It was 2:45pm on Friday, or maybe 6:45am, or maybe even 12:45am on Saturday (because let’s be honest, I lost track 2 days ago) when I quickly realized that my watch wasn’t very useful anymore. As I sat in airport #4 on continent #3 on travel day #4, I thought to myself…
“So this is The World Race.”
Shortly after arriving in Johannesburg, my team and I boarded a bus promising to last somewhere between 18 and 24 hours before dropping us off in Cape Town to begin ministry. While on the bus, we learned that African men are ready and willing to take up an American wife… even if she is sweaty and swollen from days of travel. We learned that all you need to make a PB&J at midnight is a can (yes, can) of African jam and a miniature swiss army knife. We learned that you can only get attached to the first 10 minutes of a movie because that’s probably all that they will show. But then we also learned that while Africa is not exactly what we imagined, my goodness is it beautiful. We saw 18 hours worth of African countryside and the first of many breathtaking African sunsets. As I sat somewhere around hour 12, I realized that even an exhausting and seemingly endless bus ride was already becoming one of my favorite memories with my team in the seats beside me and thought to myself…
“So this is The World Race.”
After a quick teeth-brushing and extra pair of wool socks, our ministry host for the month picked us up from the teeny bus station and we felt like this whole thing was finally about to begin. We made our way through the outskirts of Cape Town and as we neared our home for the month, we discovered that Heideveld is not at all like the Cape Town that Pinterest had prepared us for. This community is the definition of an oxymoron. While the church and its family are beautiful and full of hope, the surrounding streets are among the most dangerous in all of South Africa. As we spend afternoons planning school programs for the sweet kids & sharing testimonies with the locals behind barbed wire fences I think to myself…
“So this is The World Race.”
Heideveld appears to be one big contradiction as we spend Sunday mornings surrounded by the sounds of collective worship and children clambering to get into our laps, and yet, spend the next afternoon preaching the Gospel on the same streets that see violent gang and drug activity. We aren’t quite sure what to make of this pocket of Cape Town that we have stumbled onto yet, but we are all so sure that God has called us here for a purpose and that we will see His goodness in the days that will follow. As our team bows to pray over our dinners each night, I feel the ways God is moving within these 4 walls and I get a glimpse at what more He can possibly cultivate around the next 10 dinner tables and I think to myself…
“So this is The World Race.”
If I have learned anything yet about this whole World Race thing, it’s that expectations will ruin every experience you can have. The advice I received leading up to this point has all been true… come into ministry with an open heart, learn to let what you have between your hands and your 6 teammates be enough, and let go of the fears that keep God in a box. There is still so much to see in this world and so many more adventures to have, but I stand at the edge of it all and simply ask God to move in my life in such a way that each night I can lay in my sleeping bag and think…
“So this is The World Race.”
“Many, LORD my God, are the wonders you have done, the things you planned for us. None can compare with you; were I to speak and tell of your deeds, they would be too many to declare.” Psalm 40:5
