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Have you ever seen the show “Married at First Sight” on the FYE channel? Every season there are many people who sign up be a part of an experiment where match makers arrange your marriage for you. After many rounds of interviews with specialists that will get a rounded view of compatibility between two people, a wedding is arranged. The bride goes shopping for her gown and the groom for his tux. The invitations are sent and soon the guests, the bride’s maids, and the groom’s men are all gathered in the room. The bride and groom join in marriage… And then the real work begins.
This thing called “the World Race” is very interesting. After being on the race for only 6ish weeks I realized that this is probably what it would feel like to be put in an arranged marriage, minus the sex, of course.
For the Race, we go through the interviews, raise the money, and get to training camp. We are all committed, on the same path, and all want the same or similar things from this journey called the World Race. We come back 6 weeks later and get on the plane to our first country… And that’s when the real work begins.
I think the World Race has some similarities in the way that we have to trust in the Lord and the people He is using to usher this part of life in the way that He wants to grow us. We all wanted to grow and get closer to God. Everyone of us have been restless for that closeness to Him. But along the way we finally realized that we can’t construct that growth on our own. We can’t grow on our own terms. We have to submit to the process that He has deemed for us so that we can achieve that closeness we yearn for so badly. So we submit to the surveys, the questionnaires, the interviews, to training camp, to the weird living situations, and the time away from home.
The one thing that the people of the show always seem to be unrealistic about is what effort and time it takes to get to know the other person. Yes, we are on the same path of life. Yes, we have complimenting believes. Yes, we want to grow together and have that “perfect” relationship that we see others fight for, but so often people miss the most important word in this statement…
FIGHT!!!!!
I constantly remind myself, and others who will listen, “If it was that easy, everyone would be doing it!”
YOU HAVE TO FIGHT FOR THE GROWTH AND RELATIONSHIPS YOU WANT!
Maybe you have noticed this or maybe not, but growth does not come by learning something new. That’s gaining knowledge. Growth in character comes from the lessons we learn from people, from each other.
“You use steel to sharpen steel, and one friend sharpens another.”
??Proverbs? ?27:17? ?MSG??
http://bible.com/97/pro.27.17.msg
In relationships, ranging from friendships to working relationships to marriages, we continually forget that it takes work, commitment, and most of all forgiveness to persevere through the hard times allowing us to come out on the other side refined in our character and committed to those whom God has used to sharpen us.
When I decided to go on the World Race I missed this point. In no way did it cross my mind that the people that I would do this journey with would be the main tools that would be used to refine my character and push growth in me. In no way did I imagine that everything that I did and did not do would be used as a tool to sharpen someone else.
For the Race my main goal is to experience God in a new way, to have the lid on Him blown off, and to know His will for my life.
Never did it cross my mind that He would arrange a marriage of 6 or 7 people that I would do life with for a season as a means for me to reach those goals. I definitely expected to be touched and developed by the people I’d serve, but to a much greater extent I have been sharpened and molded and developed by the people who I eat, sleep, do ministry, have fun, and just all and all do life with day in and day out. We don’t have team just for safety, Christ has divinely orchestrated these relationships for His will and for His glory.
I have had the pleasure of spending this first 4 months as a member of Team Valor including Ethan, Andy, Conner, Kat & Kayla (from left to right; tops to bottom).
In this next season of the Race, I am blessed to be spending the majority of the months with my new team… Salty & Bright! My teammates are Joshua, Nathan, Kayla, Bliz, Walker, and Daiva (from left to right).
The thing is, there are many of ways that one can learn a lesson. Just because I am on the World Race does not mean that God is shaping, using, or growing me any more than those of you who are in the US. What it means is that God chose this place, this time, with these particular people to achieve our goals; to experience Him in a completely new way. In order for me to get the full benefit of this I have to do my part. I have to submit to the “marriage”, submit to the process, submit to His will and way trusting that He knows what He is doing and will grow me as I have asked.
It is very glorious to ask for humility, to be better, to grow, to be changed, to be used by Him, BUT be careful what you ask for because even though all of things are glorious it is far from glorious to walk the road that develops your into all those things.
I have been blessed on the World Race thus far! God has taken everything and made it all exponentially better than I could have ever imagined. He has tested me and grown me and sharpen me in ways I would never imagine through the people I didn’t expect. I started the race blessed by the team I did life with, but I excited to continue to experience my new team. I have spent about 3 weeks with my new team now and I’m blessed to be “married” to them in this season.
#Debrief
Debrief
