I’m currently in Ankara, Turkey. I have 1 more week here then I fly to Kyrgyzstan for another debrief. This one is special because my squad is meeting up with another squad that is going through the 10/40 window as well. Normally squads don’t do debriefs together, but we are the first 2 Expedition routes to ever launch and go through the countries we are going through. So we will get to spend a few days worshiping and sharing experiences together. I’m really excited for it!
I wanted to share some thoughts that have been on my mind lately.
The other day, a guy on my squad (Luke) did a teaching on knowing our “why” behind what we do. He then asked each of us “why” we decided to come on the World Race. I found out about the World Race 2.5 years before I actually left in Jan. 2015. As soon as I found out I basically said, “God, I want to do this…please”.
I love missions, traveling, discipling, evangelizing, enjoying God’s beauty all around the world, experiencing new cultures, foods, and people.
These are all reasons I was attracted to the World Race. So I shared this to the team. But as I spoke it out, I realized these things were mostly things about me. When I thought about my “why” for this year and squad leading, my answers were similar. I wanted something to do to fill my time until I began school in the Fall. So I decided to do the things I love, which is making disciples of all nations, traveling with them from country to country, evangelizing and serving local ministries.
As I was reflecting on this, these all seemed like selfish reasons for going. It seems like I chose to go to serve and love others for the sake of others. But in reality, I chose to go for me. It’s something that I love to do and so I chose to go because I wanted to.
But I don’t think this is an ungodly selfishness.
Let me explain.
Children, when they are young need their parent to help them with everything. A parent will ask their child questions like, “Did you brush your teeth? Did you wash your face? Are you hungry? Do you need to go pee?” But when a child is 18 years old you should never hear the parent asking those questions. They grow up and mature. They no longer need to be treated like a little child. They know for themselves that they can brush their teeth, shower, eat and pee whenever they feel like. The parent has trained them over an extended amount of time to do these things.
It’s the same way with our relationship with God. When we are new/young believers, God treats us like a parent does with young children. I believe He leads us very clearly and specifically into things while we are young/immature compared to when we are older/maturer believers.
As we get to know the Fathers Heart, He entrusts us to make decisions on our own. He is not a dictator and controlling God. He gives His children free will and partners with them in their passions and desires. Instead of always telling you what to do (like when you’re younger), He asks the question, “What would you like to do?”. My theory for when God gives people 3 or 4 different options to choose in life, is that He is trusts them to make the right decision and will bless whatever one they choose. But so many people are stuck being a child in their thinking, and don’t act on anything because they “haven’t heard from God what to do”. He is waiting for them to act. They keep themselves back from experiencing His greatness for their life because they don’t recognize God is entrusting them to make a decision.
The more we spend time with God, the more we know His heart and make the decisions that He would make.
So to bring it full circle, when I decided to do the World Race and Squad Lead, I wanted to go for many reasons. I love missions, traveling, discipling, evangelizing, enjoying God’s beauty all around the world, experiencing new cultures, foods, and people. At first, I saw this as selfish, but when I looked again at this list, I saw it in a different light.
You see, God loves missions. God loves traveling (Jesus went from village to village preaching the gospel). God loves discipleship. God loves evangelizing. God created various foods to be enjoyed. He created beautiful sceneries on this earth for us to stare in awe at and give Him glory. He created people to have differences and to be unique in their own cultures. He gave them various languages, skin colors, foods, and ways of life. He enjoys all of this.
As I have grown in my relationship with God, these things become more and more enjoyable. As I get to know His heart, I become passionate about the things He is passionate about and my “why” comes in line with His “why”.
So if I were to answer the question again of what is my “why”, I would say,
“I do the things I do because my Father loves them too” (yes, it rhymes)
