Having grown up in the church since I was 7, I've had many opportunities to serve in ministry in various ways. I've seem to always want to be a part of different ministiries and I always try to seek out opportunities in those areas. With many trials and difficulties along the way in the past several years, it seems as though many of those same passions were there; however, the focus point for me seemed broad and wasn't directed in any specific area. Over the past 2 years, my faith has grown in a very exciting way for me and a lot of factors have led up to this point but I am going to focus specifically on the last year of my life.
After Graduating, in April of 2009 I landed a full time job as a construction Estimator. In May of 2010 I had the opportunity with my company to apply for a job overseas which would've required me moving to England. I've always had a passion for traveling and at this point in my life I was ready to give up everything I had going on in the states to go live and work full time in England and I was fully convinced that I would go if I was offered a job. After several interviews, I found out that I didn't end up getting the job and so I stayed here in the states. Having gone through that process, my heart was now in a state of longing to go somewhere, I didn't quite know where it was exactly but I just had this great willingness to go. This whole England opportunity greatly sparked my passion to travel and also my pasison for experiencing new ideas and cultures. I realized that I greatly missed the times I've spent in the Philippines, Bahamas, and Europe on Missions trips and that I deeply longed to seek after those passions again. The whole Summer for me soon became a great time to meet a whole lot of new people and just building up new friendships with others. With the summer ending, I knew the college kids would soon be coming back and since I still live in a college town, I knew I wanted this year to be different in terms of interacting with students.
Starting in the fall semester I've had made it an effort to spend time with others as mucha s possible and build up those relationships. The times i've spent with these students I wouldn't trade for anything. After months of focusing my time on people in this way, it sort of brought this new passion into my life for longing to get to know others and their story. I believe everyone in this world has a story waiting to be told and what it needs is someone waiting to listen. As we live day to day, I try to impact others lives as much as possible, but above all else I try to let them impact mine.
In the fall there was a men's retreat with my church. The speaker really got to my heart and got me asking myself a lot of questions that weekend. One thing I took away from that retreat that i'll never forget is that "the opposite of faith is control". With all of these passions being revived within my heart I knew I was still holding on to controlling it myself and not fully trusting in God and his understanding. With the willingness to go, and to serve, and to make an impact, I didn't know where to start in terms of where I felt this was all taken me. I started looking at many options and started focussing on different areas of ministry. After pursuing different opportunites, I was finding out that each opportunty seemed to be closing.
Chris Tomlin's Song "I will follow" soon came out and that song became my prayer for several weeks. The chorus to that song goes as follows:
"Where you go, I'll go
Where you stay, I'll stay
When you move, i'll move
I will follow you
Who you love, I'll love
Who you serve, i'll serve
If this life I lose, I will follow you
I will follow you"
I made it my prayer that I wanted to follow this recent chain of events that have seemed to be directing me, but I just didn't know where. Several more opportunities led me seeking out the counsel of a good friend I met on a Philippines missions trip. That is how I found out about the Worldrace. After talking with him and fully considering this opportunity, everything else fell into place. Although i'll admit I am probably not in the best position to fully go on this trip, but that would just be my own understanding of it all. Looking back through the last 2 years I see how God has worked in my life in different areas and has prepared me for such an opportunity as this. I am very excited for the opportunity to spread the gospel throughout the world and to extend God's Grace and love to so many different cultures and people groups.
Matthew 25:37-40
"Then the righteous will answer him, Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you? The King will reply, Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me."
