I think I thought the World Race was about living in other countries, eating weird foods and getting a bunch of crazy stamps in your passport. I knew it was about making a difference in people’s lives…but I don’t think I anticipated the change in my own.
A lot of the changes on the world race come subtly. Like the day you don’t cringe at eating some food that has fallen on the table (or the ground). Or when it becomes perfectly acceptable to eat the untouched fruit from the abandoned restaurant table near you. When you have developed a specific packing system and are able to find your toothbrush among the 30 lbs of your worldly belongings. Or the day you find lice in your hair and your only response is concern for the well being of your Thermarest pillow, and bargaining for your food becomes the norm, not the exception.
The world race is all about change.
I’ve lived my life up until this point blissfully and successfully in what Ron Walburn calls “bounded set,” a state where a group of people set their vision on the institution of the Church to lead them to God. Where an institution’s view of God sets the individual’s perspective.
It was like I had been looking at God through church colored glasses.
Until now.
The World Race has taken off my glasses, and re-centered my perspective that was until now hazardously off kilter.
God DOES speak to His people. People DO pray in tongues. Healings DO happen. The Holy Spirit is REAL and you can FEEL him.
Living outside the box of my predefined view of God is so FREEING. God is so much bigger than I had always thought. He is infinitely more complex than I have ever known. He works in mysterious ways and unusual methods.
He doesn’t operate on the “gold star” mentality, checking me off when I do something right. He operates in the constant grace mentality, in which I am a saint. A title for which I do not have to work, but I live in constantly,
He is my Father, my Friend, my constant companion. I have been given all authority that He carries in heaven and on earth. He speaks to me. I can talk to Him.
I no longer view God through someone else’s perspective, rather I am beginning to see Him for who He really is.
This is what the World Race is really about.
