Why am I going on the World Race?
Good question.
I have an answer.
(Likely more than you want to know.)
I believe God has been preparing me for this my entire life.
It started on my 4th birthday, as I knelt by my bed and asked Jesus to be my Savior. But I was 4. They were just words.
I think it really started at camp one year. I was probably only around 10. For some reason I don't remember I felt the incredibly urgent need to figure out what I was going to do with my life. That week at camp one of the missionaries that it supported was there and I thought she was pretty much the coolest person I had ever met. One afternoon she showed just a small handful of us campers some of her pictures from all around the world and told us her incredible stories of eating with tribal chiefs and all the strange customs of all these strange places. It seemed like there was no place she hadn't been. I was enamored. I think that whole week I had been praying that God would show me what I was supposed to do with my life. After hearing from this lady, I was walking to my next activity and I remember knowing that I would travel the world. I had forgotten all about that day until recently, long after I had decided to go on the World Race. God is faithful to His promises, even to a 10 year old.
It continued many years later in highschool as I sat at the desk in my room, counting down the years and days until I no longer lived at home. Provoked by a life of considerable dullness and limitations up to that point, I prayed fervently that day and many others that God would grant me an exciting life. I dreamt of Africa and the Amazon, and of India and jungles, of foreign languages and fascinating people, of colorful places full of life, far away from my dingy little room in a little town full of snobby rich people. My childhood had installed in me a huge craving for adventure and a considerable love of change.
It continued during my first year of college at Wisconsin Wilderness Campus as I wrote papers every day (my least favorite thing in the world), camped and portaged for a week in the Boundary Waters, kayaked, mountain biked, survived pneumonia, cross-country skiied 25 miles in one day with mono, slept in an igloo in negative 25 degree weather and lived on a tiny campus with 38 other people for a year. There was nothing He couldn't get me through. God was preparing me to take on the world.
It continued one day about two years later as I sat in chapel at Philadelphia Biblical University and listened to an alumni with a thick Kenyan accent talking about a trip back to his home village to build a medical clinic. But I didn't sign up. I had wanted to go to Africa for as long as I could remember, but I thought I was supposed to wait for something like an divine edict from God which would tell me when I was allowed to begin my adventures. A couple weeks later, on a beautiful day at the park, I listened to two of my friends gush about how excited they were for their upcoming trip to Kenya. As I talked to my friend Stephanie Bernotas (who is now in Ecuador on the World Race), I realized that I was really stupid. I wanted to go to Africa. There was no reason not to go to Africa. So I emailed the leader of the trip, got accepted, raised some money and went to Africa. I had never had a more joyful and content two and a half weeks of my life. I had discovered my passion.
And it continued one day when I ran into an acquaintance of mine who had gone to WWC two years before me. He was visiting PBU and he told me about this thing he was doing called the World Race. I knew right away that this is what I was going to do with myself if I ever made it through my last two years of college. I remember showing my Mom over Christmas break, and how excited I was. I am so blessed that my parents are the most supportive people I have ever met.
One weekend during my senior year I had the apartment to myself. I tried to do homework, but all I could think about was the World Race. I spent a couple hours watching videos and reading blogs. I was so nervous. It was exciting, but I didn't know if I really wanted to go anymore. I was so overwhelmed. I don't cry a lot, but I remember I couldn't stop crying. I prayed a lot. A little later and totally unconnected to my concerns about the World Race, I looked up the words to the song that had just come on. I was blown away. "So tie me to a post and block my ears, I can see widows and orphans through my tears. I know my call despite my faults and despite my growing fears." I knew it was God's answer to my prayers. My confirmations have only been growing over the months since then. There has probably never been a time in my life when God has confirmed a decision for something so strongly.
These are the reasons I am going on the World Race.
(Likely more than you wanted to know.)
