I pray that this blog would enlighten your heart, and encourage you forward in JESUS name, AMEN.
And so F-squad came home….
Yep. Yesterday the majority of my squad landed in JFK international airport, safe and sound on US soil.
Mind blown.
I choose to stick around a few days with a few of my world race sisters, explore NY, visit family, and enjoy our goodbyes with each other.
Well currently it is 4:31 am, and I am awake because my body still thinks its Latvian time. Honestly being home for me is like being in some alternate universe. I walked the streets of NYC today wondering how in the world to process the fact that I'm home. Surrounded by hundreds of recognizable stores, restaurants, and buildings I just sort of turned my mind off, and decided to process it later. It's sort of like 2 very separate worlds collided, my WR sister, met my family here, and I thought to myself " when in the world would these 2 people ever cross paths, except for this very moment"? Because for the past 330 days my heart has associated the Racers with World Race and foreign countries. You don't take those things home with you. Home is home, that is separate.
When you begin to end the WR you begin a countdown. You don't necessarily wish it away, but you long for the comforts of home, the independence of choosing what you want to do, and when you want to do it. In some subliminal way you believe the way you had to run during the race is now over, and you get to stop and do it in a more comfortable way.
Well once again I was wrong…
The LORD has been showing me for a long time how the service to HIM for this past year is not over, and in fact it never ends. HE began by allowing my mother to visit in Kenya, and do work with us. It was amazing, and i delight in the fact that she has a little piece of my year we can share together. Then on the last official day of final debrief, we met a man named Lindsay Hamon, an evangelist who has been carrying a cross around the world since 1987 sharing JESUS. See we thought we were finished with ministry at that point, but the LORD showed us different. Lindsay walks up to us and says the LORD told him we are his brothers and sisters, and we are to help carry the cross. As my friend walked with the cross to the russian embassy Lindsay stopped and shared the GOSPEL with each person he encountered. He took the time to love them, pray for them, and in the 30 or so minutes of meeting him I experienced one of, if not the most impactful day of the world race, while ministry was supposed to be "over".
And then today happened. I was chilling with my WR sister, when she received news that a friend of hers was in the hospital and not doing well. We immediately stopped to pray, and then not 5 seconds later she received a message that he didn't make it.
Wait, what?
We were both shocked that something of that magnitude could take place in a moment where we hadn't even figured out life again yet. Death? She struggled with reality, and what felt like unreality at the same time. One of the biggest prayers while you are away from home a long time is usually that GOD would protect your family and friends while you are away. For her to have a friend die, after she had made it home, but not yet fully gained consciousness of what home is again is like a hope in your grasp slipping through your fingers at the last second.
A friend of mine who was on the phone overheard the whole conversation, and immediately began to encourage us to hold onto the things the LORD has taught us over the year. To not let this situation be something that knocks you down, but reminds you of the GOD you serve, and how HE is the same GOD HE was in Asia, Africa, and all over the world. HE can and wants to cause miracles to happen, HE can and will do the impossible, and HE is absolutely sovereign.
As I lay down with a heavy heart the LORD brought to full circle the lesson all along….
And so the Race doesn't end. And not only that we continue on at top speed, fueled by GODs love, scripture, prayer, worship, obedience, and Truth. Because every second we choose to "take a break" people die who have yet to hear the GOSPEL. My coming home is not time off, but the refocus to another missions field that is just as much in need of Love, and salvations as the 11 countries I visited this year. The things we have learned this year, the revelation of GOD, and HIS workings in the world are the tools we use to present this precious gift to the cold and hardened hearts of unbelieving men. There is still work to be done, and there will be until JESUS calls us home.
My dear brothers and sisters. People are dyeing, it is just as simple as that. Let the urgency of JESUS and the furtherance of the GOSPEL fuel your hearts to NEVER stop, but to live a life that screams JESUS is alive, HE wants to save you, HE wants to heal you! Please let him, please. As I receive dozens of well wishes on making it home safe, I cannot neglect to tell you PLEASE don't forget why I left in the first place. It is to know GOD, and to make HIM known to others. Everything else comes second to that.
The race is not over, it is just beginning…
