Jon and I have pretty different personalities. Although we get along great and both enjoy a lot of the same things, our mindsets tend to be opposite most of the time. I love change, Jon does not. Jon is organized, I’m definitely not. I like to live spontaneously and without a plan, and that can make Jon crazy sometimes. But despite these differences, we have the most important thing in common and that is to live our lives totally, radically, and fully devoted to our Lord with complete abandonment.
Because of this, we knew that we desired for God to use our marriage to glorify Him. We wanted to know the plan that God had for our marriage and dive deep into pursuing His will and what He wanted for us, not what we wanted for ourselves. Through this process of unveiling that mystery, we found the World Race! The World Race immediately grabbed my attention. Being the let’s-go-right-now-even-if-we-don’t-have-a-plan person that I am, and feeling a call to missions work, I was already immersed in the idea of doing this 11 month trip. Jon pulled me back a little and reminded me that this needed to be covered in prayer first because we wanted to do this ONLY if we knew for certain it was what God wanted for us. (He’s usually the smarter of us two).
So we prayed. And we prayed. And then we listened. And prayed. And listened some more. And God gave us peace about pursuing this journey and we felt the call to “Go”.
Why are we doing this? Isn’t it so much easier to stay at home in our comfortable surroundings, continue with our jobs & daily schedules, and help people here at home? You bet it’s easier. But living out a Christian life and being a true follower of Jesus isn’t easy. God never said it would be- but it’s rewarding in so many ways. That doesn’t mean that to be a Christian, everyone must leave their homes and become a missionary. But it does mean to obey God’s calling & to follow His plan for our lives, and that is why we are doing this.
Doing the World Race will not make us better than other people. It doesn’t mean we’re holier than the next person. We’re not doing it to brag, or to rub it in anyone’s face. We’re not even doing it for ourselves or just because we want to. It’s not about us and we don’t want it to be. We are the vessels that God will use to show others who He is. He’s the potter and we are the clay, and everything we do, every country we go to, every person we pray over, each life we impact, every word that comes out of our mouths, is entirely for God’s glory.
We will be traveling to a new country each month, starting in Nicaragua, then to Honduras, Guatemala, Rwanda, Uganda, Ethiopia, Malaysia, Cambodia, Thailand, Vietnam, and the Philippines. Scared, nervous, excited, confident, overwhelmed, joyed, and anxious are just some of the emotions that are roller coasting through our minds. There are so many ‘what-ifs’ that we could sit and question for days but regardless of those, we are confident that God has his protection over our lives. I went through a few days last month where I was absolutely terrified of doing this trip because I let my mind get distracted by all the ‘what-ifs’ and it made me sick to my stomach. And then I read Philippians 4:7 – “Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.”
I had an overwhelming peace that I literally could not understand. And that is how we are going into this journey. As scary as it might be, we have peace and confidence. We know the risks we’re taking and that some people think we’re stupid for doing it. We’re risking a lot for God’s Kingdom and yes, it is absolutely worth it!
Living radically in His name,
J&K
