Squeezing Oranges [PHOTOS]

It was right after a continent change at the end of month 9, beginning of month 10, and a friend handed me a few notes that she had asked our squad to write. It has never been super tough on me to stay focused on the purpose of being on the World Race, but most of us encounter thoughts of home and life beyond this year at some point. One of those letters I was handed encouraged me even more to dive into all our Father has planned for me these last two months.

The anonymous note-writer lifted me up, challenged me, and pushed me to squeeze out every last drop that’s left the rest of this year… and eventually, the rest of my life. It would be a waste if I didn’t. The note author wrote, “Think of the Race as a deliciously ripe orange. Even though a lot of the juice has already been pressed out, there is still more sweetness to be tasted if we only squeeze hard enough.” A quote from Psalm 34:8 eventually followed, “Taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him.”

I love fruit, so the analogy fits perfectly.

One of our last nights in China, I sat on our bedroom floor reflecting on the month with Jordan, our logistics guy. We remembered playing basketball at the base of mountains with Buddhist monks in their red robes. It was easy to give out of breath during a game due to the altitude, but our cardio health improved. Many of our days were spent walking through the Labrang Buddhist monastery praying for idolatry to be broken, and we got to build some great friendships as well. Zopa was the name of one of the monks who Brent and I randomly met when we walked the wrong way home once. He ended up helping us find other monks to play basketball that month.

When we weren’t praying or playing basketball, we helped a Tibetan guy who wasn’t a monk learn English. Daniel and I met him the first time we walked to the monastery and just after I bought a pair of Addidas shoes for $6.50. Anyway…we met with this guy several times, talked religion with him, had him over for dinner, and did our best to teach him English. When we were talking about religion once, I pulled up some pictures of Jesus and he asked me why Jesus was dead. So in a land where the name Jesus is rarely spoken and strictly regulated by the government, I got to share the gospel.

As Jordan and I sat in the bedroom that night recollecting our adventures in the mountains with the Tibetan people, something hit me like a ton of vacuum packaged meat… Our new Tibetan friend who was only beginning to learn English, who we gave a Bible, and who asked why Jesus was dead… His name was O.J. His Tibetan name sounds so much like the letters O and J that we mistakenly called him O.J. when we first met. What in the world does that matter? If you haven’t caught on yet, I was encouraged at the beginning of the month to squeeze oranges, and now I’m realizing I spent a whole month talking to a guy we call O.J.??? If you still haven’t caught on, what do you get when you squeeze oranges?…orange juice…O.J. right?

Cool huh?! I’m now in my last month. Fewer than 30 days remain until I’m back in the cozy U.S. of A. Sure, when it’s over it’s going to be sad, but it’d be even more sad if I wasted my time, my life, not doing anything. If I had advice for anyone beginning the race, in the middle of the race,  finishing the race, or just living life, it would be: Do something worthwhile. Run the race. Consider your life worth nothing to you…Acts 20:24. Squeeze oranges.

Photo by Jordan Alessi