On the World Race we spend a lot of time traveling to and from ministry. I’d love to catalogue the amount of hours we spend in the back of a van, back of a bus, back of a truck, back of a cab… Sometimes we joke or play games or talk. Look out the window at the similarities and differences of this new country around us.
Sometimes we sit with our thoughts.
This past week I sat with mine and leafed through the pages of my passport, looking back at all the places I’ve been in these past 6 months.
Every country, every stamp.
Did you know that passports for United States citizens have a quote at the top of every page?
Shall I regale you with a few of them?
“Let us raise a standard to which the wise and honest can repair.”
– George Washington
We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”
– Excerpt from the Declaration of Independence
(I would like to point out and make clear that this does not state “that all U.S. citizens are…” it states: “that all men are…”.)
“We have a great dream. It started way back in 1776, and God grant that America will be true to her dream.”
– Martin Luther King Jr.
“Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe, in order to assure the survival and the success of liberty.”
– John F. Kennedy
( Again, no mention that these things are for Americans only)
“This is a new nation, based on a mighty continent, of boundless possibilities.”
– Theodore Roosevelt
“Whatever America hopes to bring to pass in the world must first come to pass in the heart of America.”
– Dwight D. Eisenhower
(My personal favorite)
“Every generation has the obligation to free men’s minds for a look at new worlds… to look out from a higher plateau than the last generation.”
– Ellison S. Onizuka
“The cause of freedom is not the cause of a race or a sect, a party or a class – it is the cause of humankind, the very birthright of humanity.”
– Anna Julia Cooper
( BOOM!! )
These things are so important to our country that they have been placed on every page of the most important document we present in every country we visit in the world.
These are the things that we as Americans can choose to represent.
The beliefs that our country was founded on. The beliefs that make us great.
This past week as I was thinking back on everything I’ve experienced so far this year, I came to a realization. Everyone asks where I am from. And almost everyone is just so excited that I am an American. So the things I do, the way I am with them, hold the potential to not only color their view of who Jesus is, but what they think America is all about. As I travel on the World Race not only am I an ambassador of Jesus Christ and God’s love, but I represent my country.
Most of us try our best not to pass judgement but it sneaks in sometimes. And I may be the only American they ever meet.
2 Corinthians 5:20
Ephesians 6: 19-20
So it is my prayer that America will remember her standards, the truths she holds, be true to her dreams. The promises made, her might, and the boundless possibilities. That her people will reach for a higher plateau, and fight for the causes of humanity, a new world.
Just like it says in our passports. Just like it states to the rest of the world.
And that where I have been and no matter where I will go on this World Race I can stay proud, of where I come from. Hopeful for where we are headed. Represent and stand well for the things that people admire. The things other countries, other people long for.
Because the world is huge… let’s remember that.
