Jamaica spread out before me with rolling green hills speckled with little bits of orange, white, and pink houses among them. I was standing on an island of mangrove trees, isolated from everything but the thoughts in my head. The waves softly lapped the coral and rocks that the trees had grown out of. There were no other sounds. I looked out on the land I had spent the last two and a half months of my life on. All the noise, the problems, the good times, and the incessant heat all faded away with the quiet sound of the powerful ocean. I closed my eyes letting the warm trade wind brush my face and hair as I thought back to my summer.
My summer in Jamaica was unlike any other summer I ever had or will have. It challenged me and pushed me. I laughed and I cried. My team of seven other interns and I had spent the summer leading one-week mission trips for students. We spent each week working on a drug and alcohol recovery center; only the second one in all of Jamaica. My other job was to help lead worship along with my friend Courtney. It was a summer full of amazing experiences.
Unfortunately, if you’re here to read stories of my time here then you’ll be disappointed. I could spend hours regaling you with stories and awesome God moments and of my amazing team, but instead I want to focus on something more personal; something that could affect us as World Racers and anyone who is reading this. I want to talk about regret and missed opportunities.
The last few weeks of the summer, I must be honest, I was semi checked out. I was ready to be home for a brief time before leaving for the World Race and I had seemingly had enough of Jamaica and the constant sweating. Because of that, there was many times where I simply didn’t try hard enough or didn’t care. I was missing out on moments that God had specifically given me.
For example, the night before I left for home one of our Jamaican friends, Lance, stopped by our villa to talk. It was getting late, I was tired and I had so much to pack. I was rather short with him and I certainly didn’t love him with the love God wanted me to. Maybe he needed someone to talk to. Maybe he was going through a rough time. I’ll never know. There were moments when teammates would want to talk or do something and I would politely brush it off. There were moments when I would be walking the craziness that was the markets of downtown Montego Bay and I would see thousands of Jamaican people all in need of love. Yet I never loved them more than just saying a quick hello or offering a smile. How many opportunities did I miss out to love someone simply because I was too tired or not feeling like it?
The funny thing is, is that God isn’t like, “Oh, I’m sorry Brian. I didn’t realize you were tired. I’ll let someone else love my child and you can go rest and do your own thing.” No. God puts people in our paths every day to love and share his Grace with yet we come up with so many excuses.
I’m not saying all this to bring you down. I had a truly amazing summer, but as I was standing on that island looking at the vast landscape of Jamaica I realized that I hadn’t loved as much as God had wanted me to. There were so many amazing opportunities where I got to help or love someone, but there were also so many missed moments simply because I was selfish.
Please let this be a lesson to you World Racers. There are so many days where we’ll just be exhausted or just want to be alone but in those moments we need to be sure we aren’t missing out on an amazing and beautiful opportunity to love someone God puts in our path. It isn’t wrong to rest, but it is wrong to ignore the people God is placing around us. Maybe we’ll be on a crowded bus in Africa with screaming children and all we’ll want to do is put headphones in and shut it all out. Yet, maybe there is someone sitting next t
o you who really needs God’s love and you’re the only person God put in their path and now you just wasted it so you can listen to Mumford and Sons and catch some winks.
I’m so incredibly grateful that God showed me this lesson now and not half way through the Race. It is my hope and prayer that every one of us lives every moment God gives us to the fullest potential of His love. Don’t waste a single moment being selfish. I already did and learned my lesson.
As I opened my eyes and looked over at Courtney standing next to me taking all of it in too, I wondered if she was thinking the same thing. She was smiling. I never asked what she was thinking. Maybe it was because the view was so beautiful or maybe it’s because she too had the same revelation. In that moment, I too was smiling because God had taught me an invaluable lesson. A lesson that will change how I live each and every day, especially the days spent on the Race.
