Writing this blog has been something I have been putting off. I am really emotional about my World Race journey coming to an end, and in two weeks, I will be back on U.S. soil. It is a foreign thought to think that I won’t be boarding a plan with 31 others to a new country. I won’t be living out of a backpack or jumping from bed to bed and sitting on a bus for 12 hour bus rides. My journey on the World Race is within sight, and it’s hard to express how I feel.
I want to celebrate. I want to grieve. I want to cry. I want to hold on to the moments I have with my squad, so I can cherish them for the rest of my life.
But something that is hard to wrap my mind around is the concept of ”home.” I know people keep saying we are coming home so soon, but in a way it doesn’t feel like I am coming home. I just feel like my journey is continuing and it just so happens to be back in a place where I lived for a majority of my life. But I don’t think I am ever going “home” until the day I breathe my last breath and I am with Jesus.
This past year, I lived in 11 countries and slept in over 30 beds. I experienced new cultures and met new people who felt like family. I ate some strange food, learned some new languages, and embraced new traditions. This past year was so much more than a mission trip— it was a part of my life, and I have the honor to say that I lived in each of these countries I went to! Not just visit or go on vacation to, but to actually LIVE. How cool is that?
And in the middle of all the traveling and change, one thing remained constant: God.
God remained constant and unchanging through it all. He became my rock, my truth, and my foundation upon which I will live the rest of my life. God became my home. And as I prepare to travel back to the states and experience some similarities that I had before the race, I will have the same God.
The same God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. The God who sent Jesus to die on the cross for us. The God I love and know. And the same God who created you.
So, yeah. I guess you could say I am going “home.” Or you could say that my race has just begun, and I’m going to my next country. And that the adventure just continues, but this time my squad and I go out into the world to spread His kingdom further.
