As we are wrapping up Month 3, I’m looking back on my time in Central America. Tons of things stand out to me, but one of the most beneficial has been coming face to face with past experience. My team in particular has been able to meet up, hang out, learn from, and otherwise spend time with former World Racers and Adventures in Missions alumni every month so far.
These seasoned missionaries just seem to walk a different life. There’s a quality about them that is so very, very different than anyone I have ever known. There’s a wisdom, a calmness, a patience that- even in the heat of a moment- makes them wait for you, a toddler Racer, to make your own decision.
Something that has really stood out to me about all these vets of the field is that they really, truly believe that this Race is YOURS. They are not here to give you answers, to show you shortcuts- they really value the process you’re going through, so much so that they willingly withhold their own opinions or desires in order for you to continue your journey unmolested in order that you may figure out who you are by yourself, without outside intrusion.
I am an imitator. I always have been. It stems from being an intensely visual/kinesthetic learner.
I am really skilled at a lot of things, but never solely because of my own efforts.
I learned to write with a pencil held by my middle and ring finger, as opposed to much of the rest of the United States who hold it between middle and pointer, because when I was learning to write, I watched my teacher hold the pencil in the very same way. Not waiting to be taught as slowly as the rest of the classroom, I just picked up my pencil, imitated the way she held hers, and a writer I became.
I grew up doing martial arts. I was on the USA National Karate Team for several years, winning numerous medals, including Gold at the 2004 World Championships in Switzerland. How did I get there? Certainly not by my own merit alone. I’m not trying to harbor a false sense of humility- I did work very, very hard for a very, very long time. I put in as much as I had and then some. But the real reason I became great at martial arts is because I had coaches and trainers with their own skill and their own experience. I was able to watch excellent technique and imitate it. I was able to glean from my coaches, not just technique, but physical prosidy, moving in pauses and syncopation and smooth transitions that cannot be put into words. And with the smorgasbord of technically excellent images, I also gleaned simply from their experience in the tournament circuits. There is a lot to be said of people who have gone before you, the mistakes they’ve made, and the glory they’ve experienced. There is something to be said about not necessarily beginning the journey from scratch, but building onto what others before you have begun.
I know what you’re probably thinking- every Racer’s journey is their own.
And you’d be right.
But there is something to be said about not just being told to live in a community of high preference and high honor, but being physically exposed to that kind of living. It’s one thing for these words to be shared in a seminar that you heard somewhere at some point, and it’s something totally different to be able to see that actually lived out, in real life, with real people.
These former Racers, these seasoned AIM personnel- there is a reason they live the way they do. There is a reason that you feel a different atmosphere around them. There is a reason they seem like the only people you’ve ever met who really and truly love, honor, and selflessly prefer the people around them.
This journey that we’re on- this World Race– is not just about going and doing. It’s about learning to be. It’s about learning who you are as God’s Son or God’s Daughter. It’s about learning what it means to genuinely put yourself to the side in order to serve, prefer, or love the person next to you. And doing it all with a smile. This Race is not just about going and being a missionary to the world- it’s about letting God be a missionary to you.
Meeting these alumni, hearing a little bit of their stories, watching them relate to each other with love and honor- that’s what we’re heading for. Soon our Race will be over and we will be the people who live, love, and serve by example.
All the hard stuff, all the crappy stuff, all the emotions that overwhelm you when you realize this maybe isn’t exactly what you thought it would be- these are all stepping stones to becoming exactly who God created you to be. The endless travel days, the sicknesses, the months where you feel like maybe you’re not really doing anything for the Kingdom- all are moments used by Papa to refine us, to mold us to look a little more like Him. The Race is not a be-all, end-all, and for many of us- perhaps even all of us- it’s just the beginning of the real journey of our lives. It will continue on until “the day of completion in Christ Jesus.” But we will have experienced poverty, shame, homelessness, brokenness, dirtiness, peace, hope, and genuine joy in the face of an unspeakably bleak reality, unlike anything you could possibly imagine. And at the other end of it we will speak with a little more grace, love with a little more understanding, and we will more easily and willingly lay down our own desires in order to prefer (minister to) the person next to us. We will laugh a little easier, cry a little harder, and be much, much more intentional with our time, actions, and words. We will more closely resemble those former Racers- our brothers and sisters- who have gone before us. We will look a little more like Jesus.
And that makes it all worth it.
