Greetings to my fellow friends, family and blog post readers! As many of you have probably heard, all world race participants have recently been pulled from the international mission field and have been brought back home due to the Covid-19 pandemic. As borders began to close and governments began to enforce travel restrictions, Adventures in Missions held the safety of us world racers as a top priority and made the call to bring us back home. It was a quick decision, but I know the AIM team in Georgia had a close eye on the matter and their best intentions in mind for everyone’s safety. As our final Friday workday in Eswatini came to a close, I replied, “Have a good weekend and see you next week” to the guys at the AIM farm. Little did I know about the news that awaited later that evening and the fact that I’d be on a plane headed home that very Sunday.
I’d never have guessed that I’d be typing this blog from my living room couch right now rather than from inside my little Cabela’s xpg tent in Eswatini. My squad and I made it through five and a half months of our eleven month journey before being called back home. These five and a half months on the race have been such an incredible experience that I hold with such a high value. After hearing the news of being sent home, I felt a bit despaired and left with a feeling of incompleteness; like my time on the race wasn’t supposed to be done yet. I wasn’t ready to go home. There were more people to encounter and more experiences to be had. I thought, “Why, God?”
The situation at hand seems to be a pretty real opportunity for me to put my money where my mouth is and put into practice what I’ve been preaching while on the race. Time to sink or swim. God created me to be a powerful person and I get to choose how I respond to the things I encounter in my life. The devil wants me to give into frustration, lose hope and fall into a victim mentality, where I feel bad for myself because of circumstances. But God! He gives me his words of faithfulness to hold onto at all times and in all situations. He says, “Trust in ME with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to ME, and I will make your paths straight.” When God called me to the world race, He already knew about this pandemic. He already had the plan. I don’t know His reasoning behind any of it and I’m not expected to know. God simply calls me to put my trust in Him and follow His lead.
I think back to the days of being a young kid and sitting around the table with my family after dinner time, reading our kids story bible and learning about the amazing stories of our God’s great power. He parted the Red Sea for the Israelites, brought the walls of Jericho down for Joshua, shut the mouths of lions for Daniel and sent a giant fish to save Jonah. Time and time again God continued to prove His faithfulness to His people throughout the Bible, and I know that the God of these Bible stories is the same God who tells me to place my trust in Him today! He goes with me and before me in all that He calls me towards, and He tells me that He will never leave me or forsake me. I don’t have to understand His plan for me, I just need to continue trusting in Gods goodness and continue walking faithfully with Him wherever He has me.
One thing that the world race stands behind is that “life is mission and mission is life.” Whether returning from the world race after five and a half months or eleven months, our race is never really finished. If we ever think we’ve finished, we’ve really missed the point. God’s great commission for us doesn’t stop at the end of any mission trip. We are never “done” with our race. The words of Hebrews 12 say, “Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith.” This race is really more of a marathon. It’s living a life that brings glory to our great God wherever He has us and in any season of life. And why wouldn’t we!? In all things, all times, and all situations, God is so good.
At this point, I’m not sure if I’ll have the opportunity to go back out and finish the remaining 5 months of my world race journey. No one really knows what the future of the Covid-19 virus looks like, but AIM plans to re-evaluate the situation in 6 weeks and walk through some of the options. I’d love the opportunity to go back out and finish my world race journey, but for now, I’m ok with the ole red, white and blue as my mission field. People here need the Lord to hold onto as their refuge during these uncertain times, and I know that God has me right where He wants me for now. I trust in His good and perfect plan and I will continue to rejoice in Him.
Philippians 1:6 – “He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.
19w1003 A Squad – Family
