What to bring for this new era of your spiritual journey:
Of course you should bring your bible, your journal and a positive mindset. You should be open to all the things God is going to teach you through the next 11 months, but what most Racers won't tell you; to your face or in all their awesome blogs, is to pack the most important thing:
BRING ALL OF YOUR BAGGAGE
Bring your emotional baggage. Bring your spiritual baggage. Bring your mental baggage and your physical baggage. Bring your anger. Bring you bitterness, your insecurities, your lost love and your failed dreams. BRING IT ALL.
Why?
Why would I request you to bring all your junk on top of your already heavy pack load?
Because when you carry it daily, you'll be more susceptible to drop it along the way. You're going to be pushed to your max. You're going to be asked to be vulnerable. You're going to go deeper spiritually than you ever have, and when that deepness expands you're going to drop all the crap that has weighed you down for so long, and accept God's goodness and grace.
So, what happens if you don't want to bring it and you leave it at home?
Well, if you decide that you want to take the "easy-for-now" option and leave it behind, that's fine. It will be right there waiting for you when you get home. You won't have as easy of an option to leave it somewhere because when you get home, it'll continue staring you in the face. You won't face it on the a Race, but you will when you get home, then you'll ask yourself if that was really the best choice.
Month one. We were all together as an entire squad, our squad leaders, squad mentors, and squad coaches were there also. We were encouraged to be completely vulnerable with our squad, but more importantly with our teams. We were encouraged to talk about the deep stuff we've buried and hid from everyone else.
"This is not me!" "What am I doing here?" "I don't talk about my junk with strangers"
Then it happened. The lump in the throat,sweaty palms and shaking that always comes when the Holy Spirit takes me out of my comfort zone. So, I did it, I got up, in front of the 50-some people in the room and talked about my heart being broken. I talked about how I had had suicidal thoughts at one point in my life because of it. I shared that I was terrified to give my heart to anyone again, because I was so afraid of being hurt from the fall again. Three years later and I'm still afraid of love.
I could have said no. I could have refused and tucked it away to be dealt with when I got home. I could have kept my insecurities all to myself, but I didn't. I shared. I shook. I cried. I exposed the scary pieces of myself that I thought would only bring judgement upon me. AND I LIVED!!!
Because of being obedient to the Spirit [forcing] me to share, I have been able to work through these things. I am no longer afraid to share my heart. I now feel that I have a life worth telling about. I am free to love and be loved without the 'what ifs', because I know that my testament to God healing that piece of me is so much greater than the response of man.
This is just one example of God's healing and growing my life, it would take 100 blogs to share everything He has done through me.
It is said that the World Race is a pressure cooker; what you could have learned spiritually in ten years is pressured into learning in 11 months. Don't leave your junk behind. Bring it, allow the Spirit to press out all the bad stuff and use it to create a masterpiece.
There are five gospels to tell the story of Jesus, did you know that? Yep, Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, and your own. Your life is a gospel, a testament to God's amazing hand in your life. Bring your junk, so that you can ditch your junk and never have to pick it up again, only then will you be able to tell your story. To tell your WHOLE story. The good. The bad. The ugly. And the redemption. That's the greatest Revelation you can tell.
