I got your attention, didn’t I? This blog is to warn anyone and everyone about what you might experience on the World Race. In the past three and a half months, I’ve learned what it means to be a World Racer but that doesn’t mean you will share the exact experience as my team and I. Here’s a list of warnings my team and I have come up with for you:
- You might not like bugs, but (in Serbia) when you see one crawling on the wall, your teammate will squish it with your flip-flop and leave the dead carcass on the wall for you to clean up.
- There is a possibility that you will walk 40 minutes with poop on the bottom of your Croc Sexy Flips because you stepped in it as soon as you walk across the border into Romania.
- You might prefer wearing Chacos in 30 degree weather even when it rains because it’s a much better option than wearing wet running shoes all day, growing many deep and painful wrinkles, and then peeling three days later.
- You could perform Father Abraham several times with no children wanting to join in.
- You might look like this for travel days:
- You may wear the same jeans every day because you only packed one pair of pants. This same pair of jeans might start getting holes so you sew them in hopes they will last through this last month in cold weather. However, they might not and you might have to sew them again. Also, you possibly alternate between your two pairs of leggings under the jeans so you feel a little better about wearing the same jeans.
- There is the possibility that you could get raging diarrhea, have to go to the hospital to get an IV, and laugh at what life currently is because your awesome team leader brought you and another teammate to the hospital and was going back and forth between the two rooms.
- But there’s also the possibility that you will find community like you’ve never had – sitting in a park with a few of your close friends laughing, praying, encouraging, and crying with each other.
- You might find ministries where your heart is so full of joy that you can’t do anything but dance and sing.
- You might laugh so hard you cry, or cry so hard that you laugh with the people who love you everyday, even when you wear the same clothes for the fourth day in a row, or if you haven’t showered in a few days, or if you feel completely unlovable. The brothers and sisters you have around you will still show you love.
But the one thing that is a for sure thing that you will experience on the World Race is transformation. Transformation in your walk with Jesus, in how you see others, in how you see yourself, in how you love, in how you worship.
There are so many days that I wake up and am still shocked that I’m on this crazy journey that is the World Race. There are days I wake up and look in the mirror and I see a totally different Catie than the one who left the US in August, not just physically (sure my hair has gotten kind of long and has been through a few different hair cuts, I may have gained a little weight, and my acne might be a little worse this month), but in so many other ways.
Jesus shows me people through His eyes, not all the time but when He wants me to truly see people. I am more aware of Jesus walking with me on a daily basis (sometimes I forget Him in the other room and go back for Him, but there’s grace for that [also another blog about Tuesdays with Jesus will be coming soon]). Jesus shows me how He loves me and how He sees me, not how I see myself or how I think others perceive me, but how Jesus sees me.
So, if you don’t want any of these things to happen, don’t go on the World Race. But if you choose to go, it is so worth it.
