In college, while studying physics, I was faced with many questions about life and its purpose. These questions weren’t asked to me directly, but came naturally with my intuitive personality and philosophical mindset. It was the first time my faith had ever been questioned, as it was the first time I had been exposed to something that didn’t necessarily compliment my spiritual beliefs. As I journeyed through the wonders of nature, my faith was constantly on my mind as I was unwilling and unable to not “believe”. I would shuffle back and forth from my textbooks and the bible, using one to complement the other in a way that created harmony with my education and spiritual beliefs. My faith drove me to know more about God’s creation in the form of science, and my education drove me to know more about the gospel and God’s purpose of all these fascinating things I was learning. It was at this time that I was the closest to God I have ever been.
Following college I entered the “real world”, a place full of expectations that society had placed on me. At that time I accepted a job as a field engineer for an oil field service company. This job provided me with the financial support and stability that most people only dream of having. It wasn’t long, however, for the daily grind of industry to leave me very unsatisfied with the outlook and direction of my life. I had a job that wasn’t stimulating my mind nor teaching me the things I wanted to learn. I wasn’t able to help people in the ways I am best at as I was in an environment where I was unable to use the gifts that God had given me. I couldn’t accept that this is “just how life is”. I thought there must be more than this. There has to be more purpose and a higher calling for my life. I called it my mid-mid-life crises. I started asking myself deeper questions. “If Jesus was here today, what would he ask me to do?” and “Who he would he call me to be?” I began praying and asking God to show me a sign of his guidance and direction on where my life needs to go.
Not long after asking these questions I came across an opportunity called The World Race. It’s an 11 month mission’s trip that takes its missionaries around the world in an effort to bring Gods kingdom to earth in the form of love, kindness and generosity. After applying, I spent time in prayer and silence waiting for God to show me who he is calling me to be. I later reached a place in my heart where I knew this was the journey God was telling me to take. It was a journey of abandonment, but also a journey into identity. It was a chance for me to love the way Jesus loves and to allow God to change the lives of those around the world, through me.
Come this September, my team and I will travel to Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, South Africa, Swaziland, Mozambique, Kosovo, Albania, Bulgaria, and Romania (my father’s birthplace). We will help with the local needs of each community, preach in churches, visit kids in orphanages, plant churches and build homes, help those imprisoned by a bad past and an uncertain future, and bring the restorative hope of God’s love to many people.
I will face many challenges throughout this journey, but I have placed my complete faith and trust in God that he will give me the strength and courage that I need to travel this path that he has set me on. As with most missions’ organizations, all World Race participants are required to fundraise for their financial support. In order to fulfill this calling and leave fully funded by my departure date of September 4th, 2015, I will need to raise $16,257. The money I raise will cover all of my field expenses for the entire 11 months of the trip. I understand that life may not allow you to support me financially throughout this journey, but at a minimum I do ask for your thoughts and prayers as I embark on the most challenging, yet most rewarding, adventure of my life.
-Marius
