There are a lot of benefits of the World Race that aren’t really publicized.
Everyone knows you get to travel the world. You get to build amazing friendships. You encounter God in big ways, and grow in ways that you never would have thought.
But here are a few of the things that no one tells you about before you leave on the Race.
You will travel in completely new ways, who needs a taxi when you have a truck bed? You learn how to haggle. Personal space is no longer a thing. You learn to cook with anything they give you. Personal hygiene becomes far less important than you thought, and you share absolutely everything (Even the tiny bit of personal money you have).
I came on the World Race with a hard drive that was practically blank. To be honest I wasn’t entirely sure why I had it, but all the blogs said to bring one so I did. (FYI if you are a future Racer, don’t believe everything the packing blogs say!) Now I am so glad that I have this thing.
Sharing is a good thing. On my hard drive now I have nearly 200 movies, and four TV shows. One of those shows is Arrow, not something I would have watched on my own. However after hearing from lots of people how good it was, I decided to check it out. They were right.
I’m only half way through the first season, but a point it makes has been in my mind lately. The main character, Oliver, was shipwrecked on an island for 5 years. His father takes his life before they land on the island, and charges his son to survive. To make it home and right the wrongs that he had committed. As the show continues you hear Oliver say that he has to honor the sacrifice that his father made so that he could live.
It’s made me think a lot about how I honor the sacrifice that Christ made on the cross. It’s made me question what it is that I do that is honoring to God to say thank you.
Through my introspection I have realized that for me it isn’t that I’m on the Race that’s honoring.
It isn’t that I am preaching in churches that’s honoring.
It isn’t that I am playing with orphans.
The thing that is most honoring God in my life is when I choose to trust him.
When I choose trust, I’m saying to God, I trust that you are enough. I trust that you have my best. I trust that you are good. I trust that who you say I am is my true identity.
In Micah 6:8 it says “He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God.”
God requires us to:
Do justice, to do good things. To care for the widows and the orphans. To love the least of these.
Love mercy, to treat people with mercy. To see past their mistakes and to love them anyways.
Walk humbly with my God. Walk with God knowing that He is higher, and still walking with him.
When I am not trusting God, I can’t do any of those things. I can’t do good things, because I am constantly second guessing if I am good enough to do them. When I am not trusting God with my identity I fall into old patterns of thinking I’m not worthy of doing good works.
When I am not trusting God I can’t see past peoples mistakes. When people hurt me and I’m not trusting the Lord I see it as an affront on myself and usually react badly. When I am trusting God with my identity, it’s easy to overlook how people treat me, because
When I am not trusting God walking with Him is hard. When I walk in trust the relationship I have with Jesus is abundant and loving. When I choose to walk in distrust I feel ashamed and unworthy of the love that God has for me. I feel like I don’t deserve it. I feel discouraged and angry. It’s hard to walk humbly with God when you feel that way.
In my life God has asked me to trust Him. That’s how I honor the sacrifice of the cross. Every day I choose to trust that God is good. That His love for me is greater than my sin. That He sees me in a completely different way than I see myself, and that what the Bible says of me as a daughter of Christ is true.
Like I said, there are some perks to the World Race and sometimes that looks like a new TV obsession. The cool thing is how God uses every moment of this adventure to draw me closer to Him, TV included.
What does honoring the sacrifice of the cross look like in your life? You can think about it or leave your answer in the comments section below, I would love to hear from you!
Love you all!
Audrey
