As I was looking through my blogs a few days ago, I found this one from month 6 that never was finished or posted, but that I'd still like to share. It shares a good story about being thankful and focused right where God has you and He has you there for a reason.
Enjoy!
June 18th 2012
Last week one of my squadmates called a meeting. It was sort of a time of reflection for all of us, a sort of re-prioritizing. Attitudes haven't been great, energy has been low, and we've talked of that long awaited day when we arrive on American soil more than usual.
Even the World Race can become normal and comfortable… so much so that the "grass is greener on the other side" problem will hit you in the face.
The remedy? We took a trip back in time to 9 months prior. We watched some of the videos on The World Race website. The ones most of us watched ten times thinking "that is so cool, but I could never do that." We took a moment to remember why we ever clicked "apply here."
The room was quiet as one by one we answered the question, "Why did you come on the race?"
"I wanted to serve people."
"I wanted to get away from the bad in my life."
"I wasn't happy with my life back home."
"I wanted something different."
"I wanted to see the world."
"I wanted to know my identity in Christ."
My answer?
"I just wanted more of God."
We'd all forgotten why to at least some extent, some more than others. We'd forgotten that feeling in the pit of our stomach that screamed, "there is more to life than this!" We'd forgotten that life in America isn't all its cracked up to be even though it might include air conditioning, a car to drive, money to spend, and this thing called alone time. We'd forgotten that we are on one of the craziest adventures of a lifetime. We'd forgotten how crazy blessed we are.
We'd forgotten that no matter how normal The Race might seem not, it's not.
It happens.
But the meeting also sparked something else in me: A desire to finish and finish well. A desire to look back at the end of this journey and say, "I gave it all."
Go big or go home, right? I think I've said that before.
Sure I have always wanted to do the Race well. It is my job right now and if you know a little bit about me, I think to do things right and I like to do them well. I don't always, but I do try.
However, until this point, finishing never seemed like a reality.
Now with 6 months almost done and 5 to go, I can finally wrap by head around the end.
I'll admit part of me wants to be able to say I did something I never thought I could do, everyone does (I think). But that part is insignificant to the part of me that wants to keep going after God.
You might be confused right now thinking, "But I thought you went to serve people. I thought you went to tell people about Jesus. I thought you went to love people."
Well, I did.
The thing is though a person's relationship with God and what they do for God are not mutually exclusive. They intertwine and hang out together, they have to. It's impossible to separate them.
Therefore, in my desire to seek after God, the result of that is what happens on the Race. You can't serve people and not want to serve God first. You can't love people, without loving God first and allowing His love to flow through you to others. And you certainly can't tell people about Jesus, if you don't know who he is in the first place.
And even though my motivation for coming was to serve, encourage, bless, and spread the gospel, that desire was rooted in my love for God and my desire to share that like wildfire. So in the end, it doesn't really matter why any of us came.
In fulfilling what we are asked to do on The Race: loving & serving wherever we are as well as living in community, the result will be growing closer to God. They are not mutually exclusive and you can not have one without the other.
You see, they hang out.
They intertwine.
You can not have one without the other.
Want to ask me a question?
I'm going to be writing a Q&A Blog(s) to answer all of YOUR questions about this year on The Race. Please feel free to leave your questions below or if you prefer you can email or message me anything you'd like to ask. So here's your chance, take your best shot!
