(Did you read it in the Shia LaBeouf voice?)
Soon and very soon I will be leaving to training camp in Georgia where my life is going to completely change for 10 days. I have gone through a series of emotions over the past weeks leading up to training camp. Nonetheless there is much excitement anticipating what training camp will be like. I have no clue what to expect from camp but just little snippets of videos or other blogs from other racers. It’s just really crazy that this is my own journey. I’m not doing this with my church or my close friends or even my family. Just me and God. And it kind of really freaks me out a bit which is really awesome.
I’m not one to be shy about meeting new people. God over time has definitely developed me in my boldness but I’m so anxious about meeting everyone in person. I love being in the company of people. I can’t wait to get to know each one of my squad mates more and more. Some I already feel really close too but I know that by the end it will be like that with everyone. It’s so crazy because if I never applied to do something like this I would never know all these amazing people from all over the states. Even being on a previous squad of people that are leaving now my heart goes out to them, and I haven’t even met them! Still they encourage me, pray for me, laugh with me, and reminisce on memories from group chats to snap chats. Now being in this new squad, where I really will meet these people in person, I get to find out how to love them and allow them to love me at the same time. The process has been truly uplifting and a brilliant thing.
I read this quote a while back that I feel will be the title of another blog after training camp and here is what it says:
“A stranger is just a friend I haven’t met yet.”
Reading that quote somewhere really did give me a revelation about this whole experience. At some point all the friends you have in your life were once strangers. Just imagine all the people out there that could potentially be incredible friends in your life. One of my best friend’s came into my life a couple years ago and he used to live in New Jersey before then. And I’ve always wondered how I’ve lived so much life without him. A year of my life will be spent with strangers from all over the states and they won’t be strangers anymore, just my brothers and sisters. The process of it all is rather extraordinary. After you get accepted in the race you get added into the Facebook page where you meet your family for the next year. You then add them all as friends and start scrolling through their lives seeing what kind of people they are. Then you join the group chat and start messaging back and forth with all of them. That turns into adding each other on the rest of the various social media accounts. This then leads to Facetime, Skype, and Google Hangouts to actually meet their faces and hear their voice. Then it turns into nonstop everyday messaging. Then you find yourself making plans to carpool to training camp. Next thing you know it you’re driving a day early to camp to stay at squad mates lake house and you’re picking up two squad mates on the way there. It’s absolutely insane! Again these were all once strangers but because the way God works he brings people together for a greater good and you trust in Him knowing that He is in control no matter how much you are brought of your comfort zone.
It’s more of an obedience thing. I felt led to apply for the World Race. I’m being obedient to doing it since I’ve been accepted. And that requires me to be obedient in every aspect, especially getting to know my squad mates at training camp. Training camp will be an entirely new experience for me. Every new experience I did with God I either had the comfort of my friends being there or the comfort of my church. I literally have to leave all my comforts behind to do this and that’s just the beginning to trusting God and His plan for my life. It’s like a Peter moment. I’m taking my first steps out onto to the water and if I begin to sink all I have to do is reach out and God’s hand will be there to pick me back up. I know that I have nothing to fear because God will always be with me and he’s more than enough for me. no more fear, or holding back. I just need to this because no one else is going to do this for me. I need to start relying on God more and pull away from relying on my comforts if I’m ever going to grow. I’ve bloomed where I planted, now my roots have outgrown the pot. There fore I must uproot and be planted in a larger field. It just so happens to be the mission’s field. For such a time as this.
This is my journey.
This is my race.
This is my God.
How Beautiful is this?
