We are holistic beings. A single part of us has a difficult time being engaged without the rest. I don’t want to leave any part of me behind as I dive into this journey before me. I want to leave ready. My heart ready. My mind ready. My body ready.
To ready the heart, I learn to trust. Much easier said than done. When my circumstances and my feelings betray me, it is easy to forget that I have a God who holds me in the palm of his hand. The heart is prone to wander, susceptible to attack, and gullible beyond belief. Mine often wanders off into deserts of confusion and discouragement. Can I really do this? What if I fail? And it is there in the dryness that I need to seek the God who provides living water. He says, “Trust me. I am on your side.” Learning to trust is letting those words touch the heart. Our mission is to love, to bring the relentless heart of Christ to the people of the world. This is a mission that is best to be done out of trust and resting in the love of our Savior. I can’t love properly without operating out of the love I have received. I am reading my heart to trust and to love.
To ready the mind, I destroy limited expectations. The enemy tells me “How in the world do you expect to raise that much money? It is beyond God’s hand to give and you don’t have the talent or the skill to do it alone. Do you honestly think you’re good enough to go on the race?” When whispers of doubt come into my mind, what is required is the reminder of truth. My God is not too small for this. I am not doing this alone. If it is His will, it will be done. And I will work my hardest to hold up my end. We have a Big God who is not bound by human expectations. While on the race, I want to expect big things. I expect that God will change hearts, he will ransom the lost, free the captive, and restore the broken. I am reading my mind to believe that God can do the impossible.
To ready the body, I adopt discipline. For 11 months, I am offering my body to service. My hands and my feet are dedicated to his work. It will not be easy or light and I can guarantee even now that my body will at some point want to complain about my circumstances. But to prepare I ready my body, push it beyond its limits, so that it can be a proper vessel to serve. Every callus, every bead of sweat. Whenever my body says no and my spirit says yes, I want my spirit to win. We are called to run with perseverance the race marked out for us. The World Race is just a leg in the race of my life. And I want to be ready.
Let the preparation begin.
