Before I left for the race, people kept telling me, “This will be an adventure of a lifetime.” And the phrase never sat right with me. For days I couldn’t pinpoint what it was, but something about those eight words made me want to cringe. Well, I finally figured out why. Tonight I sat in another training session at our hotel and the speaker, Bill Swan, put into words what I have been feeling. He said something along the lines of “this is not the adventure of a lifetime, but a lifetime of adventure.” And then it made sense. I never cared for that phrase because it’s small minded. It’s limited. And it’s just inadequate.
For the world race to be “an adventure of a lifetime” it would have to be my only adventure… for my entire life. I can’t have that. I refuse to be content with that idea. I refuse to ever believe that God doesn’t always have something bigger and greater around the corner for me. I strongly believe that God will always open my eyes to newer and more exciting things, if I allow Him to. I don’t want to ever reach my peak of adventure with the Holy Spirit.
Yesterday I was in a circle of a few people and we were talking about our dreams and then we prayed over them. My dream was that I wouldn’t come home from the race as the same person. I don’t want to fly home in 9 months and sink back into my same lifestyle. Not that there’s anything necessarily wrong with it. I just know that there’s more. And that goes beyond the world race. I’m praying that the world race is not the greatest thing that I ever do. God doesn’t call us to settle. So, I will always seek more.
I didn’t sign up for the World Race for the adventure anyway. I didn’t sign up for the awesome sight-seeing or even the traveling all together. I committed to this for the messy stories of hurting people. I left my comfort to be thrown into the ugly, broken, and dirty. I chose this so that I could sit with the worthy that feel worthless. Because I need it. I need this risk and uncertainty. This is where I’ll grow. This is where I’ll become more like Jesus. He knows that I’ll thrive in this battle.
All of that being said, I’ve decided that this will not be an adventure of a lifetime, but the start of adventures for a lifetime.
SO… there it is. IF you’re still reading, here’s an update on what’s going on:
I left home 3 days ago and flew to Atlanta for a few days of final training before fully beginning my world race. As much as I’ve loved this time of reconnecting with my team and preparing my heart a little further, I’m ready to get the heck out of America and do this thing. We leave for Antigua, Guatemala at about 5 p.m. today where I’ll be until around the beginning of November. Am I ready? Yes. Am I sure about that? No. Do I have the Holy Spirit on my side? Abso-freakin-lutely.
We’ve trained and trained. Prayed and prayed. And now it’s time to shine the light. Please continue to pray today and throughout my journey. Pray for my squad, my team, and me. Pray for Guatemala.
