Why I am on the Race:
As I look back on my life, I have to say that I have lived an easy and blessed life. I grew up in an affluent neighborhood and had access to good schooling. I have wonderful parents who raised me right. Always had good friends and a generous church community to keep me on the right path. I have been blessed with good health, access to health care and always had clean water and food on the table. God has been incredibly faithful to provide for all my needs (and even many of my wants) all throughout my life. I have never known what it truly means to go hungry, to be poor, or in need.
For several years there has been a steady burning in my heart that I need to be doing more. At times it has almost become a feeling of guilt for having the blessings that I too often have taken for granted. I don’t know why the Lord has chosen to bless me so, but Christ words in Luke 12 have been on my heart for some time:
“Everyone to whom much was given, of him much will be required…”
I have been sitting on my butt, accepting the gifts of God, making pitiful attempts to give back to the Lord for too long. God has called me to something bigger than myself and I have to answer.
How God eventually got me here:
After college I immediately began working for the accounting firm PwC. An incredibly blessing from God to have a job that gave me such job security and financial security in a struggling job market. I had good coworkers and it was a good company to work for. They did what they could to make the job bearable, but it’s a rough industry. I had some good times there, learned a lot, and did my best to have a good attitude, but I had a hard time with the type of work and the long hours.
After nearly 2 years that burning in my heart finally got to me and I felt God was calling me to do something else with my life, so I left the security of the job not really knowing where I was headed. A few months later I found myself research this thing call the World Race. Right away I wanted to do it. I have always loved mission work and had a desire to travel the world. I have looked into similar kinds of trips in the past, but God has always said no. This time, after praying about it for a couple weeks I felt this time it was a yes, so I dropped in an application. The process of applying and interviewing took a while, but I finally got word that I had been accepted! After some more prayer and seeking, God confirmed that this is where I need to be. God spoke to me very clearly through his word during my morning reading one day:
“And he said to them, ‘Truly I say to you, there is no one who has left house or wife or brothers or parents or children, for the sake of the kingdom of God, who will not receive many times more in this time, and in the age to come eternal life.” Luke 18:29-30
I had had concerns about leaving all that I know and love back home for an entire year, but immediately after I read this God showed me that I do not need to worry about these things. You see, I have always believed that God has eternity waiting for me in heaven, but my human nature was thinking of the here and the now, this life. Not only does he have eternity for me, but he will also provide all of my needs in this life, something my human nature causes me to sometimes forget. What’s more, this verse says that when I am faithful to the Lord he will bless me “many times more!” I have nothing to fear, my life and will are in his hands. I surrender.
