a broken heart or offer hope to a hurting
spirit.
True
change–the kind that really changes lives and changes the world–can
only happen through love. It’s nothing grand or epic or
adventuresome. It’s just love. It’s living life and loving
people, whether I’m at home in America or living in a hut in the
African countryside. When Jesus came to earth, he changed the lives
of the people he was around. Sure, many times he did that through
crazy miracles like giving sight to the blind or controlling the
weather. But the most amazing thing that Jesus did was just love
people right where they were. He ate dinner with tax collectors and
prostitutes. He went fishing with his friends. He washed the dirty,
dusty feet of his disciples. He lived life with people and just
loved them in the process.
The
truth is that the World Race is incredible. It’s exciting and an
adventure and the opportunity of a lifetime. But what really makes
it so meaningful, and really what makes life meaningful, are all the
little things that seem dull or unexciting, but that are done in and
through the power of love. And you don’t have to go on some
marvelous adventure or around the world to love people.
People are the same everywhere; cultures and customs might be
different, but people are not. They just want to be loved. And
loving people is the most exciting, grand, epic thing we can do.
