Training camp- the longest/slowest/happiest/most challenging/grueling/humbling 10 days of every future world racers adventure. After the initial excitement of training wears off, I believe I can speak for most racers by saying that thoughts of being “over it” begin to creep into your head.
For me this moment happened one morning during my cool down from a run. Running is my outlet; it’s how I destress, gain energy, and begin my day with a “go get’em” momentum. It was only the third day of training when I fell completely exhausted to a rock on the top of the mountain I had just conquered and broke down.
I was over it.
I was over being stretched hours on end to dig deep into feelings and events I thought were in my past.
I was over washing off the daily cumulation of mud and sweat with a freezing cold bucket shower.
I was over never having privacy.
I was over all of my allergies causing me to eat rice and beans day in and day out for breakfast, lunch, and dinner while everyone else got to enjoy authentic worldly cuisine.
I was over being covered in bug bites and waking up to spiders crawling on my tent.
I seriously considered leaving. I texted a close friend from home and said I wasn’t cut out for this kind of trip. Who in their right mind would spend 11 months living out of a backpack in a tent traveling from country to country, continent to continent without any sort of solid itinerary?
But as I began to think about the purpose of this mission I had a change of heart and remembered why I wanted to do this. It completely turned my attitude around.
I had to stop and remind myself it’s not about me. The whole reason I longed to do this trip in the first place was to serve the least of these- those who encounter daily struggles 10 times as hard as anything I was experiencing at training and avoid adopting an “I’m over it” attitude.
I had to remind myself that I serve a God who has every reason in the world to cast me aside and just be over me. Yet despite all of the times I fell short He loved me and provided for me and extended a grace that I am so undeserving of and want to tell others around the world all about.
My “I’m over it” attitude turned into an “I’m all in” mindset.
Those challenging sessions digging up my ugly human-ness? I was able to shut the door on them once and for all.
Bucket showers became a glorious luxury which revived me to feeling like a normal clean person.
I embraced having a lack of privacy as an opportunity to build a community with my squad.
I sincerely thanked God for the rice and beans I was blessed with each meal because it was probably more than many around the world are given in an entire day.
The daddy long leggers that greeted me each morning became my allies in warding off bigger bugs.
I was and am all in for choosing joy.
As training camp comes to a close the reality of the journey I am about to embark on is becoming very real. In about a month I will be setting out to see the world and serve others. I will have the honor of bringing hope to those longing for something they may have never heard of before. I’ll have nothing but a pack filled with outrageous blessing and a God who gifts outrageous love unconditionally to anyone willing and ready to receive it. It will be draining, fulfilling, and life changing. I couldn’t be more humbled to have been called to this mission.
Please pray that my team and I will continue to choose joy despite any hardships we face up until and after we launch. Please also pray that the hearts of people we will be reaching out to in the nations are accepting of the unconditional love we have to tell them about.
Thank you for your continued support!
