I have had a few people ask me “Why do the World Race?” What their question refers to is the fact that I have a good paying job, I have “play money” to go do things, I live a fairly comfortable life, so why give that up to go serve in the mission field for 11 months? Well, the answer is pretty simple. A couple days ago, I was talking with one of my coworkers about some new things going on at work, and how I don’t agree with some of them. She knows I’m a Christian, and looked at me and said the perfect answer to that question: “Remember, we work for Jesus Christ!” That is so true!
But now to answer why specifically The World Race? Why not something else? Here’s a few reasons:
I went on a week long mission trip to Jamaica in high school, and by the end of the week I didn’t want to get in that van to go back home. The trip was a service trip to work with an organization that takes in children who have been thrown out by their family because they are physically or mentally disabled, because they got pregnant (often by rape), or just because their family doesn’t want them. That week was a step out of my comfort zone, and it taught me so much! When we were at one location with mainly blind or deaf children, watching their excitement to go to church, and their gratefulness for what little they had, it taught me to be grateful for what I have. Working with children who were physically disabled, most unable to stand and walk or even feed themselves, it taught me to be grateful that I can do these simple (yet so overlooked) things. Working with children who had HIV, who knew they were most likely going to die before they became adults, yet praised God with every bone in their body, taught me how to really grow a relationship with God. By the end of the week, those children had my heart.
I am one of those people that truly feels everything happens for a reason. When I started my current job, the person who trained me got changed because of other circumstances. The person who ended up training me, I got started on the small talk, the “get to know who you’re working with” topics. When talking about family, she told me her daughter had just graduated college and was on a several month mission trip. I thought to myself, “Wow, that is great!” The next week, I was bored one night and started browsing the web for random topics looking for stuff to read and I unknowingly came across her daughter’s blog. As I read it, I felt a bit of a tug to dig deeper, so I started looking for more missionary blogs. A couple blogs later I came across a World Racer’s blog from after her World Race, talking about her experience a bit and what she was doing now. I looked at the World Race site a bit, got some more information, and told myself “Nope, not for me. I would have to be crazy to leave my job and do this.” So I left it alone…but God didn’t.
Fast forward just a couple months…I’m bored again, and get back online browsing different blog sites. Well, there it is again, the World Racer’s blog. This time, I couldn’t put it down. With each blog post, I got pulled in more, it was like someone was yanking at my heart. With every word, I felt more drawn to read more, to look more into this World Race thing. I felt the emotion the writer put into it, I was remembering experiences from my trip to Jamaica that both made me cry, and made me feel such joy and peace. I stayed up all night reading the blog and praying trying to figure out if this was truly for me. Well, I did the “do you have what it takes” quiz, and got an email with some more information. I began filling out the application.
By this time, I had a couple Facebook statuses hinting at this, and someone I know told me “if you need to talk, I’m here.” I took them up on that offer, and we had a long conversation (with some breaks during which I was able to reflect on things and pray). I decided to continue with the application, making plans to finish it after work the next day. When I got off the next day, I went home and prepared to sit on the couch and finish the application…until I got a random craving for Starbucks.
Well, off to Starbucks I went. My usual seat was taken, the only spot really open was a chair that faced the register, so I took it. I’m sitting there with my drink and iPad filling out the next page of the application. I got done with the easy stuff (name, address, check this box or that box, briefly explain, etc) and got to the “short answer” questions. I closed my eyes, looked down and prayed asking God to show me if this was truly His Will. [Side note, there are approximately 1,300 people in the country who have done The World Race, and the 2010 Census showed a growing population of 40,000 people in my city and 100,000 in my county…do the math right fast.] I look up, and there’s 2 people standing at the counter ordering. “Yeah, whatever, it’s Starbucks, so what?” That’s not what caught my eye though…what caught my eye was that one of them had an outlined map of the world on the back of their shirt with 11 countries listed below. “11 countries marked and listed? There’s no way!” So, I try to be sneaky and look at the front of the shirt while they’re waiting on their drinks…and I wasn’t that sneaky I guess because they looked right at me as I’m realizing the front of the shirt has the World Race logo…of all the people in the city and county, of all the times, of all the places, of all the shirts to wear, that particular person walks into that Starbucks at that specific time wearing that specific shirt. If you do the math, the odds are very much against it. Like I said earlier, I feel that everything happens for a reason.
I hope that answers anyone’s questions about why The World Race? And I ask that those of you reading this join me on this amazing journey by Following my blog, praying for me, and Financially partnering with me. Every follower and comment gives me encouragement, every prayer says to God “I’m standing behind Jason and The World Race”, and every dollar makes it possible!
Current prayer requests:
Pray for God’s hand to guide and protect me through this journey.
Pray for me to be able to resist temptations that will drag me down.
Pray for me to be able to reach my financial partnership goal.
I am praying for each and every one of you (friends and strangers alike), that the Lord may bless your lives as you support me and fellow Racers on this journey!
