Lately I have been feeling really homesick. In my mind I have built home up to be this fabulous place that holds the key to my happiness. Laying on the couch watching tv, being able to go to a store that will have everything I need, being able to communicate with EVERYONE, and not only with a few short phrases I have managed to pick up over a few months, sleeping in a room by myself, using a bathroom that has a toilet I know will flush and have a hot shower everyday. My clothes would come from a closet and not from a suitcase and everyone would be there to greet me. I have built up this fantasy land perfection about what home would be like, and that is where I want to go. 
Alright so let me tell you something that just happened. This is not the direction that this blog was going to take 5 minutes ago. I am sitting here moaning and groaning about going home and how I have built it up to be so great and then this happens. The wind comes through and blows my empty water bottle off the porch. I haven’t been feeling well today as I am still fighting SOMETHING or other and so I am sitting on the porch in my sleeping bag in the hammock. The LAST thing I want to do is have to go pick up my water bottle later, because there is no way that I was about to pick it up right now. So in my desparation for the wind to stop and somehow miraculously the water bottle to stay on the porch I said “NOOOOOO” but not even really loud, just desparate. Of course this attempt did NOT stop the wind and so fell the water bottle. And Nate who was sitting clear over there on the stairs minding his own business doesn’t say anything and just gets up and picks up my water bottle and throws it back up to me. No questions, just does it because he can. (In the picture, he was on the stairs going to the grass and I was on the hammock on the OTHER end of the porch).
And this is why I can stay. My house really has nothing to offer. No one would be home all day, and lets face it tv really isn’t THAT exciting (except for Grey’s of course) and besides showering is over rated. My friends all have lives, most nowhere near my house and so I would be lonely and bored and miserable there. It is random acts like Nate’s that make this a great community to live in. Whenever you are down there is always someone here to lift you up. There is someone to remind you that God has brought us all here and has a purpose for us all. And like my other teammate Patrice says- how many people in the world really get to be on 4 continents in 3 days as we get to do next week?
I realized something this morning. This is what I was really going to write my blog about. I will share with you what I wrote in my journal this morning: Races aren’t easy. This is a marathon. Marathons are hard mostly, enjoyable sometimes, and require training, encouragment and water stands (rejuvenation). They take work, sweat, some injuries and a lot of pressing through. Marathons take a long time and a lot of dedication. But in the end there is victory and triumph and you are a better person than when you started. No one regrets running a marathon to completion. The only ones who regret are the quitters. It’s not worth giving up.
The world race is aptly named. It is a race to the finish, and the same things that are required in a marathon are required to get through this year. It is not easy, but in the long run I know it will be worth it. I randomly received a facebook message yesterday from my friend James who I have not talked to in quite a while- so he did not know how I was feeling- and he wrote to me encouragement that I want to be able to claim what was written in 2 Timothy 4:7 I have fought the good fight, I HAVE FINISHED THE RACE, I have kept the faith. Thanks James for your encouragement.
So as you can see I have been struggling for the past couple weeks. It is probably because I have been sick, and everyone wants to be home when they are sick. But God knows what you need to make it through and He will always provide. Nate- thanks for picking up my water bottle. You will honestly never know how happy it made me. You have made me want to stay on the World Race.
