“Because this is where God is calling me.” This is very often the best that I can articulate why I have chosen the World Race. People continue to ask me, “Why the World Race? Why don’t you want to go to college right now? How are you willing to do something so crazy?” These are hard questions to really get to the core of because I don’t have all the answers. I don’t know why God wants me to do this, and I don’t know how it will affect what I choose to do after this. But I am confident that this is where he wants me and here is my best explanation for it all:
Most of you know what the Great Commission is but seriously think about this for a moment: Jesus, the Son of God, came down to earth and before he left he said just a few things. Those must have been pretty important things, huh?
Well here’s what they were:
“All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
Matthew 28:18-20
In the last year or two I began to really take seriously what these words were, because not only are they the words of Jesus but they are his last. And when I began to meditate on these and to analyze what they really meant for my life I began to change. I began to surrender more to God. More of my time, more of my relationships, and more of my thoughts.
These words do two things- they bring comfort, peace, and joy as Jesus declares that he is the victor in the battle for the world, he declares his authority, his reign, and his power in each and every one of our lives. Secondly, he commands us, he tells us that it is not enough to just believe in Him, it’s not enough to just change our thinking if it does not lead to change in our lives. Jesus’ focus, in all of his ministry was always to serve others, to serve the least of these. In his last words, this is his same command. To go. To serve.
That is what I am doing now. I am going. I realized somewhere along the way that God was calling me to go. To trust him with everything. And to live a life of abandonment.
College may be something for my future; or maybe not. I will allow God to reveal that to me in His timing. But I know that it is not for now. For now, I am following his command in a big and bold way. I will leave my things behind to follow him. I will leave my comforts of home to fish for men. I will leave the classroom, the caribou coffee, my friends, my adorable dog, and my comfort zone. I seems I will lose so much, but I am confident that the reward is so much more! For I am gaining new perspectives, I’m growing in Christ, I am building new relationships, I am finding joy in the little things, I get to learn by doing, I get to laugh and love next to others who are committing their lives to same thing as me, I am gaining community.
A surrender of my life and my time on earth means I am gaining an eternity with my Creator. And I can think of nothing better. So I will go will a joyful and willing heart.
“Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me and for the gospel will save it. What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul?”
Mark 8:34-37
