I’ve realized more and more of what a false impression social media can give about what my life looks like on the Race. I tend to post the pictures of the exciting, fun events and little of the actual work we are doing for the Lord, mostly because I’m the worst at remembering to take pictures and when I do it’s always when we are doing something crazy cool. It can be misleading and I want to set the record straight. The crazy cool things happen. God does miracles, we eat bugs, we go to festivals, we ride elephants, people come to Christ, and we see wonders around the world. But that is only a fraction of what we do and it is not the reason I signed up for the World Race.
I’m here to serve like Jesus did. I signed up for a year of service. To be the hands and feet of God in 11 different countries. That’s what we do.
Sometimes that looks like clearing out the weed jungle that has over taken the playground at the local orphanage. Or moving wood blocks so our ministry host will have enough warmth during the winter. Or stacking spider-covered bricks into a truck so we can unload them at the building site for a new elementary school. Or it’s picking up trash at the local park.
Sometimes its spending hours handing out flyers to random people at a street market that invite them to church, all the while you’re thinking “this is never going to work,” but then you see a dozen of the people you encountered at church the next day. Or struggling to remember what the heck a past perfect participle is while teaching students English. Or its managing to keep one kid from picking on another one at the preschool.
Sometimes its walking for hours in the rain and up mountains to visit village homes and encourage them with the Word of God. Or at the nursing home when an old man tells you through tears that you are the first person to tell him that Jesus loves him. Sometimes its delivering packages of food to villagers who would go hungry without. And other times it is just making life a little easier for the people who serve full time in these countries, so they can rest from the incredible and exhausting work they do day after day.
Most of these things I could do anywhere. And they are tasks that can be done by anybody. But God called me and he called me around the world.
The other day I was making a list of memories of my journey so far and most of the bullet points are names of people I met, the thankful hearts of our ministry hosts, the way our team made a fun game out of hard work or chose joy when we were all tired, or how God shifted my perspective about our impact. As I was making my list I realized near the end of it, that I had completely forgotten the lion walk! Lions are my favorite animal and I got to walk with them in Zimbabwe which was a dream come true and I had completely forgotten to put that experience amongst the others.
Our daily service might not seem as pretty as my pictures of Victoria Falls, of Angkor Wat, and of the lions in Africa, but I know God counts our sometimes mundane service as more beautiful than all of it. Hearts touched, even with something as small as cleaning up a park or playing with kids, is more beautiful than any Instagrammed photo.
