I heard a commercial on the radio a few weeks ago. It was for a hair growth shampoo. They said something along the lines of, “nothing make you more confident than a strong, long, shiny, head of beautiful locks on top of your head.” I thought, “really? Absolutely nothing makes me more confident than how my hair looks? Really?”
I was mocking this campaign in my head when I realized something, I do find confidence in my hair, in fact, a lot of confidence. When I get a new cut and color, I feel like I can rule the world. I’m on fiiiiah, (New England way of saying ‘fire’). There will be days that I think that I look like scrub, but that’s negated by the fact that my hair looks good. There will be times that I find the confidence to talk to a stranger because I’m having a really good hair day. Is that weird? Oh well. Point is, I count a lot on my hair.
But what happens to me and my confidence if that hair gone? Will I feel different? Will I lack confidence? Who will I be? I thought about it and I think I have the answer, I’ll be me, exposed. Exposed to the sun, wind, and rain. Exposed to the reality of what I really look like without my blonde hair to distract the eyes. Exposed to the real person God created me to be.
While the World Race is about (from the view of someone who hasn’t gone yet) serving the least of these while living in authentic community, something that is constantly lingering in my mind is how the person I am today is not going to be the person that will be me in May 2013. I can see just in these few months of preparation and fundraising that I am already changing and growing in the spirit. I’m already not the same person I was when I signed up last August. The person I was in August, would definitely not do the fundraiser that I came currently doing.
Here’s the deal. I have three jars. Jar one is, “keep my hair the way it is.” Jar two is, “color it!” Jar three is, “shave it.” Which ever jar gets to $1,000 first is the one I’m going to do. You can donate online, mail checks, or give me cash and just tell me which jar you’d like to donate to. The standings right now are:
Jar 1- $550
Jar 2- $110
Jar 3- $96
As it is right, I probably won’t be shaving my head. But that all can change. If you think I should shave my head, donate now before keep it the same gets to $1,000! If jar three makes a miracle comeback, I’ll be shaving my head on May 6th, the day after my college graduation.
Every day that goes by I get more and more excited for training camp and launch. If God has already done so much transformative work in the preparation for the World Race, I can’t even wait to see the big things he’ll do when I actually go.
