When I tell people that I am going to quit my amazing job, sell what I have, and take a year to serve God- I usually get a lot of people asking – “Why?”
I tell people that I knew this is what God has next for me, and to Christians and Atheists alike, they don’t know what that means, or how somebody could know that. I am going to tell you how I knew, and how God made it clear that this is what is next in my life.
A few years ago, I had this crazy idea with one of my best friends. My idea was that we were going to quit our jobs, sell everything, (I promise this is not a repeating trend in my life) and ride our bikes from my hometown of Prescott, Arizona 31,000 miles to the tip of South America, and do ministry along the way. One of the scariest parts of this trip was money. How much should we have? Do we ask people for money? The hope of the trip was that we would get to see part of the world, and rely on God the entire way to bring us food, a place to stay, safety, and even finances. This idea really came out of nowhere, and I really felt like it was from the Lord. Eventually there were 5 of us signed up to do this trip, and one by one everyone dropped off- except for me. Not wanting to do this trip alone, I put the trip on hold, but I was sure that the Lord had this trip for me in the future.
I was most excited for this trip because I knew that if I relied on the Lord for everything while biking through some broken and unsafe parts of the world, that my perspective on life would be changed forever. I actually tracked down and met up with somebody who had done the trip before, and he now lives in the treehouse in his backyard while he lets homeless people sleep in his house.
>>>>I want that kind of generosity.
We ended up doing a much smaller version of the trip- sleeping in churches in a 264 mile bike ride from Prescott to San Luis, Mexico where we gave our bikes away to families who used them to get to work, take kids to school, etc.
One of the guys that we gave a bike to had nine younger brothers and sisters. He was 20 years old, and his mom passed away, which caused his dad to leave all ten kids by themselves. The oldest brother, (who is only 20 years old) takes care of all of his younger siblings and takes them to school on the bike that we gave them. Thats only one of the crazy cool stories God had orchestrated.
About the time that we had gotten back from this trip was the first real time that I had hear about and considered the World Race. I met with a guy named Brant Copen, who had just gotten back from going on the trip. He is good friends with the guy I had the crazy bike trip idea with. He told us some stories about the world, and how he fell in love with India. I knew I wanted to go, I thought this was what I was suppose to do.
But… $16,000??? I have a hard time fundraising $500 for YoungLife camp in the summer!! The World Race became a dream, and like most dreams- we never pursue them out of fear.
However, about twice a year the World Race would come up. I would think, pray, and even began the application process several times. But leaving in August when my lease ends in January? $16,000? Leaving for a year? – These were all of my excuses for the past couple of years that I kept coming up with. But this year was different-
I did pretty well on my last tax return now that I work full time- and it gave me this crazy idea- saving my money rather than spending it. I don’t make much, so it wasn’t like I was living large. Teaching preschool full-time is enough to get by, but it isn’t much more than that. I started cutting out how much I eat out to once a month, but it is often less. I stopped my gym membership, Photoshop membership, and suddenly I was able to save a couple hundred bucks a month. Soon before I knew it, I had some money, so I decided I wanted to buy a house- but God made it clear that this money was going to be used for something else.
When I applied for a home loan last month, they told me that because I make almost nothing, I qualify for almost nothing without a cosigner- regardless of how much I had saved. They also showed me some debt that I still had from when my appendix burst a little over a year ago, I decided to use that money to pay off my debt, and I was left with about $5,000.
Once again. The World Race came up, and this time my friend Josh had brought it up. With the wonderful job and community that I had- I thought this was going to be another time I said no. However, I did have questions so I made a point to ask them this time.
The answers I got scared me, as it seemed like God was making it clear that He was going to make a way for every excuse that I had.
The World Race leaves January 7, and my lease is up January 2nd.
The down payment due next week is $5,000, and I had $4,990 in my bank account (I have since used some of that money to buy necessary supplies for the trip, but it got rid of my financial doubt about the Race).
Going alone was what had stopped me before, and now one of my best friends Josh was committed to the World Race.
When these questions were answered, this was the moment I knew.
Over prayer and mentoring, I committed to the World Race.
I see that God has been orchestrating this for a long time, and I can’t wait to see what He does on this trip. I have huge expectations, and I know that He is going to meet them. And although it would seem that I should be comfortable seeing that God has this planned for me, I am still very anxious! I still have a ton of money I need to raise in less than 3 months, and this is probably my biggest concern. I was suppose to be a groomsman in a wedding in February for a close friend, and I am going to miss that moment. I am leaving incredibly close community and I will miss that deeply.
Even though there are many things that I will miss, and millions of reasons to stay. I have learned through experience and through His Word that I will be the most satisfied doing what He wants me to do.
I am excited that God is using me, and I know that God can use you in this process. Please consider joining my support team, and helping with a one-time or monthly gift. I have seen the ways that God has used me and will use me, and you get the opportunity for God to use you. God can use you to show how good He is to me, and how good He is to the people that I will meet over the next year.
Click on “Join My Support Team!” on the link to the left!
