The clock is ticking. It is less than 2 weeks until Training Camp and less than 2 months until launch, at which point I will begin a brand new chapter in my life. For 11 months I will travel across the globe making new friends and experiencing new ways of life while serving and loving those that need to see what Jesus is really all about. With the beginning of something new comes expectations and ideas of what we think will happen and how certain events will play out. Expectations inherently create discussions about what it will take to meet them, the penalties for not meeting them and the rewards for success. We see this all of the time in sports. A new coach, a new player, a new stadium, a new location or simply a new season brings renewed hope and the expectation that our favorite team will be succesful. We see and hear analysts and talk show hosts on sports radio and ESPN discussing what each team needs to do and what parts they need to add or subtract in order to bring a championship to their respective fans and cities. For me, setting out on the World Race is no different. Expectations abound, not just for me personally, but also for my team and my squad. Some of these will be set by those who will train, prepare and lead us on the field and some we will place on ourselves. Regardless of where they come from they will guide everything that we say and do and even how we process the events that will occur around us. Throughout the 11 months on the field I expect there to be ups and downs, fun times and difficult ones, agreements and arguments and plenty of teachable moments but I also expect that there will be opportunities that will reveal true growth, true community, true unity, true forgiveness and true friendship. This is, after all, the purpose of this event, to see Jesus for who he really is and his work in our lives as well as in the people around us at home and abroad. The World Race will allow me to see what can happen when Christians from every walk of life put aside their cultural, denominational and personal differences and work towards the common goal of taking the Gospel to the ends of the earth.
As I have followed God over the last few years I have realized that each step along the way is simply that, a step, each with its own purpose and expectations. Each step has served as a building block for the next piece that will bring me to my ultimate place of service, the one thing that God has placed me on this earth to do. The World Race is another one of those steps, one that could dramatically alter the course of my life, a spiritual roadsign, so to speak. As I have talked with many of my friends over the last few years many of them seem to think that place will be on the mission field and while I've toyed with the idea since college (that's probably part of the reason that I signed up for this in the first place) for one reason or another I've never been able to fully commit to it. I expect that spending 11 months overseas will change that. I expect that it will confirm one way or the other how and where I am supposed to spend the rest of my life and because of that I will never be the same.
