I ’ve been travelling by ferry, ship, airplane, kayak, and car to various locations for just under 3 weeks,
and while it was a beautiful adventure I am exhausted and will be glad to come home. I also know that I only have one or two days of “rest” until I have to leave home again for another week and a half of craziness. These couple days at home won’t be so much be time to relax as it will undoubtedly be time for hurried, scatterbrained, and anxious preparation for Training Camp. But this has been the norm of my life, busily scurrying from one activity directly into the next and I have learned to cope and find simple ways to refocus and breathe. I love traveling and have convinced myself I can quickly work my way through any airport. But more than the traveling I enjoy getting off whatever mode of transportation I may be taking and experiencing new places, people, culture, and scenery (like this midnight Alaskan summer sun"set").
I enjoy the frenzy. I enjoy the chaos. And to a certain degree I even enjoy the stress. It is all a part of experiencing the excitement of life. And my, my, the more I experience the more I realize I have yet to.
But after all the new sights and sounds have worn on me, overwhelmed my senses and ability to absorb them,
I am always grateful to come home.
But, I am slowly starting to realize the gravity of this year long commitment I have made to the World Race. I will be going from country to country, spending only a month in each one until I pack up and continue the chaos and frenzy of relocating to another one. Only after each new adventure, I will not have the luxury of coming home, collecting my thoughts, and enjoying the familiarity and comfort of my own space. I will have to launch immediately into a new environment with new diversions to absorb and overwhelm.
This means that I will constantly have to refocus and entirely rely on finding my home not in a specific place in the world, but in God alone. MINDBLOWN.
This sounds like a simple idea, one we have heard many times, but one I know I have never fully lived by. I can recall finding rest in my bed and in my favorite pillow, comfort in the welcoming branches from the grove of trees I have grown up in, and restoration being surrounded by the familiar faces of friends and family. Everything I own and have associated as my own have brought me a false sense of belonging, and therefore a false sense of peace. But I will not have these luxuries, just as many of the people I will be meeting and working with do not. My worldly things will fall away and I will have to fall back on God.
It is scary, but also entirely exciting.
I know I will fail.
I know I will get overwhelmed and burnt out, and that my “comfort” will be the idea that at the end of a year I will be able to go back to the easy living of being “home” with all the amenities I know I will miss. But starting today I hope and pray that The World Race will redefine my true home.
I pray that while I am stressed and feeling lost I will find peace in my heart from being found in the Lord.
I pray that while my body aches for physical comfort and cleanliness my soul will ache for the arms of the loving Father and a pure heart in His holiness.
I pray that while I yearn for the love of people I know and miss, I will be overwhelmed with new love of God’s children as my new family, and the abounding love of our Papa.
I pray that while I am wandering the world as a stranger longing to belong, I will find my Welcome Home in God.
Because there is no better feeling than being home no matter where you are. And that is all the assurance and comfort I need.
(And just for kicks and giggles here is my favorite picture from my most recent adventures to put a smile on your face.)
