In July of 2017 I spent the month serving in a children’s home in Kampala, Uganda. One night I was washing dishes when one of the girls in the home, Fauzia, came and stood with me.
In all of her 13 year old wisdom, she asked me “Auntie Kearstin, why are you here? Why are you in Uganda with us?”
I had the privilege of looking at this girl I’d grown so much love for over the month and tell her, “Because I love you. You’re one of God’s people and that makes you worth showing up for however I can.”
“Why are you doing the World Race?” is a question I’ve been processing through for a couple of months.
No matter how long I rack my brain for a “right” reason, I come back to that conversation with Fauzia. Each time, the Lord reminds me that my mission in this world is to love Him and love His people.
The Lord has shown me His love in unending and miraculous ways since before I can remember. Because of His love for me, I want to serve Him well. Daily, I want to pour out every ounce of love He gives me into the people around me.
Along with loving God and loving His people, a key reason I’m doing the Race is because the Lord has grown in me a heart for people who are different than me.
People who don’t think like me. People who don’t look like me. People who don’t know Jesus. People who do. People whose political leanings are different from mine. People who live in the United States. People who live in remote villages.
Children in war torn countries separated from their families. Women who are abused and mistreated in ways that I can’t even fathom. Refugees who want nothing more than to go home to their own bed.
I’ve always been fascinated by people whose lives and stories are nothing like mine.
I’m blessed immensely by the fact that through the World Race, I’ll have the opportunity to love God’s people in eleven different countries, eleven different cultures. I want to learn from people whose eyes have seen things mine never will. I want to love well those whose feet have gone places mine could only dream of.
The beauty the Lord has shown me is that across all of the differences, people are people. We all have hopes and dreams and goals. We all have fears and regrets and emotional wounds.
For every thing that makes us different from each other, there are ten things that unify us.
Each person is an image bearer of the Lord. We all have that light behind our eyes that can’t be explained by anything more than “the God spark.”
We lead very different lives in a lot of ways, but at the core of it, each of us is put together by the Lord.
We’re sisters and brothers. And sisters and brothers show up for each other. They love each other well. They fight for each other in the face of adversity. They help no matter the cost, no matter the discomfort, no matter the consequence.
They look at each other and say “I’m in this with you. I’ve got your back. You are worth every bit of love that I and anyone else can give you. And more importantly that love has already been given to you by the Father.”
I’m doing the World Race because my sisters and brothers are worth showing up for. They are worth loving and serving well. And sometimes loving well means going far.
