WELCOME! Welcome! Words can’t describe how grateful and ecstatic I am to be joining World Race Gap Year. I have been staring at a blank document for a couple days now at a loss of words and thoughts to put together to write my first blog post. It has been a constant cycle of fear and excitement as I pull together pieces of my life to share with y’all. I want to start with a bible verse that always seems to come up in my life and has definitely helped me make my decision about World Race.
And so it goes…
In Luke 5, the passage describes a group of men carrying a paralyzed man on a mat to take to a house where Jesus is said to be. They were bringing him to lay before Jesus to be healed. They arrived to the house where Jesus was speaking to a crowd but could not find a way in. The mass of people blocking the entrance did not lessen their faith, but made them more determined to find a way into the house. They proceeded to climb to the roof and make a hole in the ceiling that allowed them to lower the man into the house and lay him upon Jesus’s feet. When Jesus saw the faith of the men, he looked down at the paraplegic and said “Son, your sins are forgiven.” The crowd erupted in disbelief and questions about who Jesus was but next he says, “I tell you, get up, take your mat and go home.” The once fully paralyzed man, immediately got up and looked across the crowd, picked up his mat and went home praising God!
One of the most amazing parts (among many things) about this story is where Jesus calls the man “Son.” This man was an outcast in society and was branded the name “paraplegic” until Jesus healed him and called him by name… “Son.” With the 4 simple words “your sins are forgiven” Jesus healed the man and changed his life forever. His Faith was strong and he was CARRIED to the feet of Jesus with a constricting disease and he WALKED away with a redeemed life and a new name. We were all forgiven of our sins when Jesus died on the cross for us, and Jesus calls us by name too, Son and Daughter. He branded all of us with our worthy name and I am so GRATEFUL!!
What is World Race Gap Year you ask????
World Race Gap Year is a journey to 3 continents in 9 months to serve the least of these in raw community. For a while I was struggling with the reality of going straight to college after graduating high school and felt that I needed to do something bigger than myself. I came across the idea of doing a gap year and immediately knew I wanted to do traveling ministry, so I did some research and found the World Race. I will be traveling to 4 countries which are Thailand, Malaysia, Costa Rica, and Ecuador. I could be doing a wide scale of jobs such as working in a church or even teaching English in a local school. I will travel with my ‘team’ of 44 and at training camp we will be separated into ‘squads’ of 6 to 9 people. My squad and I will be staying in a host home and will shadow the job of the host. I will be separated from all my comforts and normalities of home that I have been accustomed to for the last 17 years of my life, and thrown into the cultures and lifestyles of people who lead completely different lives.
My emotions have been all over the place but I know that this is what I have been called to do, and I can’t wait to live out the life God intended me to live.
I would love the support from as many people as possible. First and foremost in prayers of comfort and direction as I go through my journey with the World Race and experience new vulnerabilities everyday. And second, building a team of people who want to financially support me and help send me to minister to people of different walks of life all across the world.
As I go through this journey I will be blogging about once a month to keep everyone updated up until training camp, then it will be weekly.
Go be amazing and always remember, YOU are a son or daughter to a God who calls you by name.
