So let me start by telling you what PVT is. Somewhere around month 7 – 9 there is a week where the parents of racers can come onto the field alongside their Racers and get a vision of what life on the Race looks like and for some it’s a way for parents to see why their children chose to go on this crazy trip. Parent Vision Trip. It is a beautiful thing and I would have loved for my parents to come and see me, to see why I chose this life, to see why God is so important to me.
But that’s not what happened.
My parents couldn’t come, or didn’t want to, or at least that’s what the enemy wanted me to believe. They couldn’t get the time off of work and it took me a lot of tears and a lot of wrestling with God for me to understand they weren’t staying home because they didn’t love me enough, they just weren’t ready to experience this week.
Let me back track a bit. My team’s Ministry month 8 in Romania was to work alongside Raul, the man putting on PVT. Now only 3 of us had parents coming, so from the beginning we knew that we were choosing in to allow ourselves to be hurt. We knew that the farther we went and the more we helped, the more hurt we could potentially feel. And of course that meant I would take on the position of being in charge of all of the planning and details and basically in charge of everything on the Romania side of things, so there was no escaping the hurt of seeing parents with their children now.
Fast forward to the day when the parents arrive. All of my hard work has come to fruition, everything is going off without a hitch, and I see the parents getting off the busses. And I know my parents aren’t going to be getting off the bus. I know. But what I didn’t know was how seeing these parents who have read my blogs and watched my videos and supported me this year, parents of my squad mates would bring me to tears of joy. My parents weren’t there, but that didn’t mean I was orphaned.
Yes I cried when I saw parents worshipping God with their Racers. And yes I wished my Dad could walk alongside me in the Streets of Romania talking to people who have such rich stories. Yes I missed my mom’s hugs and yes I was heart broken they weren’t there to see how much I’ve grown. But that doesn’t mean they haven’t watched me this year. That doesn’t mean they aren’t proud of me. That doesn’t mean Jesus isn’t working in their lives this year.
I was parentless at PVT, but I was not orphaned.
