Today is the 10th day in Costa Rica. It still feels really weird to say that! One of my biggest mistakes before The World Race was imagining what it would be like and what we would be doing.
So many times in my walk with the lord I have put expectations of what I want/hope the lord will do, this only leads to disappointment. When we minimize God and his works to human understanding it leaves no room for miracles.
At training camp one of the biggest things I learned was to come with no agenda and no expectations. Just come to him with an open heart and a willingness to serve. He will fill in the gaps of the rest.
The first day we arrived in San Jose we didn’t have a place to stay because our ministry host wasn’t able to come until the next day. Luckily a person on our team was told by their host that they had a friend in San Jose who had a church for us to stay in for the night. The church was called Iglesia de luz y vida which translates to, The Church of Light and Life. The hospitality that pastor Pilo, his family, and friends showed us was incredible. We had a place to sleep, a delicious meal in the morning, and a local man that was a part of the church that translated for us and helped in any possible way we needed.
The next day after breakfast I played soccer with a little boy named Axel who was a part of the church. He didn’t know any english and I knew very little spanish, but we didn’t need to communicate I could tell by the look on his face that he was having a great time.
Later that day our ministry host picked us up and took us to La Carpio Costa Rica located just outside of San Jose. He and his family started and organization in a very impoverished and outcast neighborhood. These people are given little opportunity for success and making something of their life. The organization we are working with for the month pushes these people to strive for a better life and empowers the community to look at themselves at precious gifts of God and not the trash that society sees them as.
Watching previous racers videos, reading other blogs, and word of mouth I started to embark on this imaginary World Race journey long before September came. I was starting to put God in a box again and minimizing his effectiveness because of my own understanding.
The first couple of days we were here in Costa Rica I really struggled with my purpose here and I felt ineffective. It wasn’t until a couple of days ago when we had a neighbor boy come over to color and draw some pictures. He was very cautious and unsure of all of us. He reminded me of some of my campers from RFK. We sat down together and colored some random pictures for a half hour before he opened up enough to smile or look at me. It was then that I realized God didn’t bring me on the world race to build things, teach people English, or even evangelize the gospel. He brought me here to show love and compassion through my actions because of Christ in my life. He brought me on the race because he wanted to do things in me that he hasn’t done in anyone else and wanted to touch people that havent felt his presence before.
I didn’t expect this type of World Race at all but I’m really glad and excited that God doesn’t limit what he can do to my understanding and expectations. God wants to do big things over the next 11 months I just need to come to him with no expectations and a willingness to hear and he will do the rest. This is Mason Smith’s race of X squad 2015 and it will be something brand new.
