At the end of every month goodbyes to the people you have met are ALWAYS hard! I often think that maybe I am getting to close to the people and I have had many talks to my teammates about this. Yet, the same questions keep going through my mind of: Should saying goodbye be this hard? I am doing something wrong to the people by giving them all of my time and affection? Have I harmed these people more than I have helped them? Have we loved too much?
Our last month in Thailand gave me plenty of time to think about the main question of did I love too much. I continually brought this question to God to see what He has to say about all that has happened and as I was reading one day I stumbled across this verse:
1 Thessalonians 2:8 “We loved you so much that we were delighted to share with you the gospel of God but our lives as well because you have become so dear to us.”
The reason why it hurt so much to say goodbye to the people in each country was not because we just shared the gospel with them, but because I was there living LIFE with them. We got to know each other as brothers and sister. And really that is what they are to me now (brothers and sister).
After all the pain that I have gone through by saying goodbye I started to become really hesitant in letting new people in the same way that I let the other people in. I sat there thinking about this for a couple of day. Wondering if this feeling is ok? Is this really how I should be loving people? And without even asking God he brought me to this verse:
Matthew 10:8 “Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy, drive out demons. FREELY YOU HAVE RECEIVED, FREELY GIVE.”
I have freely received His gift of love and I need to freely give that out. I should continue to desire living life with the people we come in contact in the future. Fear of pain should not hold me back. Everyone deserves the right to be just as loved and made family as the people at the start of my race did. However, while it is understandable that I was becoming hesitant about letting new people in, God still wants me to give my love that I got from Him out.
Dear future/ current world racers,
Do put all yourself into every moment you can. Do live life with your contacts. Do love the people you meet with every cell and every fiber that you can.
