For clarification, no, it’s not THE Amazing Race; as in the Emmy Award-winning reality show series where contestants compete on TV for a $1 million prize. And no, it’s not some sort of freak-athlete-marathon or another type of physical, running race (which if you know me, you know I would definitely attempt something along those lines). This is the World Race (still amazing though). A “race” that will involve much training, preparation, and endurance to be carried out similar to any other running race, but with this one, my prize and satisfaction is everlasting.
The World Race Gap Year (which is what I will be doing) is a missions trip for college-age students, travelling to 3 different continents in 9 months. The World Race is with the organization Adventures in Missions, which exists to mobilize a generation of Christ followers, discipling and training them to establish the Kingdom of God. The World Race was an opportunity that presented itself to me freshman year, when one of my brother’s friends made the radical decision to go, preach, and love. His experience encouraged me to say the least, and the World Race has been pressed all over my heart ever since. Four years is a long time to be perpetually considering this whole big thing, so I really feel like it’s right and it’s where Christ is leading. Plus, how could one ever regret bringing light to the darkest places of the world???? That’s unheard of.
I chose to do World Race Gap Year (which is 9 months), versus the World Race (which is 11 months), because I felt like I needed to be purposefully used by God before entering such a critical and trying period in my life. The transition between high school and college can be a bit sticky, or so I’ve been told, and to be honest, I want to go into college closer with Jesus than how I went into high school.
That being said, what am I doing about college you may ask? The answer to that is…drumroll please……yes! I am still going to go to college after this is all over. I applied to three different schools and i will defer my admission a year to pursue this enriching experience. I have hopes to one day be a nurse, using that practice either as a ministry on the mission field or in a hospital or in an emergency room. We’ll see, ahaha.
So in early September of 2019, I will be saying dozens of “see you later”s (not goodbyes), packing almost a year’s worth of clothes and camping goods into a pack, and heading to Atlanta, Georgia to launch to South Africa to kick off my gap year. after living in South Africa, I will work in Ecuador, and lastly in Cambodia. I will be spending approximately 3 months in each of these countries. I can’t pinpoint exactly what my team and I will be doing in each of these beautiful countries at this time, but I know God has so much planned for us, I can hardly wait. I am typing this with a smile, thinking about it all. I absolutely adore travelling and immersing myself in other cultures, so that’s all really just the cherry on top of being able to tell of the most authentic love of the Lord to those who do not know of it.
We as followers of Christ are all called to “go and make disciples of all nations”. I simply decided to carry out this command in the form of the World Race. Recently, the song Nineveh (by Danny O’Callaghan // you should check it out) has been making its living inside my brain. I feel like I can’t get it out of there, but nevertheless I love every lyric. It is reminding me to be bold, and to embrace this entire nerve wracking process. To dismiss any hesitations that may slip into my head, because God is sovereign and he is good, and he’s got this.
The chorus go like this:
‘Cause I will go, I will go, go to Nineveh
Where you lead, where You lead I’ll go
Through the fears and the storms out in front of me
I will dive in the deep my Lord
If you would like to walk with me in this truly AMAZING race — diving into the deep, going to Nineveh — and read my updates on life that I will be giving pre-trip and on the field, you can subscribe above. I would like to politely ask for your prayers, as I can really never get enough of those. Thanks!
love,
Julia
