Here I am. I’m sitting on a bus from Peru to Bolivia. I’ve now completed 10 out of 11 months on the World Race. One more month and I’ll be heading home to the great state of Texas.
So much has happened these last 10 months that it almost seemed like I would never get to this point where we are on the final stretch. It’s crazy to start thinking about coming home and trying to summarize what has happened to me and through me on this journey. What a great day that will be.
In the back of my mind I can hear my dad saying over and over “stay 100% Joshua, finish strong” to which he’s right. I’m not done. I still have one more month. There are people in Bolivia that need Jesus just as much as every other country we have been to thus far.
One of our squad leaders said something that hit my heart like nothing else had. She said “stay present where your feet are.” She is also right. How much will I rob people of what God has to say to them if I am focused on not being where I am all the time. Whether that’s here on the Race, or that day when I land back home, God has taught me a lot about this subject.
If you would have told me everything that would have happened to me on the race, before I left, I probably would have laughed in your face or called you crazy.
I just want to revisit a few of those memories and tell you some of the awesome things that happen when you aren’t worried about what’s to come, but you focus on what God has for you right there:
* Sharing a message in front people and many coming to know the Lord
* Giving my testimony hundreds of times, and seeing how God uses it differently each time
* Dislocating my thumb and having it put back in place in a Romanian hospital, and seeing the joy in the surgeons eyes when he saw the smile on my face.
* Holding hands with a grown man in Zambia as we casually walked down the street, not because it was comfortable, but because that’s how his joy was made complete in the Lord. I got the opportunity to participate in real culture with him. A memory I will never forget.
* All of the crazy fun excursions I got to participate in and enjoy because I was focused on where I was in the moment.
(Swimming with sharks, traveling to Rome, Riding elephants, Zambia Falls, surfing multiple times, getting a tattoo, plus many more!)
* Watching the Lord heal a lady who has trouble in her back when she walks, and being used as the person God chose to lay hands on her and pray.
* Handing out clothes, jackets, gloves, hats, and shoes to refugees that are running for their lives, some who don’t even know where their next meal is coming from.
* Being the only Christians in a city full of Muslims and being asked to go and share with them about Jesus. Easily one of the toughest places I’ve been on the race but honestly one of the best seed planting opportunities.
* Catching malaria 10 days after arriving in Africa wasn’t the best way to start month 5 of the Race, but it makes for a great story now. Oh, and it’s incredible to watch God’s healing hand in every aspect of that story.
* Squeezing kids until they couldn’t breathe and hearing their laughter at care points is something I will never ever forget. Something about the way they loved us and the way wanted to be loved reminded me of our Heavenly Father.
* Midnight ministry where we went into the streets and prayed for people (homeless, and the prostitutes) and let them know that they have someone who loves them and cares for them more than anyone on this earth could ever do.
These are just a few of the memories, that as I look back over them, I’m blown away at what God does when people are willing and ready to do whatever He calls them to do. It’s easy to think back to home and think about all the Chick-Fil-A or Taco Bell I could be eating with my mom, or going to the Rockets and Astro games with my dad, or even being at my home church and investing back into all of you who sent me here. As much as I can’t wait to be home, there is still so much I have left to do.
4 things to pray for as we begin this last month:
1. That my team and I stay present where we are and not lose focus on what’s in front of us.
2. The people of Bolivia and all that we can bring them physically, emotionally, and spiritually. God is going to, as always, do something here in month 11.
3. All the people we have encountered the past 10 months will be filled with the Holy Spirit and what we as Racers started there would not stop, but that God would continue to bless them and pour into them.
4. Lastly, when the day comes to come home, that we will be 100% present there. We want nothing less than to come home and tell all of you what our big and all powerful God has done in and though each of us. So pray for my teammates and my squad mates as well as we eagerly anticipate that day.
As always I appreciate your prayers. Our God is such a good good father. Love y’all. Miss y’all. See all of you in a month!!
