Katherine, my daughter, do you know the cost of following me?… Do you believe that I am worth abandoning everything for?… Is your true security and safety found in me, your Heavenly Father?… Will the riches of my love be enough for you my child?…Katherine, daughter of Michael and Karen Hughes, do you love me?…I bid you to come and die, I invite you to abandon the attachments of this world, a life of radical risks for a radical reward, as you move from a self indulging faith to a self denying faith. I have blessed you with my extravagant grace, my child, so that you may extend my extravagant glory to all peoples on the Earth! (Radical, David Platt)
"This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers"
– 1 John 3:16-20
As I sit here thinking of what my first blog post will be to start off this great adventure, I feel that nothing makes sense, but the Words from My Father, the Word of Truth, Jesus Christ, inspired by the great Holy Spirit. As I sat down to right this I began reflecting on Luke 9. I believe that this gave me great insight into the journey of a Christ follower, and even a World Racer!
11 Countries, 11 months, living on $4 a day, a backpack, sleeping bag, compassion and broken hearts, challenges, fear, laughter, discovery, sickness, loneliness, big bugs, vision, prayer, love, crying, frustration, pain, courage, orphans, widows, students, excitement, doubt, learning, mountains, valleys, miracles, growth, gypsies, sex trafficking victims, hot, cold, sweat, movement, community, fellowship, AIDS, teaching, healing, brokenness, hopelessness, darkness, surrender, sacrifice, hope, light, struggle, did I say fear yet? oh yea scared! PERFECT LOVE CASTS OUT ALL FEAR. BOOOYA.
Oh yea, nothing from that last paragraph was from Luke 9, but I had to get that out first, phew, I feel better now. Ok so you should check out Luke 9 for yourself because it will rock your world, but in this chapter the following is happening:
-Jesus is sending out His twelve disciples and "He gave them power and authority to drive out all demons and to cure diseases, and he sent them out to preach the kingdom of God and to heal the sick"
-Then Jesus decides to feed five thousand people with basically a happy meal…"they all ate and were satisfied"
-Jesus asks His disciple Peter, "But what about you? Who do you say I am?"…I am challenged by this question…My prayer is that I will gain a bigger vision of who God is as I see Him fleshed out around the nations of the world, and witness His mighty deeds when I am forced to rely on Him even more, daily, through my lack of comfort. Jesus continues to tell His disciples, "if anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will save it. What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit his very self?…"
-Jesus takes three of His disciples, Peter, John, and James to a mountain to pray, and God speaks to them and shows them glorious things, but they don't just stay on the mountain, they go back down, and act out their faith, and Jesus heals a demon possessed boy.
-Then Jesus rebukes an argument among the disciples…guess what they were arguing about?…they were arguing about who would be the greatest, I think I have that argument in my head everyday…gross…Jesus says, "for he who is least among you ALL-he is the greatest"
-The chapter continues with the opposition that they faced and the cost of following Jesus…. "no one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God".
In deciding to do the World Race, I have put my hand to the plow, I know that the harvest is plentiful and the workers are few. Although I am fearful at times, and want to look back, I know that the Lord my God will fight for me, and I have only to remain silent! So I stand, as I wrestle with my sinfulness, in God's grace, asking Him to use me as an ambassador of His Kingdom in a foreign land.
I am currently raising support: financial and prayer. I need to raise $15,000 for travel, accommodations, and food on my journey for 11 months. If you want to give click on the "Support Me" link on the left column of this page. If I can get 10 people to give $100 a month I will have most of my support raised! (I'm so good at math), or if a lot more people give $25 a month that would be totally awesome too! Or you can give a one time gift, which means you give one donation! I thought exclamation points might make that look more fun:)
Even more importantly, I am trying to get a group of prayer warriors to pray for me while I am on this trip in different countries. If you are interested in being on my team in that way, you can click the "Support Me" page as well!
