When I started on The World Race I was on a team of seven and we chose the name “God Before Us”. I loved my team, and it was a good name because we could feel God paving our way as we asked Him to prepare our hearts and go before us every step.
Team "God Before Us" : Emily, Wes, Hosanna, me, SJ, Missy, Hugh
After our first three months in Central America some of our team members changed and we picked a new name, “Meizon”, as we headed to Eastern Europe. In Greek meizon means, “greater~ in quality, not quantity.” There are 45 references to the word in the New Testament, and we chose it because we want to strive to be greater~ both individually and as a team. We don’t want to be stagnant in our spiritual walks, or settle for anything less than God’s best for us, which we know means growing, changing, and becoming greater! Greatness to us is being able to better fulfill the first and second commandments,
“Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind”
&
“Love your neighbor as yourself"
In doing those two things, everything else we are called to do as Christians is encompassed within them. We know that what it truly means to be a Christian is to live our life according to the teachings of Christ, so that every day we look more like Him. We aren’t striving for perfection, but we are striving to have real and honest relationships with the Lord, and with each other. Because we are only human we also realize that we have limits with our own strength and willpower, and that‘s why we need the Holy Spirit.
Many times in my life I’ve heard people say how hypocritical Christians are, and we are seen making the same mistakes as everyone else. That is true… we fail all the time, and give in to worldly desires because our flesh is weak. We have options every day… we can choose not to live for God (out of a lack of belief or lack of desire to do what it takes to follow His commands), or we can live lives that are ‘on the fence’ as we waver between living for Him and for ourselves. That is the pattern that a lot of us who came on the Race feel we were choosing before, and one of the reasons we came on this trip was to live a more radical life, even though we didn‘t know exactly what that would look like. Yes, we all believed in God, but were still living lives more inward focused on our own desires rather than having an upward focus on God, and therefore an outward focus toward others. Philippians 2:3 says, “Do nothing from selfish or empty conceit, but with humility of mind let each of you regard one another as more important than himself.” I know that I want my life to look more like the life of Christ, and in order to do that it takes being willing to die to ourselves every single day. When we come to the realization that we can’t change ourselves on our own, it is then that we can experience true freedom in our lives. We can live a different life only when we’re willing to give ours up. In Matthew 10:39 Jesus speaks some powerful words…
“Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.”
Every day I get to choose if I will continue to live my life by God’s standards or the world’s standards. Some days or moments I choose poorly because I am weak and stubborn and want to do things my way. I have made many mistakes in my life, and what blows my mind is that not only does God still love me just as much as ever, but also when I choose to do things His way the outcome is so much better and more rewarding. During a team Bible study we talked about the verse, “Enter through the narrow gate, for wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.“ (Matthew 7:13). I shared with my team the picture I had in my mind of a broad road and how easy it is to stumble around on it because of it’s size. It appears to bring freedom with how wide it is, but there’s so much room for distractions and destructiveness to share that space. With many people being on the road it can be chaotic and confusing sometimes, and accidents are inevitable. In contrast, when you picture a narrow road, there is peace within it‘s clear direction. There isn’t room to flail about like there is on the wider road. Of course there are sill obstacles and distractions, but Jesus promises that He will make our path straight and will help carry our burdens.
When I boarded a plane to start The World Race I left not only people I love, but also my home, my job/stability/routine, and in that gave up almost everything that gives me comfort. I have with me some familiar clothes (which are really familiar now), and my supplies (like my tent and sleeping bag), and those things are the majority of what is in my pack. There is a Christian song that has the lyrics, “Be my everything”, but it wasn’t until I was in Guatemala that first month that I experienced those words to the Lord coming true on a deeper level. That dependence on God deepened for me in El Salvador, and I’ll never forget the way my heart and perspective transformed that month.
All the way through our time in Honduras in March, everyone on our team, God Before Us, invested a lot of our time into each other, thinking that we would be together for the rest of the year. When our teams changed after month three it wasn’t easy, because that was really our only constant on the Race. Then our new team, Meizon, changed this month before we left for Africa, with Robin moving to a different team, and Mark joining ours.
Team "Meizon" in Ukraine: Robin, Hugh, me, Hosanna, Naomi, Jill, and Wes Our new teammate, Mark
We’re all excited about our new dynamic, and the opportunity we have to grow and learn more with each other. Experiencing team changes helps us to realize more and more how we need to rely on God for our strength and comfort, and in this we ask the Holy Spirit to guide us.
Speaking of the Holy Spirit, we chose our new team name to be “Waka Waka in the Spirit.” Yes, we were singing the Shakira song when we came up with it, but then we asked our contact what “Waka” means In Swahili. When we found out it means “on fire” or “to catch on fire” we were pretty excited. We want to experience more of the Spirit in our own lives, and help others to experience it as well. Jesus told His followers that after He died and rose again that the Spirit would come to be with them, and it would be better than having Him there. Can you imagine getting to walk and talk with Jesus, and experience life with Him, but then He tells you that a Spirit will come and it will be better? Jesus said, “He who does not love me will not obey my teaching. These words you hear are not my own; they belong to the Father who sent me. All this I have spoken while still with you. But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you. Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.” (John 14:23-27).
Since we’ve been here we’ve visited an AIDs hospital and we’ve gone on walks to different neighborhoods to evangelize. We were waka walkin’ this morning and were invited into the home of a lady named Rukia who we were told believes in Islam. After enjoying tea and snacks (rice bread and a roll), I asked our translator, Johnson, if Rukia would be okay with me sharing about my faith with her. She said yes, so I shared with her the message of salvation through Jesus. Even though Muslims believe in Jesus, they don’t believe He is God, so I explained that in the Bible Jesus says, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” (John 14:6). After sharing the gospel, I also talked about the impact of Jesus’ love in my own life, how He keeps transforming my heart, and how I’ve been blessed every time I listen to God’s leading in my life. I gave her some examples and then I sat quiet for a moment. I asked her what she was feeling in her heart. She spoke and Johnson translated, “she feels joy and she believes in Jesus.” So I asked if she would like to pray together and she said yes! The Holy Spirit stirred inside of me and I asked the Lord to give me the words to have her repeat after me. After we prayed she looked very happy, we hugged, and then we talked some more about being a new Christian, and we told her that not only were we rejoicing with her, but also the angels in heaven were rejoicing! Then, to make it even more exciting, the housekeeper, Thabita, who had also heard everything, said he also believed, and Hugh led him in a prayer. To say the least, it was a good morning.
Our time in Africa is blessing me so much. Tanzania is breathtakingly beautiful, and I had no idea I would love being here as much as I do. We just rode motorcycles (African taxi) to the Oasis Hotel so we could get on the internet to post our blogs (we don’t have wi-fi where we’re living this month). As we zoomed down the road, all I could do was smile. I say a lot of prayers of thanksgiving that I'm able to be here living this life of 'abandon', which is allowing me to experience more life than I ever have before.
