One of my favorite games growing up as a child was the great game of Candy Land! So I began to look back in my mind as to why I chose this game as a child; I came to realize that it was for no profound reason. It was because of all the vibrant colors and the amazing looking candies that appeared to be so real you could almost smell the actual thing. It was the beautiful Princess Lollipop and the breath-taking Queen Frosting that every little girl wanted to look like, and the excitement that began when you got to pick up that little white card to see what character you could possibly be next! Like I said, nothing too profound for a little six year old, but I have come to see that my World Race journey in fact has turned in to its own little Candy Land excursion.
The more and more this journey gets closer and closer to coming to an end I find myself going back to all of my past memories that I have had with my squad mates and my team mates. Just the other day I was sitting in Chang Mia Thailand talking to one of my alumni squad leaders, Hope, about the difficulties that will take place when we enter back in to the US. I have come to realize more and more on the race, in spite of our hardships and suffering that we have had to undergo, that I have truly been living in a real life Candy Land. The reason why I think Candy Land is such a big hit in a child’s adolescent years is because for a moment you get to step out of reality and partake in a fantastic dream, a WORLD FULL OF CANDY! Of course the reality is that most children, with the exception of Charley and his chocolate factory, will never get to partake in this dream. To me Candy Land is a place where reality does not have to be the hindrance of your hopes and dreams but the verse “all things are possible with God” is the anthem leading you through your insane amazing journey. So even though this Candy Land excursion is coming to an end, my papa in heaven has left me with a mission for when I go back home to the States, and that is to turn my Candy Land experience in to a reality in my everyday life!
The reality is that God wants me to hold his orphans in my arms all the time. Whether it is a child in Africa who has grown up with no parents to love them, or if they are a child in the States who has grown up with the mentality that no one loves them. The reality is that God wants me to bless the church where they are at in their walk of faith and choose to say yes and amen to the person that God has predestined them to be. The reality is that God has called me to live in a culture and community who WANTS to love me, push me, encourage me and are willing to call me out of my crap and up into God’s glory. The reality is that God wants me to walk through people’s sin lives with them instead of judging them and leaving them in it, but the best reality is that God wants me to bring this beautiful life that I have been living in for the past 9 months back home to Marshalltown, IA.
In this crazy adventure called the World Race I have had the honor of living with six OUTSTANDING GOLDY MEN who have stood up for all the woman on our squad and apologized on behalf of the previous men in our lives who have betrayed us, kicked us down and left us there with a bitter taste in our mouths and anger in our hearts. They have chosen to push past the tension of our past hurts and memories and choose to step in and be a shoulder to cry on, an ear to listen and a personal filter to stop all the lies that woman get hit with every day.
I have lived in a world where my team sits down literally EVERY night and speaks life, truth and love into each other. We call out the lies that the enemy is speaking over us and call out the woman or man that the Lord has called us to be. It’s a place where you drop your pride at the door and pick up humility. It’s a place where safety and grace are the number one things that are preached so that people are able to be transparent and know that God’s love will cover ALL things. It’s a place where suppressing your emotions because you have a problem with someone is never overlooked, but will always be talked about in love and honor, but most of all in truth. It is a place where we always ask for the truth even if it is painful, messy or is not fully processed.
As I type this blog my heart begins to break thinking about leaving this Candy Land world. My heart grows faints thinking about going back into a world that does not practice preferring others before yourself, realizing that it’s not about being right or wrong and always having people to push you further towards God’s vision for your life.
The truth of matter is that sometimes I feel like my world will come crumbling down when I leave this type of lifestyle that we have built for ourselves, but an even bigger truth is that the church of Jesus Christ will come crumbling down if they do not pick up this kind of lifestyle. So in 2 more months the Lord is sending home 35 men and women who are not the same people who started the race in January of 2012. We have become men and woman of high honor, high respect and high hope. A hope that what we have experienced on this journey will continue to spread throughout the world.
