For those who do not know, I am currently student teaching PE at a local elementary school. If you know anything about elementary school students, they ask the greatest questions. Just when you think you thoroughly explained the directions of the game, a bunch of hands pop up to either ask a question or make a comment that is not pertinent to anything we have been talking about. Unfortunately, the questions usually begin with “What If” and end with some crazy scenario that will probably never happen. “What if we are running around playing the most fun game ever and the building catches on fire? Are we allowed to keep playing?” Maybe I have never heard a question quite like this, but some of the questions they come up with are super creative. I feel like we waste so much of our “playing time” trying to answer the “what ifs.” But what if we just crossed the bridge if or when we got there? We would have so much less anxiety and so much more playing time!
Surprise! I am one of my elementary school students! Woah! As silly as that sounds, it is so true! So, if God is my PE teacher, the next game He has chosen for me to play is the World Race. If you are unfamiliar with the World Race, it’s an 11-month mission trip where I will serve in 11 different countries around the world. And just like that, the “what ifs” come racing through my head…. What if I get sick in a foreign country? What if I am not equipped to do the specific ministry we are participating in? What if I can’t raise the money to go? What if I come home and can’t find a job? What if I don’t pass my teaching certification this semester and have to go back to school in August to refilm? What if I can’t fit everything in a backpack to live out of for a year? What if I write a blog and no one reads it? Haha! I have spent so much time thinking about the “what ifs.” It has caused me a lot of anxiety and kept me from playing the game… Although I don’t leave until August, my World Race journey begins now. I was accepted to the World Race almost three weeks ago, but I have been sitting on the sidelines instead of support raising. Why? Because the second I start asking people to donate, I am in the game.
What I do know is that God has given me His world through the Bible to answer the “what ifs.” The great thing is I don’t have to have all the answers. The Bible tells me how to play the crazy game called life. So, as I think about the “what ifs” I’ll remember these verses and so so many more:
- Matthew 28: 18-20 Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
- Matthew 25: 40 “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’
So, the rules of the game- GO and LOVE OTHERS!
It’s time for me to start playing the game. Would you please consider praying for me or donating to my trip? I have a long way to go and won’t be able to do it alone! GAME ON!!
Love,
Bonnie
