The World Race participants are asked to write a blog about our expectations of what is going to happen on the mission trip. As our departure date quickly approaches, here are a few of the things I’m expecting.
I expect to see God already at work everywhere we go. In contrast to how I would have viewed a trip like this a few years ago, my objective is not to take God with me to each of the stops on The World Race. Instead, I can’t wait to see and experience the amazing things that he is doing in and through the people we meet. He’s in each of the places we’ll visit right now and will be long after I leave. I hope that he’ll use me well as a short-term visitor in his long-term plans for each country.
I also can’t wait to see the power of the Holy Spirit. I’ve heard that the spiritual world, both the good and bad, comes alive on this trip. We’ll see mighty works directly from the Holy Spirit and through people who operate under the power and authority of the Spirit. For whatever reason, this person in the Trinity is often not at the forefront of the church or my life. Maybe that will change in a couple months.
I expect to grow as a team. We will all be experiencing different languages, exhaustion from traveling, cultural differences, frustrations from being around teammates ALL the time, unique food that causes unique reactions, missing family and friends, people of different faiths, spiritual attacks, a longing to see something familiar, and probably a lot of stress. All of that will also be mixed in with seeing the Lord do amazing things through us as we completely depend on him and the support of each other. I think it will be impossible not to grow as a team!!
My last expectation is that my heart will often break for many of the people that I meet along the way. It’s a mission trip, and the purpose is to reach the lost in the name of Christ. We will be meeting these people “right where they are”, and that means far more than just physically meeting them in their country. Meeting people “right where they are” can be intimidating, saddening, or seem hopeless. Therefore, I expect that my heart will break for them, and I hope it does. It’ll be through that brokenness that Christ will be able to use me to share his love for them. May I not forget that I was lost once too.
