We are not that awesome. We being the type who decided to leave our “normal” lives to travel the world and do ministry in eleven countries for eleven months. We being World Racers.
I, like you, thought World Racers were the most epic, adventurous, radical, Jesus loving people on the planet. Well, that was before I become one of them. The truth is World Racers are really just normal humans. Normal humans who decided somewhere along the way that they didn’t want to live a so-called normal life, that maybe there is something more to being a believer than going on the occasional mission trip and attending a weekly small group.
So these normal people attempt to pack up their material lives in an oversized backpack, and a day pack, and maybe a pillow case. Then they try to pick it up and realize they need about half of what they thought they did. Next, they get on a plane with people they spent a week with once and they land in their first country. They then realize that they are in a completely new place with people they don’t know in an environment where they are expected to work as a well oiled missionary machine, always prepared to evangelize, give sermons, sing worship songs, work with the elderly, do VBS with street children, make balloon animals, face paint, build houses out of mud bricks, have words for the widow, grow gardens, create Spongebob pinatas, harvest palm branches, put on elaborate skits, play guitar, minister in sign language, share a testimony, lead a Bible study, start a soccer game, cook tamales, or even a “typical American meal” for that matter. All of this with people they don’t really know in the closest form of community they’ve ever experienced.
In between that first plane ride and their sixth month on the field, the World Racers spend a lot of time not knowing what they are doing, they spend time learning to communicate with these strangers who become their brothers and sisters, they fight about crunchy or creamy Peanut Butter, about top or bottom bunk, about all the immature ridiculous things that should never be fought about.
And then they begin to understand that they are not that awesome. That they are really just normal people living a normal life in which they change locations more often than most. And they have a decision to make, they can either choose to live a radical not so awesome life of humility and sacrificial love and a teachable spirit, or they can choose to hold so tightly to the things that remind them of their former normal life that they miss out on the beauty that is right in front of them. This beauty is that of the uncharted waters of the uncomfortable, with people, in ministry, and with the Lord. There is always so much more, but you must come and take it. He’s not going to make you die to yourself. He’s not going to make you choose your teammates. He’s not going to make you find joy in the midst of your circumstances. You must choose it.
I hope I haven’t ruined your view of World Racers, but rather helped you realize that you aren’t that different from these radical world traveling missionaries. You get to make the same choices we make every day. Will you walk in humility with a teachable spirit or will you allow pride to desensitize you to the attacks of the enemy? Will you choose the people the Lord has placed around you or will you keep to yourself and walk in isolation? Will you soak in the joy and beauty that are all around you or will you long to be in a different season, a different place, with different people? You too have these same radical, life-changing, eternity-affecting decisions to make every day. Don’t let them simply pass unnoticed because you think you’re a normal person living a normal life. Because, you’re not.
