So I am a Lord of the Rings nerd.
Y’all would find out eventually but I decided to let you in on my embarrassing obsession and get it out of the way. I have read the books multiple times, I own the special edition DVDs, and I may or may not have once tried to learn elvish.
There is just something about JRR Tolkien’s magical world of Middle Earth, with its evil rings, mystical creatures and the overall theme of good finally triumphing over evil, that I can’t help but love.
As I was thinking over how different this next year will be for me I couldn’t help but draw a connection between the main character Frodo Baggins and me. Frodo is living a comfortable life until he acquires an evil ring that sends him on a perilous journey through Middle Earth on a mission to destroy said ring, thereby destroying all evil. It may not seem like there are many connections but this is what I found.
1. Frodo tries to pass the responsibility of getting rid of the ring to someone he thinks is better suited.
The World Race was something that I pushed against when I felt convicted that this was something God wanted me to do. I argued with God about how I was comfortable with the job I held, that I would have to leave everyone and everything I know, and that seriously there HAD to have been someone better suited to being a missionary than me.
2. After accepting the responsibility of the ring, Frodo joins a fellowship who walks with him on this journey.
God has a way of being very convincing, and with a lot of prayer and counsel I accepted the call to go on World Race. I don’t know what this year holds but I do know that I will be with a fellowship of amazing believers. At Training Camp I got to know my family for the next year and they are some of the best people I have ever met. They are funny, warm, goofy and have faith that I look up to.
3. Frodo and his fellowship, through adventures both good and bad, finally destroy the ring and change the fate of Middle earth forever.
My fellow racers and I will spend a year inevitably full of ups and downs. Spending every day together is bound to bring frustrations and hurt feelings. But how cool is it that we get to spend a year all over the world, changing eternity for the people we meet? Our Race is our Middle Earth. We are taking the ring, whether its sickness, poverty, neglect; and destroying it by speaking Truth into peoples’ lives, by building homes and playing the guitar, by putting on skits and holding babies. We are changing lives.
Through us God will do amazing things and we will be changed in the process.
