It's so weird sitting in month eight and looking back upon the feelings of the race. All the stress, all the fear of the unkown and the known. A great example is the fact that I knew that I was going on the race, not my friends. Not my support system, not the people that I had learned to depend on and had the opportunity to serve, grow, love and become who I am today with. I know that this is a thing that I should have realized but it didn't hit me till about this time last year, a couple months after I signed up for the race. The realization that I was going on the race was huge to me, let's be real it almost kept me from coming on the race.
I've experienced amazing community throughout my life. My senior year of high school my friends/small group were phenomenal and then I went to a college where they are all about community, North Central University, and had 4 amazing floor communities that I got to experience throuhout my years there. But none of these poeple were gonna be with me, none of them would be in my pack that I could just pull out whenever I wanted to talk, vent or just have a super great laugh. And if you go on the race you will come to this realization that you are going, not your family, friends or Church, your riding solo on this one, if that's the attitude you take.
See the greatest thing about this month is the people that I get to spend it with. This month I get to spend it with seven people that I was not expecting to come on the race with, seven friends. This month, even more than any other month on the race, is all about community. "Manistry" as we call it, where us eight guys come together and serve for the month at a ministry and get to go deeper with one another. These dudes are some of the most amazing men of God that I have had the chance to learn from and be challanged by. Though I had a fear of not having my friends beofre coming on the race, I see now that God had seven amazing men set aside to add to the circle of friends. Men that I can trust, lean on, support and laugh with. These men are amazing men of God.
(Christian, Kyle, Gary, Me, Raft Guide, Wes, Layne, Spencer and Jack)
Just remember when you are going on the world race or even just in life you are not alone. Cause you never know who you will end up sharing a bed, peeing your pants, splitting some girls leftovers, forcing to eat somthing discusting, spend hours pillow talking, sharing a moto, or raft the nile with and it might as well be your best friends. So here's a tribute to the men of A Squad; y'all rock!
