First things first, I want to give a shoutout to my friends, Bailee and Dylan Francis. It was great catching up with you! Secondly I want to give a shoutout to my boy Andrew Singer! Enjoy your last month of freedom before saying “I do” brother.
Also I want to say I know many of you have heard that I’ve been sick with stomach problems this past month and I thank you for your prayers. But fret not, I’m doing better now. And you know what else? I think I’m really getting the hang of this “always sick” thing, I mean I’m taking all the punches. I’m starting to feel like De Niro in Raging Bull- just staring adversity right in the face and saying “I never went down. You never got me down, Ray!”
On a serious note, this past week my squad has been in Siem Reap, Cambodia for this event called Awakening. It was really cool because we got to meet with three other squads. In all, there were more than 180 World Racers at the event. There was worship, evangelism, testimonies, and a great message from our speaker Gary. But the subject of this blog is what happened to me the last night of the event . . .
I was sitting in the back and it was hot as blazes. So I get up and go stand outside the seating area. I began to tune out the music. (Though I do want to mention the first song was led by my man Jon in the style of black southern gospel- and it was freaking awesome!) I thought about my own heart behind going on the race. I wanted to grow as a person and grow into who God wanted me to be. Noble? Sure. But spiritual maturity and personal growth should not be the goal for this season of life. My race should be about pursuing Christ and nothing else. Fortunately personal growth is normally a product of such action, but nevertheless it should not be my motivation.
With that said I still want to talk about the growth I’ve experienced and what was revealed to me the other night. When the race began, my goal was to grow into a man just like my father. My dad’s great. I mean he’s a good father, son, husband, brother and friend. He’s also a good businessman, leader, Little League coach and marksman. He’s my kind of guy. I figure it’s good for every son to feel this way about his dad, but I realized the fallacy that lies therein. My dad is finite. He can only do so much. He makes mistakes. And ultimately, he can only give, teach, and love me so much.
The Holy Spirit really convicted me, and I realized that I have to stop acting like my earthly father is the golden standard. To be like Scott Turner is not the height of my potential. The Lord calls me to more. He calls each of us to be more than we could possibly desire to be ourselves. Christ is infinite and I should pursue nothing less than infinity. I’ll never reach it, but it serves no purpose to put God in a box by thinking He can only love us a set amount, or that He only has so much in store for us. The servant He wants each of us to be is far greater than the example our earthly fathers or any role model for that matter could set. His love is infinite. His plans for us are so great we can’t fathom them.
Don’t put God in a box.
God Bless. Prayers for a smooth transition through team changes, and safety as the squad travels to Thailand this weekend.
-Matt
