“God decided to have us intersect history, not at just any time, but at this time. He made us to be good at a few things and bad at a couple others. He made us to love some things and not like others. Most of all, He made us to dream.”
‘Love Does’ Bob Goff
Last weekend some of my teammates and I visited Himeji, Japan.
In the summer of 2014 I studied at the local university in this city through the Critical Language Scholarship Program. Near my university is a mountain, Tegarayama, which I would often go to the top to pray and think. Throughout that summer I felt God calling me to go on the World Race even though I had a strong desire to live in Japan.
While visiting last weekend, my teammates and I had the opportunity to return to Tegarayama and sit at the peak overlooking the city.
During this time, in my journal I wrote:
“I sat here a year and a half ago and I dreamed of speaking Japanese fluently, of living here long term, of going to a university here for a year, and of being closer to God. But in the midst of all of these thoughts, I felt God calling me on the World Race.
During that time I felt lonely and homesick. I had a lack of community and a real lack of understanding of how to do community. Back then I thought God was someone I needed to please; someone who told me what to do and not do. I thought my life was a set of rules and regulations:
Read your bible once a day, pray when you remember to, go to church on Sundays..
In my mind, God couldn’t possibly want to use what I love for His kingdom.
Even though I had no idea what the World Race had to do with the dreams and passions stirring in my heart, right here I sat and considered for the first time applying for it.
Here I am a year and a half later and I am on the World Race.
The trees are not green this time, but shades of red and orange. The air is not humid and sticky, but cool to the touch. Behind the city ahead are mountains upon mountains, slowly fading into the distance. I hear the Shinkansen flying down the tracks below before I see it pass a few seconds later.
I still have the same hopes and dreams, but my true hope now relies on the Lord. My heart is light from the burdens I’ve let go and the chains which were broken these past few months– I am free.
I see the beauty of the scenery spread out in front of me and this time I don’t feel the constraints of rules; of what I can and cannot do.
This time I see a reflection of my Father’s love for me. In front of me is Japan, a country I have felt so much passion and love for since I was a child. A love I now understand He has given me.
I begin to think about my dreams and this time I feel my Father sitting next to me and excitedly saying, ‘Let’s go do that together.’“
