“Isn’t The World Race like a glorified vacation?”
“Why should we even support you if we can directly support the ministries?”
“Sorry, I don’t agree with the premise of short term missions….”
First off, thank you for being real. I believe that when we don’t take the time to question our own actions and evaluate the state of our hearts, we are either living carelessly or we aren’t allowing challenges to create space for growth in our lives. I’d also like to share that I’m currently in a season where I am learning that obedience is far more important than making the right or wrong choice. Obedience is the difference between life and death.
For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous. –Romans 5:19
So rather then tell you what is right/wrong, I’d rather be in a place to state that all the questions stated above are valid, and I have been working through them for some time now. I just thought I’d share my heart for why I am doing this and I included these questions because they were the most frequently asked and the hardest for me to answer for myself.
“Isn’t The World Race like a glorified vacation?”
I didn’t expect how familiar I would become with the word “surrender” this year. My sin speaks to me that this year will be one of missed opportunities, relationships, comfort, educational goals, and security. I’m living out of 2 backpacks with a group of people I just met a few weeks ago and there are tents and prime sun-exposure time involved. As of a week ago I am unemployed, I’ve received multiple shots I’ve never heard of, and it’s almost TOO humbling continuously asking others for support.
Although community funding a “personal soul-searching” trip sounds like a sweet deal on paper, that by itself wouldn’t be enough for me- I wouldn’t go. Not enough to say goodbye to my family for a year, to embrace singleness for another year, or to enter into uncertainty with all I still hope to accomplish in school. Without Him and the knowledge of the restoration He promises, it wouldn’t be worth it. By learning how to surrender my life, I make space for the fullness of a relationship with Him. So, I honestly still don’t know how to properly answer this question, but I hope I’m challenging your idea of what a vacation looks like.
“Why should we even support you when we can directly support the ministries?”
SUCH a hard question I wrestle with. I think about the $16,000 that this trip costs I think man, these ministries could really benefit from me just donating that money to them. However, I’ve also learned from living in the slums that throwing money at problems we have no relationship with doesn’t solve systemic issues of brokenness. Poverty, for example, is a dense beast related to so much more than having money- such as inaccessible systems that restrict access to basic resources, economic pressures from multinational corporations, and infrastructural forces. Although those suffering in poverty will gladly “accept” Jesus from the Christians offering to put food on the table, we cheapen the value of the gospel when we perpetuate the idea that Jesus’ only promise is security and prosperity. Is that all He is to us?
That is one of the reasons I race. If we truly care about poverty or other social justice issues then we offer a loudspeaker to the ones most directly affected- we don’t decide their needs for them (which we often think is money), we build relationships so we can earn the right to ask what their needs are.
“Sorry, I don’t believe in short-term missions…”
My personal opinion is that the amount of time we spend doing something shouldn’t validate its value to us. We also need to stop feeding this toxic belief that numbers and visible outcomes define success. Our very lives are a reflection of good news that should point people back to Christ. If this is true, we are always on mission- we are always inviting people into His truth because we live in it ourselves.
Now we aren’t perfect people. A huge issue is many of us are still living our lives to earn God’s favor and if we are being honest instead of turning to Jesus (who has saved us from the penalty of sin) we are still aiming for self-justification. Scenario: we go on mission with this purpose and end up exploiting people, creating unhealthy dependencies, and if we aren’t careful, this “generosity” can do a lot of harm.
A very important lesson I’ve learned is God is present in all the places we’re going, and He’ll be the only one to stay after we depart. He is the only constant. He moves how He pleases and meets whom He desires. I have no control over how He moves. He invites us all to take part in His grand love story and I don’t need to know all God’s plans to go out and share His love- it’s in my bones. We have a habit of blaming the mission, the time, maybe even the place- whatever we can instead of accepting the fact that at the end of this day we’re broken people ourselves. May we be more intentional about acknowledging His presence so He can work in our lives fully for His own glory.
God is inviting me into a new adventure, one that speaks truth and shares light with communities around the world. If you have any other questions you’d like to discuss, feel free to comment on this post!! For everyone that has supported me this far, thank you for giving God the opportunity to work in me and through me. There are many things I will only be able to discern after the race, but the only thing I can affirm is that whatever this next year brings, my labor in The Lord is not in vain.
