I get a lot of fun reactions when I tell people I’m leaving the country for 11 months for missions. By far the most common reaction I get is “That’s a long time.” Usually it’s accompanied by a very shocked face or a face that says “I don’t know if you realized that that’s a long time.” It’s funny to me now, but there was a long period where I felt the same shock and fear when I thought about doing this.
When I first started the application process for the World Race, I was still very much on the fence about whether or not I’d actually go through with it. 11 months is a long time! That’s like an entire year! A lot can happen in a year!
One Wednesday night at youth, a wise friend of mine taught a message that felt like it was just for me. For a visual she had a few teens stretch out a tape measure to show 90 inches. This meant contorting it and wrapping it around the room and through the crowd so that all 90 inches were visible.
Those 90 inches represented the average lifespan of an American. 90 years laid out in front of us.
With just two fingers she then showed us how big one inch was. One inch, or one year, in comparison to the other 89 was so little. It’s just a small fraction of a life. It’s just a short season. But what you do with that one inch affects all of the inches to come.
“Life is a series of sprints, not a marathon.”
The World Race will end up only being a short season of my life, but what I let God do with this season will affect every season after. I’m pretty excited about that.
After all, when Jesus said:
“You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” (Acts 1:8)
He didn’t say, “for maybe 3 months and then you’re good.” He didn’t put a time limit on it. Our mission is to be witnesses of the goodness of Christ. Forever. There’s also no geographical border. Everywhere. All the time. In everything you do. Forever. That’s pretty straight forward.
What would you do with your life if you fully grasped the shortness of each season? Or how that season is going to affect all of your seasons to come?
What would your life look like if you took ownership of what Jesus asked of us in Acts 1:8?
I would love for you to be a part of my story! Your prayers and encouraging words mean so much to me. I only have $3000 left to go before my next deadline on December 18th! Please pray for my fundraising. God’s been moving mountains this whole time and I trust that He will continue to. If you feel led to give, there are “Support Me!” buttons up top and on the left of this blog post. Thank you for reading!
