One of the most incredibly impacting aspects on the world race is not where you are going, nor what you are doing, but who you are with. There are many people you come across over the course of 9 months that teach you things about life, love and yourself that you never even knew. This is one of the many reasons that God made us interdependent and calls us to live in communities of faith. To surround ourselves with God loving, compassionate, sacrificial people to teach us and push us in our own personal walks with The Lord.
Now that being said, any world racer can testify to one universal truth. Living in community is not easy. People will hurt you, fail you, and abandon you because no one person is perfect. Everyone has seasons of their lives where they can barely manage to love themselves, let alone love others. And no world race team is perfect, regardless of how devoted, compassionate and merciful Christians that make up that team are. Every team has it’s challenges and it’s struggles.
The funny thing about world race teams is that you don’t get to choose them. Our leaders put much time into praying and discussing who to put on teams together. Often there will be people who don’t get along or have a hard time living together. There are teams that fight and yell and cry with and because of each other.
But the one thing that the world race has taught me about both teams and people, is that even though you may not get to choose who The Lord surrounds you with, you still get to choose those people. Love is a choice. And you can choose to sit in your tent and watch movies, or live and spend every minute of every day with the same 6-7 people and never learn anything about them. It is possible. You learn what they do with their days or their lives but you never learn who they are.
And for the last 6 months of my race, I got to witness first hand the power of choosing to love your team. For the last 6 months on my race I was a Babe. We were The Babes (Blameless Are the Brides Equipped by the Savior). The funny thing is about our team that we have always said is that had all 6 of us gone to high school together, we would have never been friends. We would have never even crossed paths. Some of us are thinkers while others are feelers. Some are athletic while others hate physical stuff. Some are loud while others are quite. Half are introverts and half extroverts. Some are tender people who love physical touch, others absolutely under no circumstance like to be touched AT ALL.
In fact the only thing we had in common when we were all first put together is that we all seemed to be equally confused as to why we were out on a team together. And while we were confused as to why this was God’s plan for our race, we could all agree that even though we may not know why, we were sure that it was from The Lord and determined to find out. So we made the choice that we were stuck together and were going to pursue each other with intentionality. We were going to love each other.
And as I write this blog on our very last flight, our plane ride home, I am thanking God for each one of them. Because what we achieved over the past 6 months had little do with us and had everything to do with God. We performed dances, preached, sang, taught, prayed, studied the bible, worked out, and went on adventures together. We brought kingdom everywhere we went and people were freed because of that. We were freed because of that. For the last 6 months of the race we were the only team that never had changes and always stayed together. Our squad leaders even came up with a phrase for us, “Where one or more Babes gather, the rest follow.” We even won a superlative for Most Likely to Think They are Still a Team After the Race. Hahahah we would have never thought that 6 months ago.
Those 5 girls changed my life. They loved me for the emotional feeler that I am. They taught me that it’s okay to be vulnerable and to have a soft heart. They came by my side 6 months ago and they never, ever left. I love them for that. Now since they impacted my life so greatly, I wanted my last blog to be for them. What each one of them taught me. This one’s for you Babes.
Lexi: You taught me how to laugh and have fun. How to be goofy and that it’s okay to laugh at your own jokes. You taught me the importance of being yourself and oh how I love who you are. I also had never seen a real life prayer warrior until I met you. You pray at any time of the day, whether your in your tent at 11 at night or running circles around our church in the afternoon sun. You pray through everything and it is so powerful to witness.
Carissa: You taught me what it looks like to be a woman of honor. You have high standards for your self and you never sacrifice those standards or what you believe in. And you do it with awkwardness and grace. It’s a great combination. You are also one of the most wise people I have ever come across. I would trust you over google when it comes to biblical knowledge any day. Be expecting regular calls when I get home and no longer have you next to me to ask you theological questions or the definition of a really big word.
Darby: Oh Slobbs. My partner in crime. My even crazier other half. You taught me what it means to say can-can to everything in life, even if it risks failing. You showed me that I can do all things. You have taught me to expect bigger and better things of myself because The Lord is doing and will do great things through me. Thanks for pushing me all the time, epically the times that I didn’t want to be pushed. Also, thanks for always being the crazy one who will dance in the rain, slide down waterfalls or skip debriefs to hitch rides to African weddings. I cherish all of our dumb antics, and am so excited for the one to come. I am thankful for another 8 months with you in Georgia.
Mackenzie: You taught me to say what I think and be who I am. You have a great gift of being yourself, and by doing that, you give others a safe space to be themselves. You taught me the importance of sarcasm and how jokes can still be funny weeks later. And as long as the two of us are laughing, does it matter if anyone else is? You taught me what it looks like to listen and care about others. What it looks like to be a safe place for people. Because that’s what you were for me. And I’m not ready to not live with you any more.
Cass: KCD. You taught me what it looks like to be there for someone. Thank you for always being there. You came by my side 9 months ago and you never left. You never wavered in your love for me. You always walked with me wherever I wanted to go, always listened to me when I had too much to say, and never loved me any less than you always had. You were my rock for my world race. I got the pleasure to be on your team for the whole 9 months and I would not change a second of it. I don’t know what it’s going to look like living in a different country than you because for 260 something days you were always there. And tomorrow will be the first morning I wake up in a room that you are not in. I’m not ready for that.
So, this is it Babes. We have finished the race. It wasn’t always easy, in fact it almost never was, but I have loved doing it with y’all. I can’t thank you enough for changing my life. You have left me a better person than you found me. You have achieved great work for the Kingdom. Always hold onto the freedom we have found these past 9 months. Always keep your heart soft for The Lord in a world that will try to make you hard. Get tired in the fight but never get tired of the fight. And know that wherever we all may end up in this big ol world, no matter how far apart we may travel, you will ALWAYS have a friend in me. I love you Babes.
