What is the Race really about?
Thinking back to almost a year ago when I finally decided to apply for this crazy thing, it was the thrill of seeing the world, of fulfilling some of my lifelong dreams. It was the adventure, the uncertainty, the pure excitement of being able to do what so little are ever given the opportunity to do. I just didn’t realize that this was going to wreck my entire life.
About that time, a friend spoke a word over me that I have clung onto ever since. She said, “You’re chasing Jesus around the world!” It’s true, and I have done just that. The Lord has shown me that He’s preparing me for something so much greater, and He needed these eleven months to develop intimacy with me. He needed this time to show me how to love unconditionally. He needed my WHOLE heart and nothing less.
And then God took me out of my surroundings to show me that this was never about me in the first place.
We have officially reached and passed the halfway mark. We’re five and a half months in, and I’m finally starting to get it. I’m starting to understand why I had to come across the world in order for God to strip me of everything I was clinging to other than Him. I’m starting to understand that following Him is and always has been about love. And I’m starting to understand that this is the type of life I was destined for.
The World Race is probably one of the craziest things I will ever do in my life. I knew from the beginning that this was going to rock my world in all sorts of ways, but I didn’t realize just how much. The best part is, I’m only halfway done!
It’s been a hard month so far. During our training, our leaders gave us a list of the typical month-to-month progression for a Racer, and as I look back over this list, I am realizing that so much of it is true. Next to month six in my journal, I wrote, “Everyone’s exhausted, disillusioned, and tired of each other. You must EXPOSE the junk, and breakthroughs will occur.”
We spent the prior three months growing accustomed to the culture of Africa and calling it home. Upon our arrival in India, we found ourselves in a completely different world after thirty hours of sleepless travel and incessant amounts of confusion. We’re all dealing with our own junk and seeing our true colors. We’re seeing it spill out onto each other as we strive to live with and love each other despite frustrations and annoyances. It’s been a rough start, but I can honestly say that I believe God’s sovereign hand is upon us throughout it all.
The girls and guys of FUSE have once again been split up for the month because we have been placed in a home with former female sex workers. This home is a place for restoration and healing to begin. It’s a home for truth and love to be found. We are living and working with women who have heart-wrenching stories of abuse and pain. Some were sold into the sex industry by their families and some willingly sold themselves into this trap because they felt as though they had no other choice. With nothing else to live for, their lives had little to no meaning.
As they have discovered in this home however, there is HOPE in Jesus’ name! There is healing power in his blood! There is life everlasting! And most importantly, there is LOVE; not the cheap kind you can find on the street, but the real stuff that changes lives and sets the captives free!
So what is the Race really about? It’s all these things and so much more. I have a feeling that the best is yet to come. My whole life here is ministry. It’s just what I do and it’s becoming who I AM. The Race is teaching me how to live a life of complete abandon and to jump off the cliff into the healing waters of life.
