We are down to our last couple of days in Ecuador. For the
past week, I have had an array of questions juggling around in my head.
Why does God have me on the Race?
What does God want from me in Ecuador?
What happens to these kids once we leave?
What impact have we really had here?
What does it mean to be whole?
What does it mean to be beautiful?
I have been steadily reading through Jeremiah since we
arrived in Ecuador. I wonder how Jeremiah felt in the midst of his story. I
wonder if he ever doubted whether what he heard was really from God. I wonder
how often he felt lost, alone, discouraged as he poured his heart out and was
cursed/arrested/his nation conquered/his people exiled.
I am finding that the World Race is not quite what I
expected. This is not a year-long vacation. It isn’t even a year-long mission
trip. It isn’t a cure to my woes. It isn’t spiritually glamorous.
The World Race is just life. Life. Full of choices. Changing
the setting cannot hide the fact that this is just life. Unique scenery and new
people won’t, for very long, distract us from having to live.
For me, this journey is about obedience. Simple, radical
obedience. Fighting to discover the will of God and fighting to follow where it
beckons. Like Jeremiah, I long to just do what the Lord asks me to do. To say
what He asks me to say. To go where He wants me to go.
1 Corinthians 1:17 says: “For Christ did not send me to
baptize, but to preach the gospel – not with words of human wisdom, lest the
cross of Christ be emptied of its power.”
My questions will remain a mystery. My agenda will be
unfulfilled. My expectations inevitably blown away. That is a necessary part of
the faith equation. We are called to trust in a power that is foolishness to
human wisdom. Called to walk in obedience, not understanding.
Today, there is a gospel to proclaim. A life to live. A
choice to be made. A King to obey. Obedience looks different every moment. It
stays unpredictable. Undefined. Obedience looks like walking hand in hand with
Jesus, trusting, following where He leads. It is mystery. It is beauty. It is
life. Life abundantly is doing life obediently. God calls us to go, to stay, to
fight, to peace, to contentment, to longing, to speak, to silence… ultimately,
to love. Radical obedience looks like the heart of Christ. When we press in to
who He is, we find ourselves where He wants us to be. At any moment, in every
moment, wherever in the world we are, however we are feeling, whatever we may
be thinking, to pursue the pure heart of God is to participate in radical
obedience.
