We should stop looking for God to reveal the future to us and remove all risk from our lives. We should start looking to God-His character and His promises-and thereby have confidence to take risks for His name’s sake. God is all-knowing and all-powerful. He has planned out and works out every detail of our lives-the joyous days and the difficult-all for our good (Ecclesiastes 7:14). Because we have confidence in God’s will of decree, we can radically commit ourselves to His will of desire, without fretting over a hidden will of direction. In other words, God doesn’t take risks, so we can. Kevin DeYoung
Years ago I heard about a kingdom journey called The World Race. On The Race, young adults travel around the world with little more than a backpack to share the gospel and see God amongst the nations. I spent time pouring over blogs, reading about how God was working abroad and in the lives of those who participated. Any casual observer could see that those who went would never be the same. They would be wrecked by global poverty, inspired by how the gospel spreads, and determined to be a servant of The Lord (Matthew 9:37).
So I dreamed. I dreamed one day I would win the lottery and go on The Race. I dreamed that God would have made me braver and more adventurous in order to take this step. I never dreamed, though, that I would actually do it the hard way. Leave my job? Fundraise $16k? Leverage myself to where if God didn’t come through, it wouldn’t happen? All of that just sounded too big, too hard, too scary, and so it remained little more than a dream. The idea of truly trusting God for my daily bread was too daunting. And so, I resigned myself that this journey would simply remain a “what if,” never to truly be experienced.
Over the past year, though, as I began to be obedient to The Lord in more areas of my life, I started to hear a faint whisper when it came to The World Race. I started to quietly hear God asking me, “why not you?” I felt God asking me to face up to the question of why not me when it came to The Race. Every objection I had-money, career, people-God quickly answered that He is in charge of all of that. I opened my bible and read about people like the disciples who dropped their nets (aka career) to follow Jesus and change the world. I read about shepherds who believed with God, a slingshot could defeat a warrior. I read about God providing in crazy ways, people being challenged to sell all they have, and lives being changed. I started to see the fear of this journey does not align with the God of the bible and the God I say I believe. I realized I have an all-powerful, all-loving Father who provides, guides, and makes His children brave.
So here I am taking that step as if it were a ledge that would collapse without God keeping it up. It has been beautiful, terrible, exciting, and gut wrenching all at the same time. In the end, as things have more difficult, as the odds have stacked more against me, I have realized I am exactly where God wants me. God wants me and all other believers to live a life that is so dependant on faith that we can’t help but attribute everything to Him. God wants us to take risks and dream big dreams that will bring glory to His name. God wants to show people that a relationship with Him will be stretching and wonderful all at the same time. God wants us to finally give up the vice grip on control and let Him run the show. And through things like this, God will use people to change the world.
So this is my call for all of us to dream God sized dreams. For some, it may be the World Race, for others it may be creating a community in your neighborhood that invites people to dig in deep or mentoring a student in a different part of town. When we start dreaming God-sized dreams, we will be stretched to our max and give God the glory. So what are you going to do?
Will you come with me? Will you follow me to the far stretches of the world-from India to Mozambique? Will you pray, more than anything, that the gospel is proclaimed and God is glorified? Will you pray for revival amongst the nations?
I will be traveling with a group of 40 other young adults to the following places: India, Nepal, South Africa, Swaziland, Mozambique, Estonia, Latvia, Thailand, Cambodia, Burma and Vietnam. We will be working with local missionaries doing anything from evangelism to manual labor. In the past, Racers have worked in coffee shops in Thailand trying to rescue women from the sex-trade, lived in an orphanage in Swaziland, led mission-minded sports camps in South Africa, and done street evangelism in villages all over. We will see how God is working around the world and will share our stories of how God has worked in us. With little more than a 50-pound backpack, we will be challenged to live with little and find joy in God alone. We will be amazed as God provides in crazy ways and uses us to make His name great.
Interested in supporting? Stay tuned for a blog to sign-up to be one of my prayer warriors. I also need to raise $16,242 dollars for this year. My deadlines are as follows: $3,500 by mid-September, $7,500 by Dec. 16, 2014, $11,000 by April 1, 2015, and $16,242 by July 1, 2015. If you are interested in supporting financially, click on the “Support Me” link on the left.
