If Jesus is going to be with me, I’m going.
This morning at church, our pastor asked us a question that really seemed to stick with me:
“Is the mission of Jesus valuable enough to forsake everything?”
Well, is it? Next August I will leave my home to share the message of Jesus in 11 different countries for 11 months. I will live in accommodations that will probably not be as comfortable as my apartment here in KC. I will meet people I have been dreaming about meeting. People the Lord has known I need to meet. I will work in various ministries. I will build and talk and teach. I will be immersed in 11 vastly different cultures, challenging my worldview and opinions. I will share the message I know to be true in my heart about Christ and everything He’s done for us. I know I will be forsaking many things I take for granted in my life now. And I expect all of this to be difficult.
And yes, I will be doing all of those things–but it’s not at all about what I do. My hope is not in my faithfulness or my actions. My hope is in a Father who has told me I need to go on this journey. You might not fully understand that, and that’s ok. Let me break down the steps that got me to where I am now with the World Race.
This past summer, I followed WR on Instagram. I had heard many stories about it and knew a couple people who had done it in the past. I was simply intrigued. A couple months into that, I saw a post about a webinar to reveal the routes for August 2018. At that point, I had begun to wrestle with the current job I have. I love my job, but have felt strongly in my heart from the moment I moved to KC that this phase of life was not my resting place. “2 years” I had heard the Lord say when I made the decision to move here after graduation in 2016. I didn’t know why. All that to say, I signed up for and attended the August 2018 route reveal webinar. And for doing so, my WR application fee was waived if I applied within the next few days. So I did with a “what do I have to lose?” attitude. And I got an interview. And I got in. And here I am now.
I have full confidence that I am supposed to go on the World Race next August. I will miss my family and friends with a pain I already feel at the thought of being without them. It will be a physically and emotionally demanding experience. I expect to be fully broken and rebuilt time and time again while abroad. I am beyond excited.
And I’m glad to have you here. I’m glad to have people in my life I get to share this journey with.
Is it going to be worth it? Of course it is. If Jesus is going to be with me, I’m going to go. No doubt about it.
