This past Sunday we celebrated our halfway mark through the Race. It’s weird to think that We’re fifty percent through this adventure, halfway to home as it were.
There are a lot of things that, as a racer, you think about in connection to home, whether it’s in comparison or not. If this were a science experiment, our experiences in our home country, what we’ve grown up with would be our control, it’s how we know things are new and different. So when we get to a new country, there are all of these reactions like, “wow, the windows in this car roll down,” or “oh my gosh, we have a carpet this month!” It’s all the things that we’re used to that we took for granted until we didn’t have them and then had them again.
It’s always a fun game, but recently I’ve been convicted about being present where I am instead of constantly thinking ahead to what it’s going to be like when I get home.
Answer: I think it’s going to be incredibly overwhelming and I don’t know whether or not driving on the right side of the road is going to make sense anymore.
So I’m trying to pay attention to the world around me, literally as this season of my life seems to whiz by faster and faster. We’re halfway there with only five months left. To everyone at home or to anyone who’s been without a loved one for an extended period of time, that probably still seems like a small eternity. For me however, it feels like the last semester of college, the weeks slipping away like sand between my fingers, the future rushing at me and the panic beginning to set in.
But it’s not the last semester of college and I’ve learned a few things even if I’m only halfway to the finish line. I have a desire for excellence in everything I do while I’m here, wherever that happens to be. I want to leave a lasting impression of hard work, joy, and unity in my team. I want our hosts and the people we serve to see a woman actively searching after God’s heart and showing them love in new and creative ways. And in order to do that, my head and my heart have to be focused on what and who God has placed in my immediate line of vision, not just my far-sightedness that wants to see five months down the road.
Do I miss my family and friends? Absolutely. Am I dying to meet the little sassafras of a puppy my parents just brought home? I don’t think there’s a big enough word for yes right here. But if I’ve learned anything in these past five and a half months, it’s that God is good, he has a plan, and it is a good plan.
So there will be grace to go home when it’s time to go home. I will get to see and personally love on my family and friends when God tells me. But for right now, for today, my heart is going to be here in JBay, with my team, the family given to me for this year and the people God has put in front of me to love and invest in. It’s only for a season and a short one at that, so why not make the most of it?
All my love,
TL
