Now the title is in no way meant to discount the Lord’s hand in getting me here. He was in fact the master planner in all of this. It was also He who ultimately called me last February to this specific route at this specific time, but the two things about to be discussed are very instrumental in planting the seed.
In my life I have lived many places. One of those places happened to be Orlando, Florida, where my dad worked for Walt Disney World. My father was what they call a Cast Member, which was a position that allowed us to enter the theme parks for free. With this perk we found ourselves in the parks quite often. My first year of home schooling was during that time, so a good chunk of my curriculum was Epcot. I’ve logged I don’t know how many hours on the rides there. I’ve also spent a great bit of time in World Showcase; an area of the park where there are pavilions representing Mexico, Norway, China, Germany, Italy, The American Adventure, Japan, Morocco, France, United Kingdom, and Canada. Because I had spent so much time there I had gotten a glimpse of what the world was like. I had met people from each one of those places. I watched shows or rode rides where I was able to get a glimpse of the beauty of each place. Combine all of this and what you get is a desire to travel.
When I was nine, I started really getting into movies. I had always loved movies, but nine was when I really, really loved movies. Most of those movies were of far off places that quenched the thirst I had for being elsewhere. The series I watched over and over again during that time was the Indiana Jones trilogy (there was no Kingdom of the Crystal Skull back then). Indiana Jones took me to the Third World. The movies introduced me to lesser known areas as well as folks from a rural village an India, a nightclub in Shanghai, a bar in Nepal, the streets of Cairo, Egypt, and more. I started to desire being in the Third World. I also began to desire adventure.
Before I run my supporters off with talk of travel and adventure, I want to remind you that the World Race is not solely those two things. They are certainly a benefit of the Race, but not the point of it. I knew that when I joined.
Both Epcot and Indiana Jones helped me to not only get a glimpse of the world, but it also helped me fall in love with the people in other places. Since I have that love I desire nothing more than to see everyone experience the awesome grace and love of God. The Lord has taught me that I can combine my mind yearning to travel, as well as that desire to spread the Gospel and “race” to the ends of the earth, reaching as many as I can.
The Lord works in most interesting and mysterious ways for sure.
