Why am I going on the World Race Gap Year?
This question was followed with quick answers I could give to relatives and friends.
“I want to help others.”
“I want to travel.”
“I want to serve God.”
“I want to ______”
Eventually I realized that I needed a real answer to this question, not only for them but for myself. An answer that would keep me going on twelve hour bus rides, when I get too sick to leave my room, and in the loneliness of leaving everyone I love for nine months. Then one night at youth group, God showed me the answer.
My youth pastor was speaking on the story of Jesus walking on the water as part of a sermon series titled, “This Changes Everything”. He began the sermon just like any other, by putting the passage up on the projector and reading through it on stage. As he looked up at the screen he read how Jesus walked towards the disciple’s boat in a storm, and called out to Peter to walk over and join Him. He went on to read how Peter got out of the boat and after only a few steps took his eyes off of God, and began to sink into the water. He finished reading saying Jesus then reached down and pulled him out of the water, and told Peter that he sank due to his lack of faith.
After finishing the story, he began preaching on Peter’s faith. However, instead of talking about how Peter failed to keep his eyes on God or his lack of faith, he instead zeroed in on the beginning of the story, in which Peter steps out of the boat. He preached the rest of the night about the fact that when Jesus called Peter was the only one of the twelve disciples with enough faith to get out of the boat at all. To step onto the raging sea in his pursuit of drawing closer to Jesus.
I am going on the World Race Gap Year because I want to step out of my own boat. Over the course of those nine months I want to learn to surrender control just as Peter did. I want to enter raging seas in my pursuit of Jesus, trusting in Him to keep me afloat. To put myself in situations that I am wholly unqualified for, and watch God work through them. To live every day in complete reliance on God until it becomes my new way of life. That in every situation, I continue to get out of the boat, and whether I sink or swim, I fully pursue the love of Jesus.
