A message to all who have supported me.
I would like to thank you all for your prayers and your donations. This last year brought with it a lot of thoughts, emotions, and ultimately – change. When I started the race my heart was hard and I didn’t really want to change. I didn’t know then that “change” was what the World Race is all about… All that I knew was that I had been called to go.
I’ve been given an incredible opportunity to serve this year but if you had asked me last year if I ever thought I’d be doing this, the answer would have been “No. What good is serving when you don’t get anything in return?”
But the truth is, serving isn’t about what you get out of it. In fact, I believe that true service is based on the idea that we probably won’t get anything at all in return. We should be serving out of love. We should serve because we care. We should serve because we want to be a change in this messed up and toxic world. We serve because we were commanded to by Christ. Mathew 20:28 “Even as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
This journey has not been easy for me, I was simply a boy walking through a doorway into an unreached world, one that I never knew existed. I’ve entered into places that pictures can’t contain, where poverty is both real and raw. I’ve witnessed disease and illness and I’ve been to places that seem unbearable… Yet, I know that there is still hope.
I came on this race scared, scared that I might not be good enough. I was wrapped up in so many labels (like being stupid and too sensitive) that I was blinded from seeing my true identity. I didn’t know who I was. The names that I had been called had become the person who I thought I was. I felt like I was nothing.
Each month, the layers of that person were scraped away like wallpaper, and some layers came off easier than others. I was put into situations where I was forced to grow. Where I had to view myself in a new light, one that showed me who I really was in Christ.
My lack of confidence this year has been transformed into a bold and roaring lion rushing forward in search of his creator. The insecurities that I’ve had for a majority of my life have been scraped away, so I now feel comfortable in my own skin. All of those characteristics that I viewed as weaknesses are now becoming my strengths.
GUYS! Do you have any idea what you’ve done for me?! You’ve given me the opportunity to find a new life in Christ! A life that I never thought I deserved. I’ve found pieces of myself that I’ve thought I had lost a long time ago… I’ve found forgiveness, Love, Hope, Grace, Peace, Rest, and the list goes on. I’m excited to share what I have planned for this next season. I don’t know if I can thank you all enough for your support but thank you, truly!
