When I set out on my World Race journey I didn’t really think through exactly what it would look like to travel the world for a year spending each month in a different country. The Race sounded exotic, exciting and like a great adventure, but the logistics of living out of a backpack and living in a tent seemed to escape me at the beginning. Now the calendar is telling me I have 50 days until training camp. 50 days to purchase, learn how to use, and properly pack 11 months worth of stuff into one 65L backpack. You see, training camp is supposed to be a small taste of what you might experience on the race, including trying to live out of your pack and tent and sleeping bag and sleeping pad and all those other things I never thought I would own, let alone depend on for 11 months.
My brain has been on overdrive these past few weeks. I not only have a deadline to reach financially by the end of the month, but I also have to purchase a ticket to get to training camp and buy all my gear. It’s amazing the ways that I have seen God show up in all of this, he has humbled me time and time again to realize that he always provides. You can’t help but be humbled when a homeless man gives you the only $3 he has for your trip. God is teaching me that I can depend on him to meet all of my needs. That he will show me his love in the humblest of ways, if I will be willing to humble my pride to meet him. With all of this comes my realization that the gear I need for this trip goes far beyond the tent and sleeping bag that I will call home for a year.
God is trying to prepare me with the tools I need to truly survive this next year. A tent may keep me dry and packing cubes may make the whole process easier, but if I don’t learn the lessons of faith that he is asking of me I will never really be prepared to embark on this adventure. It’s been frustrating at times because I am excited to purchase all of these cool new things and become the cool camping expert, but God is slowing me down and forcing me to learn his lessons first. It’s amazing when you have no money to purchase gear what you realize about coveting and pride. I want to be the person who has all the best gear and all new things, but God wants me to be gracious and humble. He wants me to never forget the reasons for going on the Race, and they don’t include becoming a boss at camping.
So I am trying to learn to be ok with not having everything that I want the minute that I want it. I’m trying to be ok with not having all of the best gear in time for training camp. I’m trying to learn to trust in God’s timing and provision above my own. I have to trust that not only will God provide the $17000 I need for my trip but that he will provide the gear and extra money I need as well. I have to trust that God will not bring me half way through all of this just to leave me struggling to make ends meet. Because my God is good and he will provide all that I could ever need.
If you would like to support me through blessing me with gear check out my gift registry on rei.com. Click on the gift registry tab on the top of the page and then enter my name where it says give a gift. I know God can and will provide in the exact way I need, but there are a lot of things I still need to buy before training camp and anything you could do would help.
