While there are many factors involved in our hesitancy to boldly live for Jesus, the principle driver is often other peoples’ perceptions of us. There’s something deeply engraved in each of us that causes us to want to be like everyone else. For the most part, we like to blend in. We want to be accepted. We don’t want to stick out in the crowd. For anyone that knows me very well knows that 30 has been a year of change for me. I decided on my 30th birthday last year that I didn’t want to live the next 30 years like I had the last. When I began to have a close relationship with God, I began to view things through the lens of eternity and not just fleshly.
One thing I plan on doing before, during, and after the World Race is to keep you updated on my life. I have invited you along with me on this journey so I want you to know the emotions I am feeling, things that I am experiencing, and help maybe answer any questions that you may have.
I have been receiving some pretty interesting responses from different people when they hear of my decision to go on the World Race. At first these responses bothered me. I would get very defensive and cry at the drop of a hat if someone disagreed with my decision or speak in a negative way about it. However, God doesn’t want me to be bothered by other people’s opinions. He wants me to respect them but He also wants me to be bold.
Over the past month, I have been told several times that I did not need to go on mission trips to other countries because there was plenty of work to do here in Tennessee or in America for that matter. There are great needs in America. I will not disagree with anyone on that. I have been actively involved in mission work every Monday night over the past year in Nashville. I have also been questioned whether or not I am joining a cult. I am going to be a missionary for an organization, AIM, that is very reputable. I am not joining a cult. There are articles on the internet that really speak in a negative way about AIM. I encourage anyone with doubt or questions to read blogs on the World Race website from racers who are in the world as we speak. Please take the time to read and see the work that God is doing in and through these racers. It truly is incredible.
However, I am not going on this journey for anything or anyone but my Lord and Savior. This definitely was not a rash decision I made! To be honest with you, I fault God long and hard about it. I prayed. I prayed continuously.
So, why am I planning to travel the world to spread the gospel when I can continue to do so in my home state? I am going out of pure obedience, brokenness, humility, and servanthood. I am going because Jesus lived and died a bold and courageous life for us and He wants me to live and die boldly for Him. I know personally when we think of being bold we think of doing something drastic and scary and it may seem overwhelming. The best part of this is, although we are called to step out in faith and be bold, it doesn’t totally come from the inner strength that we can muster up on our own. It comes from being with Jesus. It flows out of our relationship with Him. We are not all called to be “live in a tent” type missionaries, but we are all called to be intentional about living for God wherever we find ourselves. We are asked to live lives of surrender and boldness, and that looks different for all of us.
The key to living boldly is to live with Jesus; to have a relationship with Him, to know Him and be known by Him. I am simply doing what I have been called to do. I believe Jesus is worth abandoning everything for. When Jesus called on his followers, he didn’t want it at their convenience. He told them to drop everything and follow.
In Luke 14, the Bible says: “Large crowds were traveling with Jesus, and turning to them he said: ‘If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, his wife and children, his brothers and sisters—yes, even his own life—he cannot be my disciple. And anyone who does not carry his cross and follow me cannot be my disciple” (Luke 14:25-27).
That’s pretty tough language, isn’t it? When Jesus says you’ve got to hate your wife, your brothers and your sisters, what He’s saying is your love for Him has to be so great that it almost looks like you hate everything else, because you’re so devoted and so committed to Him.
Then He goes on to say you can’t build a building without examining the cost. You can’t go to war without examining the cost. And if you’re going to follow Him…..if you’re going to be His disciple….you’ve got to understand the cost. You have to put Him first.
And you know what? When He calls you, there are no excuses. What He wants is obedience.
