A people of Exile
“Really God, 11 countries, leaving home for 11 months, are you kidding.” God said, “No Kelly I am not kidding, you are going, and don’t worry, I will be with you.”
That was my journal entry just a few short weeks ago when I learned I was accepted on an 11 month mission trip called the World Race. When I applied for the race my life was in turmoil. I was healing from a recent breakup. My company was not making a profit. I was new to Las Vegas, and still not sure how or why I ended up in Sin City. God had put the question, “For What?” on my heart. “Kelly, for what?” For what was my company about, for what was my life about? When I came home from church and googled “Christian Mission trips” and the world race came up, I thought it was an answer to prayer. I had nothing to lose, I had nothing here in Las Vegas, why not take a vacation for a year and travel to world. It was the perfect escape, I thought.
Luckily, as you might have guessed, God new better. You can’t go on a mission trip to “run away” from life. I never understood what a “calling” was, until now. Over the next few weeks some amazing things happened. My life completely turned around. I started to really seek the Holy Spirit, I started to spend more time in the Word, in prayer, asking God to lead me, to call to me. Just a few short weeks after applying for the World Race I was living a different life. I was leading a small group at my church. I refurnished my condo and I loved it. I had some amazing Christian friends. I stared dating a godly man that I care deeply for, and who cared for me. I had some promising and exciting business opportunities. Life was just grand. I had put all thoughts of the World Race behind me, I was happy and comfortable in my new life right here at home.
The next Saturday, I got the call, I was accepted to the race. My first reaction, oh, that’s great, but I am not going. Then something deep in my heart pulled at me. “Kelly, you are going, and don’t worry, I will be with you.” WHAT??? But God, my life is great now, I have nothing to run from, why would I leave now? God, I am finally getting “comfortable” here.
The Exodus. God’s act of deliverance created a new community. The Exodus demonstrates that God can be moved to establish a new order in the view of all nations. The law is intended to represent an intention to live in a covenant relationship with a people committed to holiness, the priestly kingdom. God was forming this priestly nation, on the move, in the desert. As I read the Word, I realized that was my calling as well. That God had just begun him work in me, and that he was calling me to the desert, to the nations, to be on the move. So that he may create a new order in me.
God’s people were not only seen leaving in the old testament, they also entered the promised land, and they settled. And there in the land of milk and honey, they got complacent, they got “comfortable”. Remember my words earlier. But, God, why would I leave now, I am finally “comfortable”. The threat of the land is bound up in it’s promise. Satisfaction. To put trust in things rather than in God. Israel become settled, they began to focus inward on their own needs a desires. They no longer lived a distinct way in the world, they were no longer holy, and could no longer serve as the priestly kingdom.
I ask those of you who have been blessed financial to prayerfully
consider joining my World Race team as a financial supporter by
clicking “Support Me” on the left. And, please share this article with
others by clicking “Tell a Friend.”
