There’s countless sayings about home.
Home sweet home.
There’s no place like home.
Mi casa es tu casa.
Home is where the heart is.
Home is wherever I’m with you.
On The World Race, “home” is anywhere you’ve lived for more than a day. It might be a tiny hostel room or a tent in a field or a bunk bed at a camp. You learn to make yourself comfortable wherever you go. Think I’m kidding? How about a night on the airport floor? Twenty hours on a bus? I mean, goodness sakes, if you’re gonna be there for a while, you might as well be comfortable. Right?
World Racers have a tendency to swoop in like the plague and attack any space available. It’s just something we do. It’s hard not to. There’s 40+ of us. Nomads. Homeless. Vagabonds. And our souls yearn for just a little place to call our own. It doesn’t matter if that’s just the corner of a bench next to that weird smelly man at a bus terminal in a crowded city. It. Is. Ours. If only for that moment.
But I think this desire, this longing, for a place to plant our feet is not just an American thing. I don’t think that it’s just an earthly thing either. I think this ache stems from Christ.
Look at Jesus. He planted his feet in numerous places.
In the temple as a boy he got real comfortable and started telling everybody what was up. It felt so much like home he forgot to mention to his parents he was just going to stay there for a while.
Chilling at the well he gets mighty comfy too. Comfortable enough to ask a Samaritan woman for a drink of water.
On a boat, tossed and turned by the sea. Goodness, he fell asleep there.
But I think Jesus longed to be planted, really planted, somewhere. He longed to be back in union with His Father, dancing on those streets of gold.
You see, World Racers just want to dig their roots in deep and be there. We’re not really “dip your toe in the pool” kind of people.
Let me jump topics really quick, but I promise, we’ll come back to this.
We had just finished up month 4 here on The Race. I had spent my time in Albania while the rest of my squad was in Bulgaria and Macedonia. My team and I loved our month, but said our goodbyes and were ready for what came next: Bulgaria. All the other teams were coming together to spend the month in Albania and we were heading to Bulgaria to search for more ministry contacts for the WR to use in the future. Until one night, standing with the squad, we heard the new team changes. And I’m on a different team…
I remember thinking well that sure stinks for all those other people who used to be on my team. They’ll be back in Albania and won’t get their “11 in 11.” It took me a minute to realize that I would be the one not going to 11 countries in 11 months.
Hey God. Um, I’m done with Albania. I’m not sure if you remember this, but you called me to the World Race and the World Race is 11 countries in 11 months. You know that, right?
Somehow, in my desperate need to be planted somewhere, anywhere, I had already planted my feet in the future, in Bulgaria.
Thankfully, after a quick little argument with God, I realized that even if I went kicking and screaming, I was staying in Albania. Might as well make the best of it. And so I determined to dig my feet in even deeper, to stretch my roots a little further, and to be present.
I tell you this story not to credit myself with having a good attitude about my awesome 10 in 11, but rather as a reminder. A reminder to you, to me, to anyone who’s read this far. Maybe you don’t want to be where you are. Maybe you’re sick of your job, your crummy apartment, college and finals. Maybe you’re ready to move on from being a married couple and now want a family. Maybe you just want to go to 11 countries in 11 months. It’s okay to look to the future. I mean, that’s great. Dream big. But remember that you are where you are. So be there.
If you are currently at home, be at home. If you are on the World Race, be present on your team. If you are in high school, college, graduated, married, single, a parent, grandparent, aunt, uncle, whatever, then dig deep and show up.
Jesus Christ longed to be with his father in heaven, but he wasn’t there. He was here on earth. So he dug his roots in deep, he committed to the cause he had here, and he invested every stinking bit of his energy to growing his disciples.
Won’t you do the same?
