When I was 15 years old I wrote a document that I titled, “Kristy’s Paramount Pillar of Dreams”. I was a bit melodramatic with the title, I know 
. This document was one that outlined a dream I had then and included a Vision Statement, Goals (the things I needed to accomplish to reach the vision) and Plans (the steps I needed to take from where I was to accomplish each goal). I got the idea and format for creating a vision plan from a preacher from the Bahamas named Dr. Myles Munroe, who was really popular in Trinidad, where I grew up. He preached a message about writing our visions and making them so plain that anyone who wanted to get to where we were going could read it and understand the steps they needed to take – kind of like God told Habakkuk in Habakkuk 2:2,
Then the Lord answered me and said: “Write the vision and make it plain on tablets, that he may run who reads it.”
Fast forward 20 years and by faith and obedience I am getting ready to embark on this journey called The World Race. As I got closer to launch God began to remind me of the vision I wrote those many years ago. One of the first things I realized is that I followed the plans pretty closely and accomplished the goals without really realizing it. God showed me that He was faithful to the vision I wrote down and had ordered my steps and opened doors and closed others to allow me to walk in step with a vision that He honored. I was blown away by how faithful God was. But surely, I thought, God wasn’t calling me to go all the way with that vision. It was too big and not something I thought I could really accomplish and be successful at. That’s when, through a variety of experiences and insight I gained throughout the race, I realized that embarking on something I thought was way out of my league was exactly where God wanted me to be. If I could accomplish my dreams on my own, without God’s help, I wasn’t dreaming big enough.
In Asia, God broke my heart for an injustice that breaks His. The Holy Spirit wove together the dream of a 15 year old with kingdom purpose and has given me a passion to bring that vision to fruition to save lives.
In my last month on the Race, I was in the gorgeous mountains of Swaziland serving at El Shaddai orphanage. I was assisting with the high school and after one week, since the teacher was leaving, I was asked to take over teaching a subject called KONOS, which kind of represented everything from Science and Social Studies to History and basically everything that wasn’t Math or English. We wanted the students to grow in their research and critical thinking skills and so I was tasked with coming up with a research project for them. I had no idea where to begin and I needed to present this research project the very next day, so I prayed that night and asked God to give me an idea in the morning. The next morning I woke up with the idea of having them search their hearts for their own vision for their lives and do the same exercise I did when I was around their age.
I went to class that day and shared from my heart about the importance of having vision for our lives, not unbending or rigid plans, but some type of directional roadmap, while staying sensitive to The Holy Spirit’s leading. I shared about Myles Munroe and how God resurrected a 20 year old vision that He gave me. That evening during the research period, other racers came in to help their “buddies” with their research projects and I began sharing with one of them about my journey with writing my own vision. When I said the name “Myles Munroe”, he stopped me and said that was the 2nd time that day he had heard this man’s name, having never heard of him before. One of the Swazi “Aunties” who works in the health clinic had come in that morning and shared with him that Myles Munroe had died in a plane crash that day!
I was floored. “Say it ain’t so!” Myles Munroe and his wife had been flying back to the Bahamas in a jet and the jet crashed and they were killed along with 7 others. How tragic! After the shock of what happened wore off, I started to get a broader perspective on what I had just heard. I thought about the fact that Dr. Munroe would have probably never thought that a message he preached 20 years ago would be being shared with orphans at a high school on the other side of the globe on the day he died. What an amazing thing to think that his legacy continues to live on. And not only that, but the word of God that he sowed into my heart some 20 years ago continues to live on in the hearts of 11 abandoned highschoolers in Swaziland. Who knows what that word will accomplish and where it will be 20 years from now. I was reminded of the verse in Isaiah 55:11 that says,
“So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; It shall not return to Me void, but it shall accomplish what I please, and it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it.”
Even in the eeriness of this experience, God reminded me that He is sovereign and His Word and purposes transcend time and space and transcend our time on this earth. I am now back in the United States surrounded by amazing family and friends who have loved and supported me so well this year. I am filled with even more passion to honor God and those He places in my path, to love fiercely and to trust God and by faith walk out those big dreams He has placed in my heart for His kingdom’s sake.
Below is a picture of the highschoolers in Swaziland as they show drawings representing their visions. I am so very proud of them and miss them already like crazy!
