Man time flies! It is so surreal to say this, but Colin and I have been back in America for just about three weeks! And as we’ve experienced what it has been like to “re-enter” into “normal life” I’ve concluded that our last month on the race was a perfect transition for what was to come.
Turkey is a beautiful, beautiful country that is full of deep history and offers some of the most insightful cultural experiences we have found around the world. And now that we are home, I can finally fill you in on what we were up to during our final month on the World Race. We lived in a gorgeous city on the water and worked with a young church to help expand their reach and ministry. Our host lived with his family a few hours away so he left it up to us as to how we wanted to go about sharing Christ among the people in the city. Obviously, public evangelism was a no-no, so our primary goal was to go out, make friends, love well, and support the local churchgoers in their day-to-day lives.
This may not sound like much. Honestly, our “hours” doing ministry varied each day. And for the first time in a long time it was fully up to us to make it what we wanted. We lived in a swanky apartment (with a washing machine!), had unlimited Internet, lived right next to a huge fresh farmers’ market (aka the local bazaar), and were surrounded by shops and yuppie restaurants and bars along the water. To an outsider we were “living the life”, and it hit us all very early in the month that our life in Turkey was a clear picture of what life would be like in America when we got back.
[the waterfront where we spent most of our time meeting new friends]
We experienced so many avenues of freedom. We knew no one would give us “hours” or a daily to-do list of how to seek and serve God and live life as our ministry for Christ. We knew we would be surrounded by distractions on TV and the Internet and enthralled by the hottest new trends in commercialism that we had missed out while away.
And with this epiphany, I am so thankful to say our team responded to this freedom by jumping in with both feet. I am proud of how each and every one of my teammates chose to go out of their way to love the people we met. From meeting up for Turkish breakfast to spending late, late nights at the waterfront to having awkward conversations to share how Christ has saved us as we practiced English with new friends… I truly believe each one of my team members realized the struggle that Turkey presented, being the first truly modern country we had been in in a while, and fervently accepted the challenge to seek and serve Christ daily. And amidst the challenge, God truly blessed our time there, giving us wonderful new friends and fun experiences along the way.
[Team Change + our Squad Leader, Mary!]
[visiting Ephesus and setting off prayer lanterns on the beach]
And now… being home I can see how this practice of infusing ministry into life, as difficult as it was at times, was God ordained practice for what life is like in America. He gave us a glimpse of home life and showed us there are no “hours” to ministry. The life we are called to live is our ministry. And I admit, it wasn’t always easy to choose Him there. And if it wasn’t easy when in Turkey living life without true responsibilities, I knew it wouldn’t be easy back home.
So now, being home, I find myself asking the same question I asked myself each morning in Turkey. Am I going to choose Christ first today rather than immediately checking out on the internet? Am I going to take every opportunity to seek Him out, recognize His hand in life, and find ways to share Him with the people I meet?
It hasn’t been the easiest. (Its funny, America really hasn’t changed in the past 11 months.) But I want my “normal” here to include the abnormal. I want day-to-day life to be saturated with Jesus and choosing yes, even when the world tells me not to. That was one of the biggest things I craved to learn when leaving for the World Race and God continues to solidify the challenge and make choosing yes, whether big or small, more and more joyful.
. . .
And so the biggest question on everyone’s mind is WHAT NOW?
Colin and I commonly respond with, “that’s a good question.” We truly don’t know. We are spending time seeing family and friends all over the great state of Texas and are slowly making our way into the job search realm. We can’t confidently name a city we will land in. Top ideas are Denver or Austin. But anything could happen. We could end up pursuing jobs in the most unlikely of places!
And as we figure it out, I ask you to please pray for guidance. We are so incredibly blessed to have the most amazing family and friends to help host us as we figure life out. Everyone has continued their trend of generosity that they displayed while we were fundraising. Our people have HUGE hearts to give and serve… and because of that we are able to ease back into life of responsible adults. With that being said, I promise to update you all of our plans once we know them!
In 2 Corinthians 9 it says, “Thanks be to God for His inexpressible gift!” Above all we are thankful for salvation in Him. But another inexpressible gift we are confident in is the gift we have in you. Words can’t express how thankful we are for how you have followed our journey, encouraged our choices, and supported and loved us along the way!
