It’s month eleven, and now that I am nearing the end of this journey I must admit the World Race is not the adventure I signed up for. Like most things I’ve committed myself to in the past, the Race was accompanied by a stack of unsaid expectations. I thought everything would radically change during these eleven months—that I’d find some place abroad I’d want to return to, or discover a ministry aligned with the beat of my heart, or have some other experience that would forever inspire me wake up and live differently each morning.
But that Big Something just didn’t happen for me this year.
God had a knack for sending me to the middle-of-nowhere, less-than-glamorous, nice-but-forgettable ministries. “Radical” isn’t exactly the world to describe a normal day. I constantly found myself in ordinary places with ordinary people doing the jobs nobody wants. When I think about how unimpressive by worldly stands these eleven months were, I feel real small.
But let me tell you, something happens to you when you’re put in such humbling positions month after month. These simple and small-scale ministries have changed me in ways the Big Name ones couldn’t. If I had ministered alongside famous pastors or preached in front of large crowds of fashionable people, it just wouldn’t be the same. Jesus did not say, ‘Go into all the Nations and tell the impressive people about the Good News so you can gain recognition.” He asked us to feed his sheep, to notice the nobodies, and to love the least of these. When you actually do this it feels a lot less grand than when you imagine it, but it’s also more beautiful than anything you could’ve pictured.
The places the Race has taken me are often too lowly and insignificant to be noticed. I didn’t see any tourists when we talked about Jesus in small villages and I don’t think many people hang out in the poor hill tribes when they’re on vacation. Yet God knows the names of all these nobodies and he makes a point of visiting them. By taking me to these places, Jesus helped me realized I am just as much a nobody and he loves me just as fiercely. This truth makes unmet expectations a lot easier to lay aside.
My expectation for these eleven months was that I’d make a big difference in the world and lead lots of people to Christ. I thought I’d come home laden with inspirational stories about the remarkable way God used me, and most of all, I expected to love every second of it.
Instead, I’ve woken up tired and went to bed exhausted more days I care to count. Instead, I’ve chopped garlic and sliced meat in unbearable humidity. Instead, I’ve cut down palm branches with a sickle while dirt and sweat dripped down every inch of my body.
But don’t let these realities dishearten you, and don’t for a second believe that I am disappointed with the World Race. No, every day is definitely not a thrilling adventure, but it’s a journey I’d never trade. Like I said earlier, something happens to you when you’re put in such humble positions month after month. There’s something about loving people in less-than-glamorous places that really changes you.
Maybe that’s why Jesus so often taught us to love the least of these. He knew the mysterious blessing of being poor in spirit and he understood how great an inheritance belongs to the meek. He’d rather genuinely love a person than convert them to a religious system.
And this is the change that I’m bringing home with me. It doesn’t look Radical and it’s not turning my plans for the future upside-down, but it’s a change that will impact every ordinary day I wake up to. It’s a change that will help me notice all the nobodies I run into daily—the cashiers, the hosts and waiters, the lady who walks her dog every afternoon, the man who delivers my mail. It’s a change that will help me love people like God does and see them as the exceptional somebodies he created.
So to anyone thinking of signing up for the World Race, do it. What you’re saying “yes” to probably won’t match up with what you actually experience, but Jesus will still use it to change you despite your expectations. In the end, what I hoped to get out of this year is neither here nor there because the Race was never meant to be about me anyways.
“So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out”
//Romans 12:1 msg//
