I remember when I was signing up for the Race over 16 months ago I had many people ask me, “Why is it called the World Race?” I remember not having an answer for them, which made me want to dig into this topic even more. I remember a young man named Luke Stevens, a high schooler in the bible study a lead in Wisconsin, who thought I was running in marathons around the world. Most people though, thought I was going to be apart of the TV show The Amazing Race. It wasn’t until I took the name “world race” outside of the box that God showed me his heart behind the name.
Right before I left on the Race last October, God shifted my focus onto His creation. If I was going to travel the world for 11 months, He wanted me to see the unification of His people. As we have traveled these past 6 months, it has been very easy to see all the differences we have with other people and cultures. There are many aspects of life that make each individual unique. When God looks at us though, He sees us as his children. He doesn’t focus on our differences, He sees Himself in each of us. So this made me focus on the word Race to mean the way we categorize human.
We must look at the race of the world as one race aka the human race. If we can do this, we can start to see the world like God does. We are all meant to be unified in Christ. We are unified in His life and His death. You see, if we focus on differences in age, gender, skin color, etc. we are automatically putting a wall up that will hinder our ministry from the start.
The world is one Race in God’s eyes! It’s time that we as believers of Jesus start viewing people from that lens!
1 Corinthians 1:10
“I appeal to you, brothers and sisters, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree with one another in what you say and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfectly united in mind and thought.”
I wanted to take a moment to touch on the word endurance. Last week I ran in a half marathon with 15 other World Racers! Our squad planned and executed the whole event. I ran side by side to my friend Marlin, it was his first half and it was an honor to witness the endurance he had to finish the race. It takes a lot of endurance to run 13 mile for 2+ hours, wouldn’t you agree?
This idea of endurance is not just about the physical, it’s also about the mental and spiritual. Now that we have gotten to the halfway point of the World Race, there has been a lot of us Racers that are feeling tired and burnt out. Just like in running a race we have to push through the fatigue and pain. Endurance is not just something we wake up with. We have to train to built it up.
Colossians 1:11
“being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience.”
This will be my first full month being a squad leader. I’ll be traveling to two different Adventures in Missions hosts this month to partner with them and the other teams on the ground. Please please please pray for Swaziland! Pray for the work God has done and will continue to do here.
Shout out to the Alumni Squad Leaders for N squad! Your presence is missed! We hope your transition back to the states is going great!
-Josey the Outlaw
