I know what you’re thinking, “Why title a blog about bats on the World Race?” Well, the Lord speaks to us in many different ways and, just a few weeks ago, he decided to use a bat. Let me tell you the backstory and how God used one of my favorite animals to change my perspective of the Race.
Back in Johannesburg, right before we left Africa, I had a one-on-one with my leader, Kristen. I spoke with her about the weird feeling I had been having on the world race, or rather, the thing I wasn’t feeling. I came onto the Race with the expectation of feeling different than from when I was at home (Bad idea by the way, the Race blows all of your expectations out of the water, good and bad.). I couldn’t understand it. Why, when I was in Africa and on my way to Asia, didn’t I feel different in any way? I had come to a partial understanding of why I was feeling this way before talking with Kristen and she helped shed more light on the areas that still were dark for my mind. She told me that she didn’t like it when people called the race a “trip”. “You’re still doing life,” she told me. “It just so happens that you’re in Africa instead of America.”
“Oh,” I thought to myself. “Duh.” The revelation seemed so obvious when she said it, however, it took a few days later, landing in India, and a bat, to understand what I was really feeling.
Zooming forward to my second day in India. I was missing home. Badly. I was, and still am, literally halfway around the world from my friends, family, and supporters (that’s you guys!). I desperately needed some time alone to think and process through not only missing home but also why I was still feeling the same way I do at home. So, I went to where I always feel most comfortable processing. The roof. I started speaking to God about what had been going on in the past week and why I was feeling this way when I just started crying. I think I found my way of processing things. I bawled on that roof with no one there but God to be my comfort. Around 10 minutes into my crying, I heard a small voice ask, “Caitlyn?” I looked to the ladder I had climbed up only 20 minutes prior to see my teammate Makennah, standing there, looking very worried. I don’t like people to see me cry so I wiped my eyes quickly and put on my best game face, even though it was nighttime and she probably couldn’t see me anyway.
She came up to me and sat next to me, placing an arm around my shoulder. I cried some more, no longer caring about how many tears were falling. I explained everything from missing home to the talk in Johannesburg with Kristen. She listened to me through my tears and spoke life into me, saying that I had changed a lot on the Race and she could see that my faith had grown a lot! I was reassured by these words but I still hadn’t heard God’s voice in all of this. Kenna respects when people need their alone time, and sensing that that was exactly what I needed, she gave me a final hug and descended the ladder back down. I spoke up into the empty air, praying for God to show me something, to help me understand. That’s when I saw it. A huge bat, quite possibly an Indian flying fox flew overhead and landed in a nearby tree. I watched as it swung on the tree, upside down. A voice in my head spoke, “Change your perspective.” The bat looked at the world from an upside down view when it landed, vastly changing its perspective.
I realized what the Lord was talking about and showing me. I was only looking at my life from one angle. Taking a different angle, I was able to see and understand why I felt the way I did. Kristen was right, I’m just doing life. Yes I’m in India, but it doesn’t mean I’ve stopped living my normal life. I still read for fun, I make horrible dad like jokes (Much to the chagrin of my teammates), I love on people the same way here in India as I do at home. And missing my family? I miss my family on weekend youth trips. If I didn’t miss them now I don’t know who I’d be.
?So, there you have it. How the Lord spoke to me through one fruit bat on a roof in India. Thank you all for reading! I hope you have a blessed day!
