I used to think that purpose in life is all about reaching bigger and better things. But now I know that it’s all about finding Jesus in every moment and thanking Him for it.
One thing that has truly made me fall in love with Jesus again is gratefulness. Whether that’s being broken over the street kids I’m sitting next to at midnight or teaching my friend, joe, how to finger paint on the back porch of our house. Jesus is in it all.
My friend, Chloe, and I have this saying called an “out of body experience”. It has come during some of my most beautiful, broken, and joy-filled moments on the Race. But, it also comes in the little moments, where I can see Jesus only if I’m looking through His lens.
Chloe describes it as if she was another human standing 20 feet back from the moment that we’re a part of. A bystander looking into the life we live. A moment stopped in time, simply to appreciate the love that it holds. It allows us to grab ahold of the moment while living it out because this is life and we’re meant to live it.
Jesus and the Race has taught me quite a bit about what it looks like to be grateful and appreciating life’s gift. Grateful for the big and small, because Jesus is in both. A huge part of that, for me, has been learning the magnitude of loving a moment before it becomes a memory.
What is the point of the gifts God is giving to us if we’re not receiving it and thanking Him?
My life is full of gifts. I see it in my family. The way they love and support all God is doing in my life. The emails they send. The answered phone calls. I see it in my friends- back home and the ones traveling the world with me. The encouraging words when I’m down. The letters they write. The way they shine Jesus’ light in my life. I see it in nature. The magnitude of it all. The way the earth worships the Lord. The beauty it brings to my life. I see it in painting, and ministry hosts, music, watching movies with friends, prayers answered, the love I feel and know from my Jesus, etc.
One of my favorite things to do is write in my gratefulness journal. It’s the small and the big and I pray that I see the love of my Father in it all. One of the last few things I’ve written is “265. The wind in my face as I stand in the sunroof of our host’s car”. I highly recommend trying it. The sunroof and the gratefulness journal.
As I am coming to the end of my time on the The World Race, gratefulness has become a hope for me. I know that as fear builds up of leaving this life and heading back home- Jesus is still there. There are millions of more moments of this life that I will laugh until it hurts, meet people on the street and eat lunch with them, cry because of the love of my Jesus, and travel. That makes it easier to end my time here and jump into God’s promises in Columbus, Ohio.
But, until then, I pray I continue to soak up the rest of my time with my people here in Zambia, experiencing all the “out of body” moments I can. I will run as fast as I can on the Race God has set before me. I’m just thankful the finish line isn’t at the end of these 9 months.
I encourage you to see Jesus more in the moments of life. He’s there. We just need to look through His eyes. Live each moment to the fullest, while taking a step back and thanking Jesus. I know I will be.
