Well…here it folks: my final blog post! Sorry for the long wait—life has been a whirlwind since getting back home 6 weeks ago. I’ve been processing the last 9 months as I’ve re-entered into my crazy reality (which has been a journey in itself). The other day, I was sitting behind one of my friends wearing my World Race shirt (shirts that I made for a fundraiser a year and a half ago). You could tell it was well worn.There were cracks running through the design on the back, and the color was slightly faded. Oddly, that moment, out of all the moments I’ve had since getting home, has been the most surreal. I so vividly remember designing those shirts. I remember pulling 75 of them out of a massive box one freezing cold day in January thinking, “Am I actually doing this?” And there I sat…fully comprehending that my World Race journey was complete. The thing I prayed about and worked towards for so long was finished. As I stared a that shirt, it represented something much more than funding for my Race. It represented my completed Race: a nine month sprint that set me up for the marathon of life.
Honestly, as I sit here typing this, I’m overwhelmed by everything I could write. The good, the bad, the ugly, the beautiful…it all weaves together into the adventure of a lifetime. I’ll never forget the fascinating history of Angkor Wat in Cambodia, or the 7 year old monks who lived there because their poverty-stricken families had no choice but to send them away. I’ll never forget the beauty and the colors of the mountains of Honduras, or the unrest we lived in during the political turmoil. I’ll never forget the smiles of my 2nd grade class in Guatemala, or the prostitutes that lined the streets down the road from our school. I’ll never forget the Ethiopians’ zeal for the Lord, or the thousands of flies that covered the dirty faces of the children at the well.
How do I find God’s goodness in ugly parts of such a crazy, complex, surreal experience? How do I see hope in the hopeless situations? How do I find peace amidst the unrest? To be completely honest, sometimes I don’t have all the answers. But I stand firm on the truth of Jesus Christ. The truth that sets us free. The world is full of prison cells, chains, and shackles…and that’s exactly where the enemy wants us. The cool thing is, we don’t have to live in those chains. Jesus doesn’t always bust us out of our cells. He hands us the key to the door. He says, “You can make the choice: live in this dark prison, or come out into the light.” He will always give us free will. The Race taught me many things, but one of my biggest takeaways is my purpose. One part of that purpose is to remind people of the keys they hold in their hands. To remind them that the key unlocks the door, and that they don’t have to live in dark. To others, I might be handing the key for the first time. The cool thing is, no matter how deep or dark or desolate the cell is, the key does exactly the same thing. It gets you out. Following Jesus doesn’t end in fairy tale endings. But it does bring redemption and restoration. From the outside, some situations in this world look pretty awful no matter what angle you look from. I know, because I’ve seen some awful things on nearly every continent of the world and I’ve wrestled with so many impossible questions. But I’ve seen the light triumph over the dark more times than I can count. I’ve seen prayer physically shake brothels. I’ve seen addicts overcome. I’ve met orphans who have changed their countries. I’ve had widows love me and others with a love that makes me strive to be just like them. I think if we all believed we have the keys to bring to people, and had faith that God would lead us to them, a lot more prison doors would be swinging open.
So who’s with me? Let’s set some prisoners free!
