Imagine you are being put through a NASA simulator for zero gravity. Before you step into the simulation how did you prepare? Read all the material you could and watch all the videos to know exactly what you were getting yourself into, or just wing it and experience every moment as it comes. Each approach has a pro and a con but ultimately nothing you can do or read will prepare you for the experience you are about to step into. Yet you still trust the astronauts and technology to work and come out on the other side with a new perspective. Peggy Whitson the first female commander of the International Space Station, biochemist and astronaut described the experience as follows “Life in zero gravity is hard to simulate. We practice on the ground what we call ‘the day in the life’ simulations, but it’s just practicing some of the tests. It can’t prepare you for the fact that all of your tools float if you don’t pay attention to where they are! If you don’t Velcro things down, they’re gonna float away.” No amount of preparation can account for the unpredictable.
Signing up for the World Race was a huge step of faith for me, it was my zero gravity. It meant that I was placing myself willing in Christ’s hands more than I ever had. In fundraising, quitting my job and ultimately telling Christ in the most tangible way I ever had before my life is yours to govern. Little did I know in selecting the Unscripted route I’d be stretched more than I’d expected. I knew a little about the description of route, you wouldn’t have direct ministry contacts to work with and you would be seeking the leading of the Holy Spirit in how to govern your daily life.
If I gave you a day in the life simulation of this journey, it would be near impossible because every day is different. It looks more like a normal life back home but in a a new country. You see that is the whole point of Unscripted, to take this time to create a new normal for the rest of your life. Where you aren’t out on the search for making or seeking crazy out of this world typical mission trip stories but you are putting Christ in your every day. There are days that are recovery sleep days, others that are going to meet an owner of a coffee shop you’ve been chatting with on Instagram and others hiking to a waterfall. The ebb and flow of life, but what makes the difference is your mind set, literally what is your mind, set on. If you are looking with Christ’s eyes to see how much love He has for every person around you then He will make the mundane magical and the unplanned exactly where He wants you to be.
You have to be out there in order to act upon this. If you stay where you are you will never know, you can prepare all you want, run all the simulations but living out Christianity will never look like any of it but why would you want Christ to work how you think He can? Whitson said, “Zero gravity is such an alien environment – completely different from everything we’ve grown up with every single day of our lives. And it’s incomprehensible how much better it was than I anticipated it would be.” Imagine what our God can do to make our lives incomprehensibly better than we can, He created zero gravity. Live your life Unscripted with every step written by Christ, He will constantly surprise you.
