I made it! I’ve been in country for almost a week and already things are crazy, but first I want to talk about launch and travel day.
So here’s the thing with launch… Expedition squad, which is what I’m on for those new to my blog, flew into Atlanta a few days early for launch. We spent some quality time in the Atlanta airport catching up, and from there on it was pedal to the metal for a week. I’m not sure that I have fully processed everything we heard in that week yet. We spent at least six hours everyday learning about culture, personal identity, the Johari window, the value of intimacy in your team, and a whole host of other topics. That alone was enough for us to be overloaded (in a good way… I think) but when we weren’t having a lecture we would spend time diving deep into our relationships with each other.
F squad, expedition, is truly a big tribe which lives in community, and our teams are our family for the next year. It is a beautiful thing that shows us something we miss at home. I don’t want to sound like I’m ranting against the Church because this is something I miss in my own life, but when did we let true community go? We are content with surface level relationships and it has led to misunderstanding and a lack of true love in the Church. To wrap up my point, launch is exhausting.
Next up is travel day. Travel day, as best as can describe it, is gloriously uncomfortable. We had four flights totaling 28 hours and 3 layovers totaling 15 hours plus the 10 hours we spent in the Atlanta airport waiting for our first flight. Obviously that isn’t the most comfortable way to travel, especially for someone as big as I am. On the other hand I’ve been through some nice airports (LAX is very overrated) including one in China, and have now left the country for the first time.
It’s hard to explain the feeling of leaving everything that you thought was necessary for comfort in your life for a life of uncertainty. It’s an acute sense of loss coupled with a shifting in priorities. Toilet paper and locking bathroom doors are now equal to gold in my eyes while air conditioning is a luxury. I haven’t missed TV or social media in the slightest, but I miss the relaxation of time alone. None of this is to say I regret my decision to go on the World Race. Quite the opposite in fact! When all normal comfort is gone and your mind wanders for a place of comfort and strength you will find that God is truly the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow.
