Why the World Race?
Why now?
Why not start your career?
I’m sure many fellow World Racers can relate to the above questions. They’re probably the most common questions I’ve received since announcing my mission, and they are completely valid. It is a bit unorthodox to spend my first year of adulthood serving around the world as a missionary. But I wouldn’t freely choose to do anything else.
Throughout my life, I have been a great follower. I always did exactly what I was supposed to do: I dedicated myself to school, got good grades, was decent at a few sports, went to youth group, had a great, close group of friends. I was never really the person to suggest something new to do, but instead I would do things my friends wanted. I always dismissed this quality, and excused it as me being “easy going” (which I am to a fault), but it was more than that.
I have always felt pulled to do the “socially correct thing.” After I graduated high school, I went straight to a four-year university, not because I felt it was the best personal choice, but because it was looked down upon socially to stay home. After a year away, I realized that wasn’t the place I was supposed to be. While I had to swallow my pride a bit that I would be a college student moving back in with mom and dad, I played it off. I enrolled at the local community college, got an internship with a firm I thought I wanted to pursue post-college, and had a fun job on the side. While I was disappointed that I was living at home, I did everything in my power to flip this potentially negative situation into a positive.
After a semester at home, I was able to transfer to a highly-ranked research university and continue studying my passion. I was able to graduate “on time” by working incredibly hard. I forced myself to work so diligently because I felt I had to accomplish the social standard of finishing college in four years. Sure, I had a roundabout way of getting to that graduation ceremony, but I did it!
As a recent college graduate, the next social standard for me to reach was to either go to graduate school or find a career within my field. After working as hard as I did through college, I needed a serious brain break, so I knew graduate school was out of the immediate future plan. So, that left finding a career. But if I listened to my heart, I wasn’t ready for that. I don’t have one career path I have been pursuing since I was seven years old. I don’t have the drive to enter the workforce now, jumping into the hamster wheel of life.
My heart is calling me to be bold in my faith and pursue the extraordinary. I have followed the socially correct standards and checked all of the boxes of life because it was the “right thing to do” but I want to take charge of my own life now. And I feel that the World Race is the perfect opportunity to do so.
“For God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love, and self-discipline.” – 2 Timothy 1:7
