On September 1st I found myself sitting on bus from Požarevac, Serbia headed to the capital city of Belgrade for a weekend of Debrief with my squad. I spent most of that trip staring out the window and watching the changing landscape while I tried to process a maelstrom of thoughts and emotions. That day marked the end of the first month of ministry on the World Race. That was 17 days ago and it still feels surreal typing it out. In that bus from Požarevac to Belgrade I tried to sort out a range of emotions including/but not limited to: shock, excitement, regret, anxiety, pure joy, confusion, and disbelief that this is truly what my life looked like. It’s not easy to sum up the first month of my Race by simply using words. Even if I could see each one of you in person I couldn’t adequately explain all that it encompassed. But I’m going to give it a shot regardless.
Fortunately for my team and I, the ministry we were assigned to was set up in a way that gave us a semi-smooth transition from American life to World Race life. We lived in an apartment on the outskirts of town; which means we had a roof, electricity, and running water: three things that are not guarantees when on the World Race. Even though the city we lived in was heavily influenced by the Orthodox Church and not extremely welcoming to anything outside of that, we didn’t fear for our health or safety because of our status as missionaries. Our ministry consisted heavily of building friendships with people near our age and encouraging the extremely loving people of the church. While this role is extremely important, there wasn’t any undue pressure on us to perform miracles or lead worship for an entire church or give sermons on the spot. Taking all these things into account, we all felt very lucky to be in Požarevac in month one.
I’m telling you all of this not to brag or give you unrealistic expectations for the Race, but so you’ll understand the place I am coming from. I can’t promise you these same circumstances in your first month; yours could be significantly worse or wildly better than our situation. But regardless of the place you are put in, God is gonna do some works in you that I can almost promise you aren’t ready for, but that you absolutely need.
If your month one is anything like mine, you’re going to feel incredibly displaced and incapable for the first two weeks, even though you still have most of the common conveniences of your life in America. That’s okay. You just left your entire life behind you, no one is expecting you to adjust to this life in any short time.
If your month one is anything like mine, you’re going to learn that there’s a lot of people and places outside of your comfort zone that need you and specifically you; because no one else in this world can show love the way you show love.
If your month one is anything like mine, you’re going to find a previously untapped level of appreciation for that food your momma would make you and that coffee you could pick up at any time on a whim. What I wouldn’t give for a gallon of Lynn’s homemade mint chocolate chip ice cream and a reasonably-sized cup of joe (think of a Tall from Starbucks, minus a few ounces; that’s a large in Serbia)
If your month one is anything like mine, God is going to call you to do something huge in the first week to give you a chance to dive deep right off the bat. It’s going to be a little scary, maybe terrifying. Do it. I promise you wont regret it. On day 5 Jesus told me that if I prayed for the blind woman at our house church, He would heal her. Did I do it? Yes. Did it take an hour and thirty minutes to work up the nerve? You know it. Was it scary? 1000% yes. Did it work? He told me she’d be healed before I got back to the States, so that’s comin.
If your month one is anything like mine, only pray for what you’re ready to receive; because JC will hit you with some real stuff if you truly ask for it, whether you’re ready or not. I asked God to make me someone who walks in the spirit, and two days later I was praying demons out of an Orthodox Church. If you’d have told me that before I left for the Race I probably would have stayed home, but it happened and it was awesome and here we find ourselves.
If your month one is anything like mine, you’re going see some you qualities you never thought you had. Ya know those good things people always say they see in you and you brush them off? Yeah those are true. You need to embrace them. In month one I learned that I’m courageous and that I can actually lead worship if need be. Before the Race, you couldn’t have convinced me either of those were true; and I’m sure you yourself have a laundry list of those qualities just waiting to be unearthed.
If your month one is anything like mine, you’re going to realize that whether you feel like it or not; you are incredible and you are exactly the person who needs to be here. There are still days I wake up and wish I was staring at the ceiling of my room in Dacula, GA; not at the bottom of a bunk in Draganesti-Olt, Romania that dozens of other Racers have slept in. But I’m here, I’m bought in and I’m doing this because I know there’s a reason I was placed here.
You are stronger than you know, more influential than you realize, have more gifts than you could ever imagine and are more capable than you ever thought possible. You’ve got this. Trust me.
