Alexandria asked me to write a blog about a month ago, about the World Race from my view. I will start by saying a wise old women told me almost 30 years ago when I was carrying my first son, “to have a child is like having your heart walk around outside your body”, no truer words have ever been spoken to me. I will have to tell you when I left Parent Launch in Atlanta, Georgia, I was feeling all kinds of emotions. The strongest of these was panic and guilt, had I equipped her with enough of Gods Word to get her thru the next 11 months, did she have enough of the word to pull from, to give her strength, joy, peace and comfort?
I felt guilt for all the missed opportunity to teach her more of what Gods word teaches us. As a child we made sure she had everything she needed, we read AR books, did homework, we made sport practices. We made sure she had all the stuff she needed for everyday life. But the one thing we seemed to always place on the back burner was reading the Bible. The most important gift to our children was Gods Word and I had somehow missed the mark.
I spent 3 hours at the airport before my flight to Dallas, I spent those hours praying that God would forgive me, He had given me three precious gifts and I had let him down. Funny thing is for years I have prayed that God would place a servant in their path to help show them the way, everyday from grade school through college and even now, I pray that same prayer. In those 3 hours, I had gone from panic to guilt to complete peace. That’s the God I serve, even with all of our short comings he still loves us. Alex was heading to Eastern Europe and I was heading home to Texas. The next 3 months turned out to be a whirl wind, the love of my life for over 30 years was in a head on collision, finances fell below sea level and it seemed everything was coming apart at the seams. But through it all I had this amazing peace, Gods love surrounded me like a blanket.
The World Race, a time in your life when you can dedicate 11 months of your life totally to Gods work, to learn to live through him for him. How amazing is that, Alex is half my age and is learning total dependence on God, it took me a lifetime to get there. Month 4 just began and I love to hear her voice when she calls, its so full of excitement and joy. She tells me about ATL a special time set aside to Ask The Lord, something I now make time for. She tells me amazing stories that she has witnessed and my heart soars. Alex and I talked before she left everyday, and at launch we both agreed there is nothing worse then clinging to the phone and worrying about missing a call. So we agreed we would talk when it worked out. I know travel days are hard for a lot of parents, my advice is to let go and let God take the wheel, trust in his travel plans and our Racers will be better then ok.
The World Race began as Alex’s journey but I truly believe its a journey for all who know her. Actively seeking God should be on every schedule we make. And for all those parents out there raising young children, take a few minutes at bedtime and read them a scripture to carry in their heart, I cannot think of a better gift to give your child. May God continue to bless all the racers and parents, it truly is a Kingdoms Journey. I would love for my obituary to be a change of address only, because it doesn’t matter where you have been, it’s where you’re going! I miss and love my daughter, but I wouldn’t have her home for all the money in the world. As the holidays approach, I know it will be tough, Alex will turn 23 on November 21st, she will miss Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years, but that’s okay too.
Gods plans are always better then our own and this journey has just begun.
