Hi everyone! I am so excited to begin this journey with my first blog post! (I never planned on uttering those words, but Jesus is awesome, and that’s the only explanation!)
Usually when I tell people that I’m a senior, their first question is always, “So what are your plans for next year? Where are you going to college?”. Queue all of my fellow seniors collectively groaning and laughing and smiling at the same time. In response to this question, I usually tell people about taking a gap year to go serve for nine months in Costa Rica, South Africa, Thailand, and Myanmar. I tell them about the World Race, and how it’s not an actual race and how I’m so excited for this journey! They often ask about fundraising and I tell them how it is daunting but that I will be doing different things to achieve that goal. The conversation is almost always joyful and makes me even more excited about what Jesus is doing and so loved by people who want to hear about my life. But often times, I worry that I make it sound like I’m already prepared to accomplish the whole thing all by myself, which is the exact opposite of the truth.
The truth is, I am very inadequate, but God is definitely not. As I type this blog post, I am icing a randomly pulled muscle around my rib. I have not finished reading Act 3 of Othello for English class tomorrow. I got a bit overwhelmed trying to make a decision and ask for help looking at sleeping pads at REI today. I don’t have my homework done for Bible Study, also happening tomorrow. In all honesty, I am not prepared enough or good enough or equipped enough by myself to leave my home and family and friends for nine months and spend all of my days serving people who may be hard to love. I am not perfecy enough to live in intense community with people who are pretty much strangers to me and love them well at all hours of the day. I am not adequate for this journey, but God is, and that is enough for me. His call on my life is not dependent on my own power to fulfill it, but His perfection to fulfill it through me. So if you have talked to me, and I didn’t mention all of these words that are canning around in my mind, please know that they are true. They are true for me, and they are true for you. Jesus is enough for us. In these coming months, join me in remembering that the things He asks us to do are not going to be accomplished in our own power, but in His power through us.
“But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.”
2 Corinthians 12:9
Now for the random thoughts portion of this post, just to give you a peek of what is going on in my mind at this point:
-I literally cannot express my excitement to live with my team! We have been talking via group chats and video chats for the past month or so, and I couldn’t be more psyched to do life with them and be family for the next two years-ish (shouts out to my World Racin’ peeps! I love you guys!)
-Deciding on a tshirt design for fundraising feels like one of the hardest things to do on the face of the earth (exaggeration alert) side note: be on the lookout for tshirt sales once I actually commit to a design!
-Why is it so complicated to choose gear? I’m glad there are so many great options, but there are SO MANY great options. When buying a backpack, sleeping pad, tent, or literally anything else for the race, her are a few things that go through my mind: “do I want a sleeping bag or just a camp quilt? I’ve always hated sleeping bags, but what if it gets like, really cold?”, “front zip or side or top zip, snack and water bottly pockets, material quality, color, cuteness, breathability, sleeping bag/pad access, back support, sternum strap, durability, 7 million other options in backpacks…”, “Will I really enjoy this color of (fill in any piece of gear) for nine months?”, “Do I need a rain cover? They say no, but what if…”
-How am I possibly going to say a last goodbye to my family and friends and dogs for almost a year? The thought occasionally gives me literal breathing pains.
-I will definitely not be bungee jumping. Off limits. This was my only condition with God when discerning to go on the race.
-How the heck do I figure out how much medicine, bandaids, everything else I need for nine months? Should I figure in getting sick or spraining my ankle (something that happens to often)? How much/what type of medicine do they carry in foreign countries?
-Stamps to send 200 support letters are so dang expensive
-I am not prepared for gigantic creepy crawlies overseas.
-Jesus is so cool, how is this even my life that I am preparing to do this?
-“Sometimes you seem kind of crazy God, but that’s ok, I like it that way.”
