Life is filled with many moments. Some moments you stand there simply in awe wishing that it would last forever. You wonder why all moments in life can’t be like this. Other moments in life can be remembered and you shutter at the thought, wishing it never happened or that it would just merely slip from our minds. It is funny how when someone says something to you in can be so ingrained in our minds that you can’t find yourself ever to forget it. About two months ago before training camp my youngest brother, Bradley stone cold looked at me and said “You know… you’re not special.” He was referring to the World Race when he said this. In my response: “I said you are right.” I’ll explain why.
I have never been out of the country, never been on a missions trip, and never really been camping for long periods of time excluding training camp for the World Race. For our travel day, we flew from Atlanta to Chicago (2 hour flight, had a 4 hour layover), and then from Chicago to Dubai (13 hour flight, had another 4 hour layover), flew from Dubai to Johannesburg (8 hour flight). From Johannesburg we needed to get to East London so we took what turned out to be a 15 hour bus ride but before we did that we waited 12 hours in a bus station that was not in the safest area and that we couldn’t sleep in. That was three days of continuous travel, around 60 hours and no shower. When leaving the plane to Dubai, there was an Indian couple and child who sat behind us and asked me what we were doing. I said we are on a missions trip. He asked: “to help the poor?” Then, I said: “to help everyone that needs it for Christ.” His response: “Christian missions trip?” and my response: “yes.” He said good luck and that was all our exchange was. He seemed happy that we were going to help the financially poor but didn’t understand why we were going to help others that were not. It dawned on me that some people just go to help the “needy.”
I had other cultural exchanges in this 58 hour time period. In Dubai, I had picked up a man’s watch because I thought a woman had left in behind. The man became quickly flustered and dropped his lab top due to the sole fact that I had his watch. I bent down and picked up the lab top. He wouldn’t take the items from me until I set them on the counter. It turns out in Dubai and Saudi Arabian culture that women are not to touch men’s items or men themselves. I also learned later that he left the watch behind in airport security as if I somehow contaminated it. My squad mate, Amber and I went looking around for food and she wanted some coffee but we quickly learned that our US dollar was nothing compared to their Duran. She ended up paying 10 USD for her coffee without realizing it.
When in the bus station in Johannesburg, I felt like I just stepped into a rough area of Chicago. As the taxi driver dropped us off, he said “don’t let anyone take your bag from you even if they work here and also don’t wander around, stay in the bus station.” I went to the bathroom and the doors didn’t close, they had no toilet paper, and no soap. There was an area where there was suitcases that you could purchase and a lot of clothes and toiletries. Although this is an assumption, this might have been a market made of stolen items. Looking around at all the faces surrounding myself at the bus station, I couldn’t help but wonder how many of the people had AIDS here. Our information sheet said it was highly abundant in this area. Our USD that was once nothing compared to Duran had become wealthy to the African Rand. 1 dollar was equal to 12 rand. When sitting waiting for the bus, I saw my teammate, Kacy offer chocolate to a little African girl probably around 3 and to her mother. The mother and child ate the chocolate slowly. Wide eyed and friendly, I realized that this little family may not get to eat chocolate very often or the type of chocolate that Kacy had offered them.
Some other World Racer’s mother shared with her at launch that anyone can hold orphans, build houses, and pick up trash but not everyone can be God’s hands and feet. I get a once and in a lifetime opportunity to find restoration in my own life and build my own relationship with Christ but also to bring the wonderful relationship with Jesus into the world regardless of wealth. The wealthy Indian couple, the Arabian man with the watch, the African woman and child…they all need Jesus. My brother, only twelve sometimes shocks me with how knowledgeable he is. He was right, I am not special. I can wipe the tears of children, pick up the foulest trash, eat very little for the rest of the 11 months so others can have it but it doesn’t matter because once I leave there will still be tears, trash, and little food for others. What these people need is a relationship with God to sustain them and bring them joy not for me to do service acts that won’t last throughout the week . I am doing these acts of service to show them God through my own life; in return I hope that they open their hearts to the one that deserves the praise.
In Psalm 63:1-4 it reads:
O God, you are my God, earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you, my body longs for you, in a dry and weary land where there is no water. I have seen you in the sanctuary and beheld your power and your glory. Because your love is better than life, my lips will glorify you. I will praise you as long as I live, and in your name I will lift up my hands. My soul will be satisfied as with the richest of foods; with singing lips my mouth will praise you.
It hasn’t even been three days into the World Race but my heart is already reprioritizing what is important and redefining who I am. Giving up worldly things won’t be easy but I am ready.
