For over a year God has been drawing us into a new chapter. For over a year now we’ve had little idea what it was! It all started with a hard look at American culture and Christianity. We began to feel unsettled and restless about the way we lived knowing that there are desperate needs around the world and we are disproportionately wealthy in comparison. Unsettled by our own apathy toward huge problems like poverty, human trafficking, disasters, malnutrition. Unsettled more by the fact that we *know* that *Jesus Himself* considers our inaction to be a direct affront to Him (Matt. 25:44-45) and still couldn’t seem to muster up the compassion to care, or at least care enough to do something. How could we consider ourselves good people and do nothing?
Thus began a year’s journey of “don’t just do something, stand there!” As the year progressed we did a lot of praying, reading, pondering, discussing. As God laid on our hearts, we took small and medium-sized actions. We were prepared for something major, but didn’t really know what to do. Should we sell everything and move to Africa? Go to work for a non-profit? Adopt eight kids and live off the land? (Adoption is a huge part of our hearts, and we still believe it is part of God’s plan for us.)
After months and months of “just standing,” doing the few things we knew to do but otherwise living our normal lives, we reached critical mass. It was time for something to happen. We didn’t *exactly* know it at the time, but hindsight reveals how quickly and definitely “the time came.” We started seriously pursuing some options. It was time. We still didn’t know exactly what or when, but the time for standing was over and the time for “do something” was upon us.
Amongst the chaos, fear, and uncertainty a major life change brings, it is almost humorous how the World Race actually entered the picture! Perhaps you can relate: when we’re stressed we often use media as a form of escape. The first seed planted in our minds about the World Race was from a movie. One movie in a string of movies we watched because they happened to be on Netflix and we just wanted to turn off our minds and not worry about all of the what-ifs. The movie was not about travelling the world or doing philanthropic work; it was actually a pretty small part of the movie. But there it was as a half-formed thought.
As the days wore on, the idea began to develop. Of course it was a pipe-dream; we have our house, our jobs, the five animals, our plans for the future. But what if? What if we could travel the world and feed the hungry, care for the sick, and gain some perspective impossible in middle-class America? Just a few short days after that fateful movie, a complete stranger’s blog led us to discover the World Race: a trip to 11 countries in 11 months serving the-least-of-these. All of a sudden that “what if” had a little bit of traction: a method, an organization, a track record. After much objection, we determined to put our “yes face” on like we had with all of the other potential changes. We definitely didn’t know if this was what we were supposed to do, but we purposed in our hearts to say “yes” to God no matter what it was.
We continued to pursue the options we were already looking into, and time and time again things fell through. Thankfully, God made some things abundantly clear– “this is a NO.” Other things were much more subtle. But the more we pursued and the more we prayed, the more things seemed to fall into place regarding WR. Some of the things we felt very sure we were supposed to do way back in January suddenly made sense. It was almost as if God had been grooming us for this for the past year. He had asked us to faithfully do this and that, asking us to reconsider everything we know and that is comfortable. It is a growing experience living in the unknown like that– not knowing what to do or why you’re supposed to do some of the things you’re supposed to do. How sweet it is to come out on the other side of all of that!
The next 6 months before we leave are going to be hectic, stressful, and full of many new lessons. Once we leave, it will be even more so. But we are so excited! We are at perfect peace about what it is God has called us to do. If there is one thing we have learned on this pre-pre-race journey, it’s that we don’t have to know all of the whys, whats, and hows. What we need is to be faithful and obedient and God will reveal the rest in His time.
photo courtesy of sxc.hu
