As I am in month five of the Race, I’ve been reflecting on the things the Lord has taught me through the Race, people around me, and the people I’ve met on the field. I don’t know who I thought I would be by now, but it doesn’t matter. Who I am today is good enough. I wouldn’t change anything that has happened, even though some lessons have been hard, it was all worth it.
Here are some of the biggest lessons I’ve learn during my time on the World Race.
The world needs who I am, not what I can do.
The world doesn’t need my knowledge. It doesn’t need what I can do. People are broken, and need other people who have discovered their full identity in Christ to help. Ultimately, what the world needs is Christ, and since I carry the Spirit of God in me, I bring Christ with me wherever I go. (Romans 8:9-11) I can learn, see, and do everything the world has to offer, but none of that matters if my character is a black pit of death. What this means is that I am in a constant state of ‘heart check.’ It’s sort of like a random drug test. Sometimes it’s the Holy Spirit that whispers to my soul, ‘heart check.’ Sometimes it’s a teammate boldly feedbacking, ‘heart check.’ It’s a continuous state of heart purification. It is your character that ultimately matters to win people to Christ. It’s not your fancy Christian jargon. It’s not your charismatic personality. It’s the stirring in a person’s spirit to become more like Christ. The crucial question I’ve had to face on the Race is: Does the spirit I carry bring death, shame, and condemnation? Or does the spirit I carry cause the spirits in others to move and awaken and propel them towards Christ?
I can do anything.
When the World Race explains the idea of feedback, they say it’s done with the purpose of calling Racers into greatness. Now I can’t be certain, but when I reach the end of the Race in 6 1/2 months, I’m pretty sure my life won’t be over. It’s just beginning. I don’t think I’ve reached my greatness, and I don’t think that’s what the World Race means to do. It was one night during devotion time with Papi Lee and Gracie in Honduras 2 months ago, when I was overwhelmed by my own potential for greatness. It was then that I realized, I seriously can do anything. I think that’s what the World Race means to do, help people discover the greatness that they are capable of doing through Christ. I can change lives. I can bring a new perspective on life that’s never been shared before. I can become the CEO of major company. I can move to Northern Zambia and love on orphans. I can start a mentoring program for inner city youth in Nashville. We all know Philippians 4:13, “I do all this through him who gives me strength.” I think that we as young Christ followers, specifically young American Christ followers, have the potential to change how things work, and how our society operates. Through lies that we believe about our own capabilities and our own limits, we’ve just adopted the saying, “that’s just the way it is.” I have the spirit of the living God inside me. Now tell me, what’s impossible?
Love on purpose.
I can be on a team with someone the whole Race. I can spend every waking second with her, and most of the time, every sleeping second. I can talk to her, and be around her all day everyday for 11 months and not really know her, and consequently, not love her. Love is choosing to intentionally find out what someone likes and making sure that thing happens. For example, my teammate Beth, she receives love through quality time. I can encourage her with the best words I have and tell her how much I love her every day, but if I don’t spend any time with her, she doesn’t feel love. Loving on purpose chooses to go sit outside and just be with someone over going to take a nap. Loving on purpose is putting other’s needs above your own. The ultimate act of love was the sacrifice of Jesus’ death on the cross. That wasn’t an accident. The ultimate act of love had a purpose with the purest, most sincere motives behind it, to reconcile us back to the Father.
Die everyday.
Every morning brings about potential for a new slate. Every day is a fresh start. A day that’s never been lived before. I can’t lean on yesterday’s successes or yesterday’s testimony to get through this new day before me. It all starts in the morning to choose, ‘Today, I will submit my flesh to my spirit.’ 2 Corinthians says to take every thought captive and submit it to Christ. It’s the same with our flesh. When our flesh is fighting to overcome us we have the choice to cave in or allow the Holy Spirit to come in and hush our selfish cries. It’s not a one and done decision. It’s an every day, every choice, decision to submit. To live, you must die. Who would have thought that through dying every day, the sweetest life possible would burst forth?
I am free.
When I was in the Dominican Republic ministering to women caught in prostitution, the Lord opened my eyes to how free I am. By seeing the cycle of poverty, lies, and sin these women were trapped in, I realized how free my heart really was. I needed to realize my own freedom before I was able to share it with these women. How can someone share what they don’t have? More than just a physical freedom granted to me by birth in America, I have a deep spiritual freedom. A freedom that says that who I am is enough. A freedom to mess up. A heart that knows the sweet taste of freedom so as soon as something, (insecurity, envy, or unforgiveness), comes in to wrap it in chains, it’s quick to reject them. I heard the analogy once that people who work to find counterfeit money don’t study fake dollars. They spend all their time focused on the real thing. They know every detail so well that as soon as a dollar crosses their desk that’s conunterfeit, they recognize it as a fake. When you are focused on Christ and the things he brings, like freedom, you are so quick to realize the things not of God. You recognize the things that try to put your heart in chains and drag you down.
Grace & Peace,
Allison
