As eighteen year olds we become adults. We are supposed to have jobs. We’re supposed to have our lives figured out. That’s the stereotype.
We see adults stuck in a cycle, doing the same things they’ve always done. They seem to have life chasing them instead of chasing after life itself. The truth is one day our lives will end and we will be filled with regrets. Regrets of the things we didn’t do. Regrets from never facing the unknown. We truly only get one chance at every day given to us.
Choosing the race for me was easy because I knew this was something I would regret if I missed out on. I said “yes” to an adventure. I said “yes” to nine months of pursuing peoples hearts and leading them home to their father. An eternity filled with love if they’d ask for it, because he’s been right at their feet waiting for them to come home. If I’ve learned one thing over the past year, it would be that I now have comfort in the unknown. I used to make myself sick worrying about people and things.
This all changed for me this past summer at Young Life camp. I was in a place going nowhere. I felt stuck in sadness and anxiety. I felt lost and unloved at times. We heard a message that changed my life forever, literally. There was a person on stage that kept himself covered in camo to explain how so many people live their lives. People hide who they really are from people scared of what they might say about them. People hide behind phone screens pretending they’re someone else just to make other people happy. This hit me hard because I constantly felt the need to please everyone. I was told for the first time that night that if I stripped my camo off and showed my flaws and every mistake I had ever made, there was a God sitting there waiting to love every piece of me. He loved every part of me that I hated before I even knew him.
The chance to spend nine months telling and showing people that there is a God that good is unbelievable. When I was in Belize I got the chance to do that. There was a time of uncertainty wondering how much of an impact I would actually be able to make. It was the first day we’d be serving people. We didn’t know who until we got there. There were vans that arrived full with eager children, bright eyed, smiling faces. Soon we would find out that all of these children were from an orphanage.
There was a girl in an all white dress. She was fourteen. I was originally not supposed to wash her feet, but I remember thinking for some reason I really wanted her to come to my station. Low and behold she got nervous and did not want my teammate to wash her feet and wanted me to. After I washed her feet I asked to pray with her. She was hesitant at first, but held my hands and closed her eyes. I didn’t know the right words to say and right before I remembered asking God to just allow me to say the words he needed me to. After we both said “amen,” I looked up to see tears streaming down her face. We went outside and spoke for a while. She proceeded to tell me she had no idea where her family was. Her brother left her and got married after her parents disappeared. She told me for the first time she realized she had a family. She realized that no matter where her parents were she had a father that loved her unconditionally. She knew now that she had a family in the friends around her who were also followers. They packed the vans and she sat up against the window waving bye and I knew her life would be forever different just like mine was.
The feeling of guiding someone else to knowing the God I know, is irreplaceable. The chance to do that is life changing. So I said “yes.” I chose to take control of my life and told God to take me where he needed to. Show me what happiness, joy, and adventure feels like. Show me what a life with you is like. That’s how I have been living. I have been soaking every bit of everything up because one day our life on Earth will be over. One day we’ll be coming to the end of our lives looking back at all of the good times we have had and all the people we’ve loved over the span of our lifetime. To spend a minute not chasing a life with a God would to be not living at all. Once you have God in your heart, it is forever changed. You are forever shining different than those who have not yet found him. To leave this Earth knowing I helped people find our God, I will know then that I lived.
