Do you ever glamorize something? I do. Literally all the time. And the race is SO easy to glamorize. Doing all this travel, seeing beautiful places, loving on precious people all over the world. And all of those things are true about the race, but those are each just a piece of the puzzle. One week in and I’m realizing my expectations are a little off.
24 hours before launch I kind of felt like I knew what to expect. We had plans, we knew some basic things about what we were doing, and I was ready.
24 hours after launch…not so much.
We landed in Colombia at around midnight Wednesday morning, worn out from travel but expectant for the next stage of this adventure. As I got off the plane I could feel something wasn’t right in my body. We waited for the whole squad to get off the plane so we could go through customs together…and then it happened. The stomach virus hit me like a ton of bricks.
Fun fact: The Colombian airport keeps the inside of their toilets pretty clean.
Pro tip: Put germ-x on a paper towel and apply liberally to toilet seat if head will be in close proximity to toilet for extended periods of time.
As I was laying on the floor in the airport bathroom crying because this was not what I wanted, my wonderful teammate walked in and quietly said “Court, are you okay? Can I get you anything? I’m just going to sit outside your stall until you need me so just know I’m right here.”
My expectations had been shattered. Hopes for how this whole race was going to start had just been flushed down the airport toilet. But my expectations and hope were being replaced by His.
It wasn’t my plan to be a totally gross pukey wreck at the beginning of the race, but it was His. Dependence on Him and my team/squad was required to make it through the next 48 hrs. And even though I’m not going to lie and say that was a fun way to start things, I’m so thankful it did start that way, because God.
Wasn’t super helpful on travel day cause sick, the language barrier is so real, and I don’t always know how to let people love me.
But God.
This year is not about me proving that I’m capable of doing something awesome in my own strength. This year is about learning dependency on God for everything and growing in Christian community. A solid foundation for those things being present in the next year was set in the first 48 hours of my race.
A beautiful human told me something before training camp and I have adopted it going into my actual race as well. She said “Hold your expectations in open hands”. And I love that. So, I’m holding my expectations for the world race in open hands so that He can take my expectations and turn them into something more beautiful than I could imagine.
Today I am healthy, well rested, and going to help some cute little Colombian nuggets learn English. I woke up this morning to the MOST beautiful view overlooking the mountains and the city of Bogota. God has spoken to me, allowed me to be broken, and pushed me more in the last 6 days than in a long time.
Is the race what I expected it to be?
Is the race hard?
Is the race better than I expected?
100%.
Ya’ll, it’s been 1 week and I’m blown away by how much God is already doing in me, my team, and my squad. I already have so many stories to tell you, but so much is happening that I can’t process it all yet. So, now that this part of my life has been processed, more stories about our ministry location and hosts will be coming soon.
In Christ,
Court
