Dear Parents of P-Squad:
We are incredibly thankful to share this week with you.
We are thankful that you are parents who are willing to give up their normal rights that parents have with their children to let us serve the Lord and the world.
You got signed up for the World Race without an application, an interview, or mandatory counseling, like most of us in the room. You got roped into this without knowing what would happen.
Most of us researched something about the race before we signed up.
From the stories I have heard from your kids, most of you were signed up without the same privilege.
You trusted the Lord with your biggest blessings.
Even when the earthquake struck, you were steadfast. I remember the first conversation with my dad after the earthquake where he told me that he trusted me, our leadership, AIM, and God following a situation that should have rocked him and my mom to the core. I was met with a “Keep going kid. I’m proud of you. Do what you need to do.” I sat on the roots of a tree and cried because I realized that he trusted his God with me. In the days that followed, we returned to Kathmandu, Nepal, and got back on the internet and saw the outpouring of love and concerns for the ones who knew us. Some of you fielded phone calls from frantic friends who wanted to know that we were okay and you had to tell them “I don’t know yet.” You trusted the Lord with us, even when your voice shook and your reasoning told you to do everything but trust.
You have served us in encouraging conversations, emails that remind us that we are thought about, instagram comments, pouring over our blogs, and conversations over internet connections that are not good enough.
Some of you dedicated us in front of your churches and promised to raise your children to serve the Lord. But I have a question: Did you know the day that you stood in front of your church that trusting the Lord with your child would cost you what the race has cost you? Did you know in that moment that you would be in Chiang Mai doing ministry along side of the child you promised for the Lord’s service? I imagine that most of you never dreamed of these moments prior to learning of the World Race.
You are the people who taught us to walk, to talk, and to serve. You are the people who saw us grow because you were willing to let go.
You are the ones who let us do this thing called the World Race.
You were the ones who released us into our purposes.
You are the ones who release your children for the cause of the one who rescued us.
