My expectations of the World Race seem to change on a daily basis. Sometimes I envision my team ministering to children in the streets of Africa. Sometimes I see the men and women of our squad joining together to help rebuild a church that has been destroyed by a fallen tree in the forest. Sometimes I see intense moments of worship and prayer in the home of our hosts for the month. Sometimes I see heart break as dear friends lament for their lives back home. Sometimes I see illness, and the insides of bleak hospital rooms. Sometimes I see myself being left behind as others go off for a day of adventure while I am home with a stomach bug.
I see all of these things in a whirlwind of what feel like memories that haven’t even happened yet, and somehow I still think the Race is going to be us watching the infinite glory of God come down and pave golden streets before us in the slums of India, like something from a fairy-tale . Sometimes I still think that this Race is too big for me, and that I don’t belong. I don’t hear the voice of God like other people do, and I’m not able to be radically obedient to what God is calling me to do yet. I don’t know how to heal a man just through prayer, and I don’t know enough about the bible to feel like a true “missionary”.
I’ve gotten myself stuck in these expectations that I feel like everyone has for me, but today, while reading someone’s blog about what the Race is really, I remembered why I felt called to this mission in the first place.
The Race is not about playing a game of “holier-than-thou”, but it is about meeting people where they are, and just being willing to talk openly and freely about each other’s lives. The Race is not about reciting the bible for memory to people on the street, but living out what the bible teaches to that people can see the glory of God in our posture and our demeanor. The Race is not about doing the most good or helping the most people, but about being the hands and feet for people wherever we happen to be. Of course, God is going to do radical and amazing things in this next year, and while God is the God of the grand and the glorious, He is also the God of little things.
God doesn’t speak in roaring thunder, but in a still small voice. God reveals Himself in the moments when we are still and at peace. God shows His love and grace through our relationships with each other, and wherever two or three are gathered in His name, He will be there, too.
For some reason, I keep making God too big. I keep getting caught in feeling utterly unworthy of the work He will do for me, but I know that just like we will be meeting others where they are, God will meet me where I am. He will speak to me and work through me in the ways I will hear Him best. He will teach me how to be more obedient and more loving, but He will start from where I left off. He will not leave me or forsake me, and He will not let me drown in the ocean. He will be with me through this entire journey. I will no longer let satan tell me I am not good enough. I refuse to listen to him when he tells me that I can’t do this. My identity lies if God and God alone, and He says I’m worthy, and that’s enough. He may have spoken this to me in a small whisper, but that’s all He needs to do. My God can turn little seeds into trees that tower over the earth. My God can take the last, the lost, and the least, and give them the strength to share His praises throughout the earth. My God can break down walls just through the sound of His children singing His praise. My God can do big things, but He starts small, and that’s enough.
Here is a link to the blog “What the Race is REALLY” in case you want to give it a read 🙂
https://savannathomas.theworldrace.org/index.asp?filename=what-the-race-is-really
