“Maybe it’s time you think about settling down”
I can guarantee at least half of the people that go on the World Race have heard these words.
What is not always understood is that this phrase means something new to a World Racer.
On the World Race we learn about living life as ministry and ministry as life.
We learned about putting our priorities aside and putting others first.
When we come home it may seem like not getting a full-time job and pursuing ministry opportunities is just our way of avoiding “real life”.
But there’s actually something incredible that’s happening.
And it’s proof that the World Race works.
A lot of people go on the world race thinking of it as a mission trip for 11 months to 11 countries but it’s so much more than that.
It’s an 11 month discipleship program!
Meaning 11 months of becoming a new person.
We spend 11 months being poured into by our leadership team, and learning how to help each other grow. Feedback might be perceived as a “bad word” but in reality we know that at least one of the constructive feedbacks we received has made us into a person who looks more like Christ.
We spend 11 months leaning into our relationship with our Heavenly Father and learning how to truly hear His voice.
I know it’s not easy to watch people living a life that is different.
A life that doesn’t portray the American dream.
And don’t get me wrong the American dream isn’t bad, it puts people into social circles where they can spread God‘s love. Honestly in many ways ministering in those circles might be a struggle for some of us. But some World Racers will be one those circles, they will leave the World Race and they will “join society”.
But some of us, we won’t.
We won’t get that full-time job.
We won’t go back and finish school.
We won’t join dating sites to pursue marriage.
But we will still be THRIVING because we have spent 11 months learning to hear the voice of God, learning how to follow him blindly, and learning not to care what others think.
I didn’t write this blog to put down anyone that has said “maybe it’s time to think about settling down”. I wrote it to explain the heart behind what a lot of us are going through.
We aren’t trying to be different, we just are different.
You can’t go on the World Race without coming home a different person, whether the change is big or small we are ALL different.
I also wrote this blog for future racers to read and know they are not alone!
I’ve been home now for 5 weeks and in three days I am leaving home again.
I know it’s not easy for everyone to understand, honestly it’s not easy for me to understand.
Just yesterday I told God He needed to chill because what he’s asking of me isn’t what fits into “the perfect plan”. What He is asking of me isn’t normal. It won’t be easy. It already isn’t easy.
But, even if I only help one person find their way to Christ it will be worth it.
“There once was a shepherd with a hundred lambs, but one of his lambs wandered away and was lost. So the shepherd left the ninety-nine lambs out in the open field and searched in the wilderness for that one lost lamb. He didn’t stop until he finally found it. With exuberant joy he raised it up and placed it on his shoulders, carrying it back with cheerful delight!”
Luke 15:4-5 TPT
Your Racer might be leaving you behind in an open field, but realize it’s because of their pursuit of the one!
