Five months in this pressure cooker life we call the World Race brings a lot of lessons flying at you daily. So, I thought I’d sum some of em up, write em down, and share them with you!
I present to you: Five Lessons in Five Months on the World Race.
ONE. I just did not need all the stuff I thought I did. Lessons are learned in the order they are for a reason, yeah yeah yeah I get it. But man do I wish I could go back to 5 months-ago-Hannah and whisper in her ear not to fret on how many toothpastes to bring. I wish I could tell her not to bring that pair of pants…or that shirt….or those, because you’ll end up droppin em like they’re hot end of month 2. Everything’s clearer in hindsight, huh? But let’s face it, you’ll probably over-pack, because you’re going across the world to foreign cultures and you want to be prepared for anything so your medicine bag weighs the MOST. You’ll drop clothes, and that’s a fun lesson too– in not clinging to our material stuff. But don’t worry! You’ll probably see your things circulate around the squad- they’ll get good use, even if not from you! On that note, a few of the things I’m glad a brought thus far: (1) ample supply of Secret deodorant, it’s my favorite. (2) a pretty good supply of my favorite face wash- that one’s running low! (3) a full size pillow, always and forever (4) Snow Peak Titanium mug, for that morning/afternoon/evening tea/coffee/Nescafé packet (5) my Patagonia baggies, in two colors, HELLOOO I LIVE IN THEM. (6) Last but not least, dresses, because I live in those, too.
TWO. Expectations will happen, and they will most definitely ruin you, so do yourself a favor and just don’t have them! Listen, all the bad publicity Expectations get- well, it’s all true. They suck. I thought I FOR SURE had this lesson nailed down before the Race, and then what do ya know, aaallllll the expectations started popping up again! Deeper and deeper the layers go. But it’s so good, because God wants to walk with us through those things, like unmet expectations, and show us why the having the expectations thing was the problem to begin with and how the reality of things is even BETTER than whatever you anticipated. Be Free! Be free of expectations that limit you, and be open to whatever this year throws at you. That’s going to take a lot of prayer and a lot of trial and error. I’m just coming off a big wave of unmet expectations, relearning that whole “reality” bit for the umpteenth time (imagine and initial eye-roll but then a grin). An expectation-less life is life Jesus can lead into Glory. I don’t know if that’s a real quote, but it sounds like it and hey, I wanna go to Glory! Therefore, reality-focused I will (try my best to) be.
THREE. I need the Lord more every day. Like, ACTUALLY. That phrase gets thrown around a lot back home. We throw it on the banners of our churches and forget to engrave it on our hearts. But man, I have never said that with more sincerity than I have this season. I cannot and do not function without Him. I am a mess without Him. He has put me in situations that would very literally be impossible without Him to lean on. I NEEEEEED to spend time with Him the mornings, not out of legalism, but out of necessity for the very breath in my lungs that day. I cannot love my team without Him. I cannot be joyful without Him. I simply cannot do anything without Him. The Bible brings me more life and more joy than it ever has, and it’s a source of more comfort than I can explain. If you let Him, Jesus will use this year to show you how breathtaking He is, and how much you need His presence every second of every day.
FOUR. This is going to be painful. This lesson is my favorite lesson, because I think it’s the most important. This whole year stems from it. One of my favorite lyrics from Steffany Gretzinger’s album is “sometimes it’s painful to be brave”. Allow me to let you in on a little secret: this season, this year, this Race, it’s not about seeing the world and it’s not about saving the impoverished countries for Jesus and it’s not about your Instagram feed gettin real hype (even though it’s totally possible all three of those will happen). This year is going to push you in ways you didn’t know would annoy/frustrate/anger/confuse the mess out of you. This year, you are probably going to suffer in the midst of community. In Philippians 3:10, Paul talks about sharing in the fellowship of Jesus’ suffering. Paul wanted to know that side of Jesus’ heart, knowing it was only possible if he himself suffered, too. There are certain things we cannot fathom about the Lord without the specific suffering placed in our lives. The Race tests how you respond to the Lord without all those perks like “your bed” and “alone time” and “personal space” and “good food”. Maybe this year you get put on a team and every single person on it pushes your buttons and you don’t seem to click with them and WHY ARE YOU ON THIS TEAM and you haaaaaaate it and you can’t imagine why AIM would put you there. Well, they prayed about it, and God put you there, and if you allow the suffering and discomfort to show you YOUR own crap and how desperately YOU need Jesus, YOU won’t believe how much YOU’LL grow.
So maybe you hate your ministry site that month or there’s a country you were ready to leave before you got there or your Squad Leader made you mad or you got really hard constructive feedback or you hate the food your contact cooks for you or “this ministry just doesn’t really hit your heart” or your team changes or your team doesn’t change or wifi/connection-to-all-things-back-home is in an hour’s drive away (that’s a GREAT thing, by the way). Yeah, some of those things will absolutely suck in the moment, and they’re probably really hard to deal with. I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but those things are, inevitably, your current reality. So do me a favor? Stop throwing a fit (it wont get you anywhere, promise) and let the Big Man Upstairs care for your heart and show you the love He has for you in those wrecked moments (instead of being passive aggressive/sassy/irate/sob-y/etc.) and you will get a little taste of what Paul was seeking so diligently in the fellowship in the sharing of Jesus’ sufferings.
FIVE. This is going to be so much fun! There’s a CS Lewis Quote I like a lot from his book, The Problem of Pain:“Our Father refreshes us on the journey with some pleasant inns, but will not encourage us to mistake them for home.” Even though that last paragraph holds truer than true, the whole year isn’t this big, miserable suffering fest! Praise the Lord! He loves us! He really does! And in the midst of our suffering, he gives us sweetness and kindness and adventure. Fun might be volcano boarding with your squad in Nicaragua or bungee jumping in Nepal or shark diving in South Africa or scuba diving in the Philippines or taking a morning walk to “mountains” with your Cambodian host family only to find out “mountains” means “piles of rocks” and a surprise meet-and-greet with herd of cows. It might be going to the night markets in Chiang Mai, Thailand or braiding the hair of every 8-13 year old girl within a 3 mile radius one afternoon or watching 3 episodes of Friends for Team Time or coming back from lady boy ministry late one night to a fresh made pile of taron with ice cream from your Filipino Host mom or maybe it’s a morning off to sit and get coffee and have kind-of-alone-time because you and your teammate are sitting at different tables or maybe it’s getting to dive in a thousand times deeper with Jesus and let me tell you, THAT is so much fun! It could be anything!! But this year will be so exciting and great in ways you can’t even dream up right now, and who knows, maybe you’ll get to be the beach/mountain/luxury house team a time or two!
So there they are, fleshed out and spoken. For those of who’ve been there before, I hope you can nod your head in agreement. For those of you just starting this journey, I hope this brings some kind of comfort– that days will be great and days will be hard, and that everything in between is A-OKAY because you are growing and the Lord is building up a leader, a soldier dedicated to His cause, a breathtaking Bride promised as the inheritance of the all-wonderful Bridegroom.
FIVE MONTHS DOWN, SIX TO GO!!!!!
