Here we sit only days away from the start of another month. Yet, it doesn’t feel quite the same as it has before. We’ve seen training camp come and go; we’ve watched launch and month 1 go by. We’ve watched person after person leave our squad and somehow have now found ourselves approaching month 8. At this point, we’ve figured out the race. We know what living 24/7 in community looks like. We know how to pack our bags in mere minutes. We are World Racers, fully understanding what that defines us as.
But for most of us the race has been nothing of what we expected. It has been filled with gossip, hurt, and loneliness. And, that just plain sucks. God broke my heart for ouR squad tonight. God did not call us onto this trip for something He could do in the States. He made us promises about this year. We had dreams of what God would do. We left home for those promises, believing He would be faithful.
The problem is we’ve missed it. We’ve missed opportunities to invest in ministry. We’ve missed intimacy with our teams and with God because we’ve been hurt. We’ve missed the call God gave us for this trip. We’ve forgotten why we signed up and what we wanted from this year. So instead of pressing harder, we’ve given up on those dreams. On an encouraging note, it’s not too late. You can still get what you came for; those dreams you envisioned about the race can still be a reality.
For me, my “Yes” to the World Race was a shaky appeal to trust God and to have complete dependence on Him. For the past seven months I’ve continued to stay self-reliant. Sure, I’ve grown as the months have gone on, but there is so much more God has for me. There is so much more God has for all of us. Lying in a hammock last week crying my eyes out because I just couldn’t do this anymore was a breaking point. I fell in Jesus’ arms and wept while he held me.
God wants more for us than we want for ourselves. He wants more for us than we want for each other. It’s time to press in and finish the race strong. Get what you came for! Think back to why you came on the race and sprint towards it never taking your eyes off of Jesus. Forget that home is only four months away and focus on what you came for.
