The start of a Journey

Many people, when they find out that I am going on The World Race want to know why.  It’s a valid question, so here’s the answer.  

My entire life has been centered on God.  Active in church and youth group since I was a child, I was never one that strayed from my faith. There is not any one moment in my life that I can say “I turned my life around and gave it to Christ.”  I was baptized at 12 because it was what I understood was supposed to happen in this process.  I graduated from High School and applied to only one college, Nebraska Christian College.  The professors there gave me the tools to be able to expand my knowledge of the faith that I have held for 23 years.  It has been a gradual process, nothing drastic has ever happened. For a while that bothered me.  I thought, “I don’t really have much of a testimony.”  But not everyone has to be the prodigal son.  That is my testimony.  

So why the World Race?

 

Erwin McManus writes in Wide Awake:
I think a lot of us are where we are in our lives because this is just sort of where we got stuck. You didn’t feel a God-inspired call to where you live; you just happened to be born there or transferred there. You are being manipulated by the circumstances of your life rather than being moved by a calling with a purpose and mission.

When you are called out by God, you have to take on a learning mode that recognizes you are called by God to explore unknown territories and go to uncertain environments. To some of you, God is literally saying, “You need to leave your country, your relatives, your house, and go to a place you’ve never known if you are going to live the life of your dreams.”

 

I can’t put it any better myself.

I’ve been convicted that I’ve become comfortable.  Comfortable with my jobs, comfortable with my faith, comfortable with my life.  I don’t think God has called us to be comfortable.   My friend Stacie sent me a link to the World Race, saying that she would take the opportunity if her life circumstances were different.  I have nothing holding me back.  So I began to pray, is this something God wants me to do?!  I mean, 11 months in 11 different countries?  That’s pretty intense.  I told God I needed him to tell me, “GO,” and to tell me obviously.  Then I realized, He has already told me, in Matthew 20:28, “Go and make disciples of all nations…”  So I told God that I was going to put all effort into going and He would have to stop me if He thought otherwise.