A couple months before I left for the Race I was sent an email. The email was about this thing called ‘Keys for the Journey.’ Essentially, KFTJ is a thing where you can purchase a key, the guy who runs the show over there will pray over the key and ask God for a prophetic word for you and he will inscribe the word onto the key. After you receive the key, you are supposed to wear it on a necklace, praying over your word, what it means to you, stuff like that. Eventually, you are supposed to find a person who needs the key and that prophetic word as much as you did at the time you received it and you are supposed to give it away.
The day that we got our keys, everybody was opening the packages, getting all excited, checking to see what other people’s keys said. When people came to see mine, they kind of thought it was a joke, like it was something that made absolutely no sense. See, the words inscribed on my key said, “Be Bold.” When I got this key, I legitimately laughed. If you know me, boldness is not a trait that I need to grow in at all. I am incredibly bold! It’s something I take pride in! I am loud, sometimes really (really) obnoxious, not very shy, boldness is definitely a definitive trait of mine. But as the days began to pass, I started to question what being bold truly meant to me. What being bold meant in my place in the Kingdom. So, I decided to pray about it, I asked God what boldness was, why it was something that I felt I had but, apparently, needed to grow in. And one day, it really clicked… what am I bold in? What, or who do I choose to be bold for? These questions swirled in my head and I finally concluded that I am so willing to be bold in every area of my life, besides when I talk about God.
You see, when I would talk about God, I was typically in a place of comfort. I would be around my Christian friends, with my girlfriend’s family (her father is the pastor at our church), or just around other Christians that I met. I realized that I am so so so so so bold in every area, besides that! So, I decided to make a decision, I am no longer going to shy away from conversations about God, regardless of how ‘uncomfortable’ I may feel. That I would be obedient to the Lord and the Great Commission and I would be bold for His glory. When I made that decision, I felt a switch flip in my Spirit and I was like dang, aiight, lets be bold for the Lord!
Nowwwwww let’s fast forward a bit. I am currently in Malaysia, on the island of Langkawi, it is gorgeous here! Like really, just gorgeous. The Lord called my team to a cool little beach town on an island in Malaysia… I seriously had to check myself for a minute there because I had no idea what reality was at the time. Anywho, if you were unaware, Malaysia is a predominantly Muslim nation and it is technically illegal for Christians to talk to Muslims about Jesus, unless they bring it up, which is strange, but apparently, that’s how it works here, so let’s go with the flow.
For most of the time here, we were witnessing to a lot of tourists, to travelers, non-Malays for the most part, and it was incredibly fruitful! But two nights ago, as I was walking down the street with Theo (I could write two million amazing things about Theo because he’s the best), we ran into a group of men. One of the men looked like he had just finished a workout; shirtless, gym shorts, sweating… you get the picture. The second man was clearly in his mid-to-late 60’s and was dressed in a New York Knicks hat and a casual red T-shirt, but barely spoke English. The third man was an older man, long beard, and dressed in a traditional Muslim kurta with topi (which is the traditional robe and hat that many Muslim men wear).
So, here’s the scene… two long haired, Jesus loving men walk up on a group of Muslim men on the side of the road in a small beach town in Northern Malaysia… sounds like a movie scene, am I right?
Anywho, as we walked up, we said hello and were immediately welcomed into the conversation that they were having. We began to all chat about different things in life, different religions, everything. And then we began to talk about Christianity, which was cool, because the man in the kurta was the one who brought it up, which meant it was fair game. We ended up chatting on the side of the road for a little over two hours, we spoke on so so so many different things. At one point, Theo sat down with the man in the kurta on a bench and began talking really in depth about their respective religious beliefs. Meanwhile, I was standing next to the man from the gym, Mohammed, and he looked at me and stared right at my key. He asked what that word meant, and so I spilled my heart out about it. After I finished talking, he told me to ask him something bold. We started talking about the inner workings of his heart. He explained the hurt he has been experiencing within the last 6 months, how he has been running from his pain, been running from all the hurt he has been experiencing. Which is why he is always dressed in gym attire, because he literally runs.
6 months prior to meeting me, Mohammed’s fiance had suddenly died. 2 weeks after that, his business partner screwed him out of an awful lot of money. In less than 3 weeks, this guy had been hurt badly. I then looked at him and asked him, “in the last 6 months, have you felt loved?” He looked at me and you could see all the pain he was experiencing and shook his head… “no,” he replied, looking almost ashamed as he said it. I then got to share with him the love that Jesus had for him, how wonderfully and beautifully he was made, he was the apple of Jesus’ eye, and he needed to know that. His expression began to change, and I could tell that he felt loved in that moment. He also happened to make a comment in our conversation about being bold, how it was something he wishes that he could possess in this season of his life. After I saw his expressions change, he turned the other way to speak to the older man who had not spoken any English, to translate something. At that moment, right when he turned away, I took off my necklace and placed it around his neck. I said, “look, now go and be bold.” He immediately turned, with tears welling up in his eyes and gave me a huge hug.
*My boi Mohammed sporting his new necklace*
This moment was pretty difficult for me, when I felt God tell me that I should give him my key, I was really upset. I really liked wearing my key, I liked having it with me all the time. But I knew that I needed to be obedient and follow what the key said, and so I did… I was bold. God then reminded me of something… that I had my key with me forever, that it would literally never leave my side.
*Pictured here is my left arm, if you look right down there in the middle, there is a little key. An ink replica of the key I had received just a couple months prior, a constant reminder to ‘be bold’ and to never shy away from sharing Jesus’ love with anybody who I come in contact with. This is funny because I got the key tattooed on me like a week and a half prior to this. I remember a night in Bangkok, I felt God telling me that I would be getting rid of my key sometime soon. So I decided to keep it forever.*
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Thank you so much for reading my blog! This was a really cool moment I’m happy that I got to share with you! I am currently only $5,000 away from being fully funded! We have raised over $13,000! If you would like to help and support the me on this journey, I would greatly appreciate your donations, no matter how big or small! Just click ‘donate’ at the top of the page!
Much love, y’all!
