Why the world race
I recently took a month and a half long backpacking trip in Australia October 2013. While I was there God met me and dramatically changed my life. For the first time in my life I truly understood who God was and how the decisions I had been making were affecting my relationship with him.
Coming back from Australia was a hard transition. After experiencing another culture and lifestyle it was really hard to come back and blend with this Americanized society. The trip had opened my eyes to so many things and completely changed me. I knew that it was just the beginning of a greater calling for my life. You see before my trip to Australia I had a dream that I was at CAPS, an animal shelter. While I was there I went to look at a cage of puppies but to my surprise it was full of toddlers from all over the world. I specifically remember the ones from Romania and Africa. The Romanian had beautiful blue eyes and the African child had something wrong with his eyes. When I woke up and felt God telling me that I soon was going to be sent overseas for mission work.
So in November I started going to church again, each service I went to was about missions, mostly to Africa. I really felt God tugging on my heart to go, so I started researching different organizations, but I couldn’t seem to find one where I felt God saying Yes. During one church service we had a kid’s choir from Kenya leading praise and worship. After the service, we had the pleasure of meeting each of these sweet kids, when a little girl named Faith told me to speak with one of the Americans who was touring with them. Ironically her name was Brittany too! She shared with me some of the missions she had done over the years which eventually led to her telling me about Adventures in Missions.
That day, after church, I went home and started my research; I was instantly drawn to the World Race. However at that point, I decided to hold off since I had only been back in the States for a short time. Well about a month later, I started looking it up again and each time I watched the promo video I began to weep. I continued to pray and ask God for verses if He truly wanted me to go. I thought of fasting from food, but God had other things in mind. I had a very busy schedule at the time and the Lord new how important sleep was to me so he decided I could give it up one night. As I lay in bed wide awake at 3:00 a.m., I heard God say 2 Corinthians 1-3. I was in shock because I had never heard God’s voice so clearly before. So I grabbed my bible and began reading.
2 Corinthians 1:18-22 18 But as surely as God is faithful, our message to you is not “Yes” and “No.” 19 For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, who was preached among you by us—by me and Silas and Timothy—was not “Yes” and “No,” but in him it has always been “Yes.” 20 For no matter how many promises God has made, they are “Yes” in Christ. And so through him the “Amen” is spoken by us to the glory of God. 21 Now it is God who makes both us and you stand firm in Christ. He anointed us, 22 set his seal of ownership on us, and put his Spirit in our hearts as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.
2 Corinthians 2:14-15 14 But thanks be to God, who always leads us as captives in Christ’s triumphal procession and uses us to spread the aroma of the knowledge of him everywhere. 15 For we are to God the pleasing aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing.
2 Corinthians 3:3-6 3 You show that you are a letter from Christ, the result of our ministry, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts.4 Such confidence we have through Christ before God. 5 Not that we are competent in ourselves to claim anything for ourselves, but our competence comes from God. 6 He has made us competent as ministers of a new covenant—not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.
Needless to say, I had my verse! That day I signed up for the race and began this amazing journey. But as my life goes, the decision for the race hadn’t stopped there. Its funny every time you try to do something for the Lord the enemy is right there trying to bring you down. I was super excited for my interview for the race when I received an email that my interviewer couldn’t do it that day. With my schedule I had little time open during the days to reschedule so I was crushed. I knew God was trying to teach me patience and to trust in HIS timing not my own.
So three weeks later I finally had my interview,but by then I was questioning if I could really do a year from home and was thinking of doing a shorter mission trip since I had never done missions before. And plus my cousin was doing the Passport African Expedition in September so I was thinking that might be better. Basically, during the time between interviews my focus had changed and I started looking at my circumstances and situations, instead of giving it all to God.
When I received the call that I was accepted I told them to sign me up for the passport, instead of the race. But throughout the week I just didn’t have peace with my decision, I continued asking God for guidance and clarity. I was just like okay God just like strike lightning or something, show me if you want me to do the world race. So throughout the week I kept praying, and praying hard. One day after work I went to the gym and after I decided to go run a trail. At the time I was so confused and honestly a little frustrated. I just wanted to know where God wanted me to go and especially with my indecisiveness I needed an answer. So while I was on the trail, I decided to sit down and start reading my bible app. I was looking for Isaiah 6:8 to see how God would speak to me when I turned to Isaiah 61:1-2 which said:
1.The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me, because the Lord has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners,2 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn
After reading that verse I began to weep. I knew that God was asking so much more of me (which I had known in my heart all along). And the confirmation during the conversation with my dear friend Andrew Holloway really showed me why I had signed up for the race in the first place and how much my focus had changed. It also helped to have the encouragement of my fellow world racers, Mandie and Robert. So on that Monday I had given my first response and by Thursday I called back and told them World Race Route 2 in January!! There has been so much peace with this decision! I mean seriously I just know God wants to do something huge in each of our lives! I mean God calls us to be radical and to take Jesus out of this box and live our lives being the hands and feet of Jesus so that the world will come to know him as our loving, compassionate Father! I am so excited about this journey and have great expectations for what our Lord and Savior is going to do!!!
