Well two weeks ago right about now around 12:30 am I was just seeing my family and friends for the first time in almost a year!
It was an amazing and surreal experience to walk down the escalator and to be greeted by such important, special, and meaningful people within my life. I was blown away by the family and friends that surprised me at the airport so late on a weekday night to welcome me home even though most of them had to wake up early the next day morning for work.
So I guess I just wanted to dedicate this blog to the people who welcomed me home and to all of you who have sent me such encouraging messages welcoming me back.. Thank you for your prayers, support, and love! I feel like thank you doesn't even begin to describe how much everyone's prayers, messages, and love truly means to me.
As I am typing this I am listening to a song sung by Kim Walker where she is repeating over and over that God is a good Father! He is a Good Father who loves us and blesses us with blessings that are right from him. I remember growing up in middle school and the beginning of high school when I didn't have many friends. I remember praying to God for friends and Wow has he blown me away and truly amazed me in answering my prayers. This year while be gone on the race, I have thought about so many people who I love, have missed, and who I deeply value and respect so much in my life.
I guess I never realized how much they truly meant to me until I didn't get to see them for a year. So I want to change and start telling people how much they truly mean to me! I want to be grateful for the friends and family that God has blessed me with in my life, because each and every single person who has chosen to love me – are true blessings from God
So if your reading this, thanks for loving me, supporting me, fighting for me, believing in me, and being people who are "FOR" me!
Thank you to my friends and family who have prayed for me in my return home!
Thank you for my friends and family who have reached out to me in sending me messages to make me feel welcomed, supported, and loved in my return home!
Thank you to my family and friends who made the trip out to the airport to make my homecoming back home so special and meaningful to me! I will never forget that moment with everyone!
As I close I would like to share a quick story:
I always wanted to be a solider and be in the military. I actually almost joined twice but because of past medical conditions with OCD and Depression I was not allowed. I was so bummed when I could not join the military because deep down I have this longing to be a protector and fight for people who cannot fight for themselves. Deep down I love and long to be the Warrior that God has created me to be.
Well 4 years ago when I my access to join the military was denied, I felt like God spoke to me in one of my lowest times and told me that He was going to make me a Warrior for Him! He then called me to Ashland Theological Seminary where he trained me and sharpened me in many ways and forms. He then called me to the World Race where I saw, endured, and experienced things that pushed me yet blessed out of my comfort zone and limit in ways that I never experienced before.
I WAS PUSHED IN WAYS I GOT TO FIGHT LIKE A WARRIOR WOULD – YET NOT FIGHTING FOR A COUNTRY OR EVEN A CAUSE – BUT FOR A PERSON AND THEIR KINGDOM…GOD'S KINGDOM!
As I began to experience this life and a true passion rise up in me that I didn't even know I had as I began to fight and live for something bigger than myself, I realized that my deepest and most trust desire was to be A True Warrior for my King Jesus Christ and His Living Kingdom!
I have even found myself praying to God asking him if I could be a Warrior angel in heaven with him when I go to my true home in heaven. I'm not sure what I will get to do when I get to heaven, but deep down I hope I will get to go on missions fighting for his Love, his Kingdom, and the people who He loves so so much!
I share all of this because as I walked away from my family to get my pack from the baggage claim. A wonderful woman sitting on a bench by herself who I never met before shouted out to me and my family and said, "Is this Ryan, is he finally home." I said yeah I'm Ryan, she got up and gave me a hug and said "Thank you for your service." I hugged her and being totally blown away and amazed…. thanked her.
As I walked away with my two cousins and family behind me with my pack up on my shoulders, she said louder " A solider is home from battle, thank you for serving all of us." Wow I have chills even typing this!
Wow, was this a blessing to me. I am not sure if she thought I was in the military and she thought I came home from battle over sea's. Maybe she was someone who talked to one a family member before and knew I was on a mission trip, but yet recognized me as a solider coming home from battle. Yet maybe, maybe she was an angel or a person specifically sent to the airport to sit in that chair all by herself and wait for me just to call out the warrior in me that I long to be in Christ!
WOW WHAT A BLESSING IT WAS TO BE WELCOMED HOME LIKE THAT…
WHOEVER SHE WAS…I KNOW GOD USED HER TO SPEAK INTO MY LIFE IN A WAY THAT I WILL NEVER FORGET
Thanks for reading and here are some pictures from my friends and family welcoming me back home!
There are a lot of hugs lol
Getting to see and hug my Mom for the first time in 11 months!
Getting to see my little brother Michael who I love and have missed so much!
Hugging my little brother and cousin Michael and Paige!
My Auntie Susie and I!
My two Grandma's who are so special to me and who I love so much!
My Papa and I!
My Grandpa and me!
My true Sister and Best Friend!!
My Aunt Dawn and true big sister in Christ surprised me and drove all the way from Illinois!!!
My awesome and amazing cousin Faith!
My Ninja Turtle Cousin Luke who I love so much!
Gracen Ryan Daugherty! – My new cousin!!!
My Cousin Gracen who I got to meet for the first time!!! I had the biggest blessing in Tanzania during month 5 when Dawn and Rich told me that they named Gracen's middle name after me!!!
Talking to my cousin and best friend Alex and his girl friend Jessica!
T – Mayo who drove all the way out from Columbus to be there! Felt so blessed to see him!
One of my true best friends and true brothers in Christ Zach!
All of my friends who are my true brothers in Christ who blessed me so much by surprising me at the airport!
My Grandma and me!
My beautiful Mom and me!
My two Grandma's who I love so much and who mean so much to me!
All of my Grandparents who are like true second parents to me who I love so so much!!!
And all of my family who blessed me by coming to the airport to welcome me back home!!!
Thanks for reading everyone! I will end with this last picture of me, yes doing the "With God All Things are Possible" pose! I don't know what will be next for me in life and where I will be go, but as my Aunt Dawn pointed out after the picture was taken, it's a reminder and a sign that God has a plan for me and that He is sending me and calling me to be
"Going Places!"
and so are you!!!
"For I know the plans that I have for you declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and help you, plans not to harm you, but plans for a hope and a future."
– Jeremiah 29:11
"All glory and praise be to God in Jesus Christ who can do more than we could ever imagine or ask through the power of the Holy Spirit that lives within us"
– Ephesians 3:20
"I have a plan for you, it's gonna be wild, it's gonna be great, and it's gonne be full of me" – Your Father God
(Come Away by United Pursuit or Jesus Culture)
Thank you again and God Bless You All!
