I landed somewhat late. My brother and his family were awaiting me with a “Welcome back Cody!” sign. Hugs and kisses were exchanged. Then, a reintroduction to my niece who did not recognize my long hair and beard. As we stood by the baggage claim, I stood there thinking, “Why does this feel so awkward?” I felt like I know these people so well but yet at the same time, not at all. It had now been a little over two hours since I said goodbye to my squad. For the first time in a year, I was away from people I spent every day with. We got in the car and drove back to my brother’s house. After getting settled in and eating what finally wasn’t airplane food, we said goodnight. I closed the door but it was now all hitting me. I didn’t just arrive at a new ministry site. This was not the start of month 12. My team and squad weren’t here. The race was over.
The only proper response was to get on my knees. I lifted my hands to the heavens and I just wept for about 15 minutes. Not a nice little cute cry either. I am talking about an ugly, catch your breath, wipe your snot kind of cry. And all I could get out was, “thank you Jesus”. It was lone thing I could say.
That night I wept, thanking Him for the world race, thanking Him for the laughs, the tears, the fun, the crap (this can also be taken literally), the really hard times like missing family, leaving hosts and ministries I grew close with, the healings, the times God didn’t heal, prayers answered, awkward conversations, all of it….was because I knew in my heart of hearts, it was all worth it.
When God presented this blog idea to me, He gave me a vision along with it. He had all racers on the field in one room split into two groups. Those that were in the first half of the race on one side of the room and those in the second half on the other. I am praying this blog will inspire and enrich all racers, whatever month you’re on, to not just put this on your life checklist but to receive and steward it faithfully. I want to give away what received on my race. My hope is that racers reading this will have the same experience I had when you finish (maybe besides the snot).
To those in the first half of the race:
1) First things first, throw your unmet expectations out the window and lay down “your race”. Bill Swan said something at Launch that is still with me today, “Trust that the Lord chose a race for you that is better than what you could choose for yourself.” God wants to do things in you that you can’t imagine. But often times our own expectations for ourselves and for the race itself get in the way. This is not a one-time thing either. This must and has to be a daily surrender and dying to self.
2) Love and serve the ministry set up for you. But pursue the opportunities outside of it. The first 3 months of my race were incredibly hard. Mostly because I couldn’t get past my own desires of what I wanted out of it. MY and ME was my focus. MY race. MY experiences. What is the Lord doing in ME? That is exactly what the enemy wants to do. Take the focus off those you are serving (team and squad included) and turn your eyes towards yourself. In Nicaragua, I was digging ditches for ministry. This was month three, at the end of me holding onto my expectations of the race. I remember being so frustrated with what I was doing. I thought, “We could be going door to door, we could be praying for healing..”
Thankfully, Holy Spirit changed my heart. I took the eyes of myself and towards those I was there to serve. But guess what? My heart for street evangelism, for healing and seeing miracles did not go away. But now I was going after those things from a place of being satisfied in God.
3) Stay hungry. Don’t get me wrong, you will have a highly personal, intimate race of your own that is different than all of your squadmates. He is discipling you. But it is through turning our focus to HIM and others that He molds us.
John Piper’s famous saying, “He is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him” is not endorsing a lack of hunger for God. Being satisfied and accepting what the Lord is giving you should never lead to “Well, whatever the ministry sets up for me I will do” or “I’m not letting my expectations get in the way, so I will just do what’s required of me.” Actually, hunger for the more of God will lead to satisfaction and vice versa. Go after the more that God is up to. I have come to think of the first 5 months of the race as a foundation for the rest of it. What will be the momentum you carry into the last half?
To those in the second half of the race:
1) Finish well. The race is a beautiful prophetic picture of your life. The enemy wants to come and lull you to sleep. Say get behind me and pursue the last half of this thing with the same fervor as you had for the beginning of it.
God has purposely left things at the end for you to receive, but only those who press on will obtain them. In month 10 of my race, it was ATL month. I hadn’t done sports ministry all race, but finally came across a team to coach basketball and share my testimony with the team. If I had chosen to just coast to the end, I would have missed that opportunity. Press on! In the last half of your life will you be dreaming, doing, loving, and going after more of God even harder than in the first half?
2) Say yes. A checking out, complacent, and “whatever, it’s almost over” mindset is not from Him. Have that conversation you need to have, give the feedback you are holding back, share the gospel with the person you keep running into, forget your personal budget and do something crazy fun, instead of getting wifi on an off day go after the thing you’ve wanted to do the whole race, serve your team, adventure, etc. You will not regret it. Board that plane back to the US so tired physically, spiritually, emotionally, because you said “yes” to it all, you can’t go any longer.
3) Be faithful. He has given this thing called the world race to you. Receive it and steward it well. Some of you know what you are doing after race, great. Some of you have no idea and that is great too. There is nothing wrong with praying into your next season. I had my plans set for after the race since month 8, and when I got home, it all fell through. My plans didn’t happen. Release your next season to Him. Ask Holy Spirit, “How can I be faithful with this?” and with each situation, this question will keep you present.
Do you value the world race, your squad, your team, the people of each country, and ultimately Jesus enough to give it your all?
