One of our coaches, aka our squad “dad”, told us he feels like a coach in the locker room after a double overtime win. The game was long. It was messy. There were high points and there were low points. But we played hard and we pushed through to the end. Until the very last whistle blew. We gave it our all, and we came out with a victory. And now he gets to look at all of us and say, “well done.”
He shared with us the Parable of the Talents or Parable of the Three Servants from Matthew 25:14-30. If you have never read this passage, click the link to read it. In summary this is what it says:
Three servants were each entrusted with bags of gold while their master went away. Two of the servants invested the money given to them and doubled the amount by time their master returned home. When the master saw what they did, he said to them, “Well done, my good and faithful servant. You have been faithful in handling this small amount, so now I will give you many more responsibilities.” The third servant decided to bury the money in the ground for fear of losing it, so when the master returned, he had only the same amount that was given to him initially. When the master saw this, he said to him, “you wicked and lazy servant.” He then took the money away from him and gave it to one of the other servants and said, “To those who use well what they are given, even more will be given, and they will have abundance. But from those who do nothing, even what little they have will be taken away.”
The World Race is the bag of gold that has been given to me. I wasn’t perfect. I screwed up a lot. I wasted more days than I care to admit. But the Lord still looks at me and says, “Well done, my good and faithful servant.” He trusted me with this trip and the people I would meet along the way, and in some way, shape, or form, I spread the Kingdom everywhere I went. Even in the imperfection, I have multiplied what the Lord has given me.
I failed a lot. I didn’t blog and share stories as often as I should have. I didn’t always spend enough time loving the people that were right in front of me. I had days where the last thing I wanted to do was ministry, so I went through the day completely checked out, not caring about the reason I was there.
But then I also think back to all the times I didn’t fail. I look back on all the relationships I have built over the past 11 months. Some of them only lasted a day, others a week or two, and some of them are still going strong months later. In each of those relationships, I know the Lord used me to bring a little bit of His light and love into the life of my new friend. Even when I don’t see the fruit, I know that I was planting seeds. I know I have taken advantage of the gifts God has given me, of the people He has trusted me with. Even if I failed some days, in the end I served and spread Kingdom in every way I knew how.
And that is all He ever wanted from me. To love Him and serve Him out of that love. Now He is looking at me and saying, “Well done, my good and faithful servant.Well done.”
The Lord has already trusted me with so much over the past few years, including this trip, and I am so excited and honored to see what He will trust me with next and in the years to come.
Thank you to everyone who made this adventure possible through prayers and financial support. I can’t express enough how much it has meant to me.
The 37 members of K-Squad have made the Kingdom bigger and brighter in the 13 countries we have had the honor to serve over the past year, and I am forever grateful for this opportunity and the people I have had the privilege of sharing this journey with.
Friends and family, I can’t wait to see you. K-Squad, I love you and I will miss you dearly.
JB, OUT! (double peace signs)
