I started my journey from Independence, MO, and made a pit stop in Mountain Home, AR in order to be well rested before heading out on my trip. My destination was Toccoa Falls, GA where training camp was being held for the World Race. It was an amazing drive, and I was a faced with an overabundance of time. Time that I had dreamed of for a long while. I was able to think and to pray and to sing as loudly as I wanted to for 1, 981 miles!
I was blessed with by the kindness of the Chatman family and was able to stay the night with them on the way to Georgia. I spent some time with one of my favorite people (TAYLOR) and the next morning, the family gathered to pray for me. Sitting there in their living room, listening to the Chatman’s adorable children pray for me was something I will never forget.
I continued five more hours to training camp and as I pulled through the gates, I thought to myself, ‘what have I gotten myself into?!’ There was excitement everywhere and everyone was so welcoming. I quickly got checked in and went to get ‘settled in’ and as a rounded the corner I was met by a captivating sight on the field.
Strewn across the grass, there were close to 300 tents of various colors and sizes. It had a strange resemblance to something of a high-class refugee camp. People were milling around setting up the last few tents while making small talk with each other. It was in that moment, I felt that I was exactly where I belonged. Surrounded by ‘crazy’ people with the burning desire to serve the Lord and go to the nations. People who were prepared to sacrifice showers, ‘normal’ food, friends, family, and comfort in order to follow God’s call(….and then I realized that I had forgotten my tent poles.) 
The week was filled with powerful worship, new foods, new smells (sometimes not so pleasant), new friends, and there were many times my thoughts/opinions were challenged. The Lord used the preachers/speakers to strengthen us and to speak truth into our lives. There were group-challenges and team-building exercises that helped build trust within our teams. It amazed me how open and excited people were to share their lives and to be ‘real’. Our group, lovingly called “L Squad”, built community quickly in a deep way, and by the end of the week it felt like we had become part of a family.
During the week I was confronted with a lot of insecurities and fears. For years I would say ferociously that 'I will serve the Lord to whatever end’ but when faced with the decision to go on the World Race, saying ‘yes’ was harder than I had imagined. The biggest fear I realized is that of ‘giving up’ on God. — Let me explain: I feel as if this journey is an act of faith, kind of like the story of Peter getting out of the boat and believing that He could walk on water because Jesus called to him. Peter did get out of the boat, but he faltered.
This brought to mind many questions like- When will I falter? When will I lose faith? There are so many things in life that I naïvely thought could be heedlessly thrown to the wind, but now that I’m ‘stepping out of the boat’ It's all different. I suppose the point is this: throughout this ‘training’ week I have been able to realize that I am so weak and incredibly flawed. I don’t know when or even if I will begin to sink like Peter did, but I DO know that even in that sinking and in that faltering the Lord is there to pull me out of the storm, the doubt, and the confusion. It’s okay to falter, and to fail. What really matters is whether or not you reach for help and take a grip on to the Lord’s hand.
