I expect to see and touch those around the world that are so easily forgotten: the poor, who own nothing; orphans who are crying for love and attention; the sick who have never known what it feels like to be healthy; prostitutes who desire to be shown love of any kind. Those people that we as Americans may never see and for so many including Christians we treat as “out of mind out of sight.”
I expect to not know how to handle all that I see, I expect to cry and wonder how God bears to see all of this. I expect to feel guilty for all the things I have ever complained about. I expect to wish I could heal all of their hurts, give them good parents and show them all the love in the world, but God’s love and gift of true life is far better than all of these. I expect to be humbled over and over again. I expect change: change in me, change in my heart, change in how I see things, change in the way I live my life, change in the way I treat others, I expect to never be the same.
I expect to experience the God, my God, who is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow. I expect God to work each day no matter how small or big.
I have no doubt there will be days where I wake up and want to give up, maybe even wish I had never heard of the World Race and I have no question my team will pick me up and encourage me. Because I know I will be down at some point and I know I will miss my family, friends, and all the comforts of home I have always known. I expect to grow with my team as a community, all of us in different places and God putting us all together for a reason and a purpose.
I expect to be so out of my element that I know I would fail without God. I expect to not go a day without God, I expect to learn what it means to depend on Him.
I expect to realize how much I gratify my flesh with simple things like food, water, and showers. I expect to at times twish I could eat chocolate chip cookies. I expect to eat foods I do not like, and somehow be humbled by the generosity.
I expect to scream when I see bugs or insects that are unfamiliar and scary. I expect to go to sleep praying they will not come near me.
I expect to be frustrated with language barriers.
I told a friend the other day that I felt as though I had just signed away my life and did not read the fine print. The World Race did not ask for my whole life, no just 11 months. I do not know what will happen in the next year, that is the mystery. I know and expect God to be at work and touching people our squad comes in contact with. Nevertheless, I expect God to turn my world upside down through this trip. And I am excited!
