Dear Green Line,
I know we’ve taken our relationship slow, but I’m going to need you to speed up the process please. It was exciting at first to watch you inch your way little by little to the finish, but I’m getting restless. So if you could just reach the end now, I’d really appreciate it. Ok? Ok. Here, I’ll give you your privacy. I’ll close down the page, get some water, and then come back and you’ll be complete. K. Thanks.
– Sincerely, Every World Racer Past and Present
When you are 9 months away from launching, and you’ve just announced you are going on the World Race and people are giving daily, it’s exciting and affirming to watch the green World Race Fundraising Line move. You know you’ve got time, and there are so many people who are willing to give.
It can be a different story when you are a month out from launching and the funds aren’t coming in like they were at the beginning. You’ve seen your community give, you’ve seen people choose not to, and you don’t know where to turn anymore. So what next? Is there a fundraiser? Is there a second cousin, twice removed that you haven’t spoken to? Can you pick up another job that will pay really well and let you leave after two checks?
For me, it’s been all of the above and more. Even though I know God’s hand is all over this journey and that I am in line with what He wants for my life, there is still doubt trying to take away my peace. As each deadline approaches and each milestone has to be met, there is a small voice saying, “Now is when everyone will see you are a fraud.” I keep waiting to fail. I keep waiting to be proved wrong and shown that maybe I don’t hear God’s voice. In my head the question, “Is this the moment when it comes out that it was my will and not His” keeps repeating itself. It was there when deadline 1 came and then my fitness test came and then every day at training camp and then deadline 2 and then getting fully funded.
But God has shown up and shown out every single time and in unique ways. He has met those doubts with love and reassurance and even more peace. He has provided in ways that can only be attributed to Him. I can’t even walk up the steps at work without being winded (don’t judge, it’s 4 floors of steps), and yet, I was able to complete a 3-mile hike in 48min with 32 pounds on my back. That’s all God.
He loves us and He loves when we come to Him and say, “What do you want me to do?” “How do you want this to happen?” It requires patience, it requires trust, and it requires relinquishing control.
And while every world racer hopes and wishes that the green line would miraculously be complete and we would be fully funded right away, there is a process God is taking us through. There are people He’s setting us up to talk to. There are things He wants to work on us, even through something like fundraising.
“Our world glorifies the finished product, but God glorifies the work in progress because that’s where you see His love, His grace, and His goodness.” – Carl Lentz
To all World Racers: when you feel like you are about to be proved wrong and fail, press into God and watch Him work. He’s got you and He loves you and He knows the bigger picture.
To everyone else: Be a part of making God’s plans come to fruition. You are meant to play a part. For every dollar, there is a relationship that comes along with it. I get to go, but you get to send, and that’s how the body of Christ functions.
