Yeah that’s right. Africa. One of the reasons I signed up for my route on the race. It’s finally here. Game on. After a week of 3 long travel days and then a few rest days, we were on our way from Johannesburg, South Africa, to Gaborone, Botswana where I would live for the next 2 months.
The house we would come to stay at had A/C, wi-fi, a full kitchen and grill, couches, a TV, 5 minutes from a grocery store, this place had everything. Keep in mind these things are almost never standard for being on the World Race. So we were all overjoyed.
As perfect as Africa was going at first, chaos hit.
Ministry did not turn out the way we all were told it would, there was basically a civil war within our team, and to top it all off…We got robbed. My team went from 100 to 0 real quick. This was definitely a valley for us and we did not see how we were going to overcome it. We had to pack up our bags and move about 30 minutes west of Gaborone to Kumakwane where our sister team was located.
I was so excited about the way Africa was supposed to go for me and instead I hit rock bottom. I was not happy about this at all. I wanted all the comforts of where we were located in Gabs.
I wanted all the comforts.
Comfort.
Comfortable.
And thats when it hit me.
I didn’t sign up for the race to remain in my comfort zone. I didn’t sign up to keep one foot planted back home through social media 25 hours a day and 8 days a week. I didn’t sign up for the grocery store I could walk to whenever I wanted so I could grab an Icee and a candy bar. I didn’t sign up for a queen sized bed with cold air blowing on me all night. I didn’t sign up for comfort.
I signed up for the race so that for 9 months I could spread the Love of Jesus Christ, who so graciously saved my life. I signed up for the race so that other people around the world could experience the gift that I have had the opportunity to realize was there waiting for me. I signed up to see a change in people. And I was not doing this by cutting ministry short so I could go back to the wi-fi and check the score of the Georgia game.
This is when I realized that God was teaching me something through such a terrible situation. He saw that I was beginning to stray away, and he broke my legs and carried me until I could realize that I was headed in the opposite direction.
The comforts of home are always nice, but when you let them consume your life they push your focus off of what you are called to do. Those 10 extra minutes of sleep you sacrificed could allow you to cross paths with somebody who’s life could change for eternity. Think about that.
