Abandonment. It’s what the World Race is supposed to be all about. We leave family, relationships, jobs. We cram the entirety of our worldly possessions for a year into a backpack. We forsake everything in relentless pursuit of God. Yet here I am at the end of month 9, and I am realizing that there are still many things which cling on to for security other than God.
I learned a huge lesson recently about what it truly looks like to be abandoned.
Two of my teammates and I took off on our free day in search of adventure. We hiked and found an amazing waterfall, where we splashed excitedly, despite the water’s frigidity. I know God was romancing all three of us in that moment. But when we returned for our bags, which we had stashed on a rock nearby, we realized that something was wrong. One of the backpacks was missing.
After an extensive search of the area, we decided that the bag was gone. It had belonged to my new team leader Pei Yee, who was now left in her soaking wet clothes, cold. Her shoes and change of clothes were gone, along with a few other items (luckily she had her camera with her!).
So there we were halfway up a mountain; I felt helpless. We prayed and asked God for wisdom, and then decided to head back into town. Pei Yee walked down the mountain barefoot. There were rocks in the path. To be honest, if it had been me in that situation, I would have sat and cried in despair. But as I watched Pei Yee, I was astounded by her attitude. Now dry and warm in Christi-An’s clothes, she said “C’est la vie” and smiled her way down the mountain, shoeless.
She never once got angry at the person who stole her bag. She did not mourn the loss of her things, asserting that they were just material anyway. When we got to the paved road, her and Christi-An found 2 separate flip-flops which had been discarded on the side of the road and fashioned them into shoes for Pei Yee to wear back into town.
Pei Yee understands what I am still learning- that there is nothing on this earth that I truly own anyway and therefore cannot find security in material possessions.
