Nothing about my life is normal anymore. Two weeks ago, I was explaining American slang in a coffee shop to Southeast Asian 20-somethings and discussing Islamaphobia in the US from the back of a motorbike. A few days ago, I learned a silly dance and performed it to an entire village in a VBS-like gathering. Yesterday I spent four hours separating grains of rice. Two months ago, I was washing blankets with my feet.
Not only is there nothing remotely normal about my life on the World Race, but there is really no consistency either. Month to month, this journey looks completely different (sometimes even week to week or day to day). Let me recount my experience thus far: we went from a rehab facility/homeless shelter to a school to an orphanage to handing out flyers to spending time hanging out with adults and practicing conversational English to an island for children’s village ministry and we are en route to preschool Christmas parties. Please tell me on what planet this would be considered a “normal” fluctuation in weekly or monthly job responsibilities.
I’ve lived in massive cities that were very westernized and tiny villages without wifi. I spent a month with the Muslim call to prayer echoing throughout my day and another surrounded by gargantuan, European-style, Catholic churches. In some places, I can hardly walk down the street without being invited into someone’s home. Sometimes everyone wants to take my picture. Other times they just stare. Sometimes they don’t even notice because I’m just another white person in a city filled with foreigners. I’ve slept on mats on the floor, shared beds with teammates, relived my summer camp days in bunk beds, and spent many nights on buses.
The only source of consistency in my life is my team- oh wait, that just changed. I have nothing.
But, just when I start to believe this is true, I remember that there is consistency in my life: I have Jesus. In every corner of the world, no mater where this crazy journey takes me, I have Jesus. When I can depend on nothing else, I can always depend on Jesus.
And you know what? I don’t want my life to be normal.
I don’t want to go home in June, start school again in August and carry on life as normal. I want my life to be unapologetically abnormal. I want people to look at me and think, “wow, she is not normal.” I want them to wonder what is different about me and I want them to be curious. I want them to ask me about my life so I can tell them the greatest news ever- that Jesus died for their sins and loves them more than they could ever imagine. I want my life to look like the life of Jesus which was everything but normal.
I want to seek people who are hurting or broken and love them. I want to listen to God’s voice and follow his calling despite my fears. I want to intercede for those who are helpless. I want to strive to serve the kingdom of God every single day because life is a mission trip. God sent each and everyone one of us to Earth to love people and to share about His love. We have the chance to do that every single day. We don’t have to leave the country or go to a different area to serve- we simply have to listen to the Lord. I want THAT to be my new normal.
I don’t know exactly what that looks like yet when I think about home but thankfully I have 6.5 more months of a life that I can guarantee will not be normal to help me practice.
