Community.
Webster’s defines community as “people with common
interests living in a particular area.” Sounds simple enough,
right?
The
World Race has given me a completely different definition of
community.
the things that makes the World Race so unique is that you are given
the opportunity–yes, opportunity–to live and work and minister
and do life with a team of people that become your family for the
year. You are thrown together on a team with other people that you
don’t know, you are completely different from, you might never have
chosen to spend time with on your own, and you might not get along
with, and told that you are going to be with these people 24/7 for
the next 11 months.
Now,
there are definitely plenty of good times with your team–lots of
laughs and funny moments and adventures. You are traveling around
the world and making some of the best memories of your life with
these people.
But
community isn’t easy. There are moments and days and even weeks when
I have been tired of my team and the people I was with, when they
were driving me crazy and I didn’t think I could stand to be around
them one more minute, when I prayed, “God I don’t think I can
handle this much longer.” And I’m sure the people on my team have
had the same thoughts about me.
But it’s
in those moments that God has taught me what community is really all
about.
It’s
showing grace even when it’s ridiculously difficult. It’s being
completely vulnerable about your sins and faults and weaknesses and
trusting that people will love you anyways. It’s letting go of what
you want in order to put someone else before you. It’s standing
behind someone and supporting them when they fall down and caring
enough to pick them back up.
My
team has been through a lot, good and bad–several team member
changes, loving each other, not being able to stand each other, being
shut in a room for three hours and told not to come out until we
worked things out, being completely unified, forgiving each other for
messing up big time, facing major spiritual questions and challenges
to our faith.
But
for as challenging as it has been at times, I wouldn’t trade any of
it for a minute.
Through
this community, God has shown me what it means to love and be loved
by other people.
But
he has also showed me that community is just a picture of our
relationship with him, what it means to love him and be loved by him.
The same things that community is about,
are
the same things that our relationship with God is about.
Community
may be difficult, but it’s also the tool that God uses to help us
grow and change and know him better. So even if we might want to punch each other in the
face sometimes,
the
love and lessons that we gain from community are more than worth it
in the end.
