When I was accepted on the world race I kept it a secret.
I feared that I was seeing open doors where there weren’t any. Or that as soon as I started telling people they would bring me back to earth with (saying) things like this is ridiculous, you’re crazy, and that I shouldn’t do it.
But God had different plans.
I was carrying my acceptance around like a weight on my shoulders, not sure what to do next. Then a person came up to me and started talking about Peter. Everyone knows the story. Jesus is walking on water then Peter goes out and pretty much freaks. My friend looks at me and says you know everyone gives Peter grief for that. Yes, he took his eyes off of Jesus, but always remember that it was Peter’s idea to go out there in the first place and Jesus allowed him to.
At that moment I realized that I was being ridiculous, but not for the reasons I thought. I asked Jesus for permission to go and He swung the doors right open for me. I knew this from day one, but I took my eyes off of Him and let the fear take over. So I knew it was time to let everyone in on my secret little by little. As I did, I started building a support group. My friends, parents, and church were behind me a hundred percent and fundraising became a team project. “I’s” turned in to”ours” and “we’s”!
“How much money do WE have left to raise?”
“What is OUR next fundraiser?”
“How can WE help?”
However, it wasn’t until these past few weeks that I really saw what God was showing me.
I still had a big chunk of money to raise to meet my next deadline, so me and my closest friends all got together and started planning a fundraising dinner. The night of the dinner I am standing there while 15 of my friends are getting everything organized and one of my friends says “We’ve got this. You don’t worry about anything. Just greet people.”
“We’ve got this.”
That’s when it hit me like a wrecking ball to the chest. Since day one I had been freaking out, because I knew I was not equipped for any of this. What I hadn’t realized was the God had given me all the tools I ever needed in the form of my friends and supporters. I needed to have a garage sale he sent me the friends who could sell snow to an eskimo. I thought I was going to explode under pressure He brought in my encouragers. I couldn’t have organized a thing and he was already talking to my buddies about that too. And just like that I learned what love and community meant.
So to my people in El Paso…As I approach my last days in this city I just want to say THANK YOU. Thank you for your support, encouragement, love, patience, and friendship. I couldn’t have gotten to this point of my journey with out y’all.
