It has been eleven months traveling around the world. It
some ways, I am speechless, and others I could talk for probably the same
amount of time we have been here. I could easily say this has been the best
year, and the hardest year of my life. Going into the World Race my focus was
to love Jesus and serving others. Never in my life did I imagine I would learn
so much about community, myself, God’s character, or get so fired up about so
many causes around the world. I could go on and on about the number of things I
have seen. My teammate Tommy wrote a fantastic blog about some of the things we
have witnessed (we have been on the same team all eleven months so if you want
a snap shot of every month check out this blog). I will leave you to read his
blog on that though. Right now, I want to reflect on what I am learning right
now.
In Corinthians Paul talks about the fact that we are the
Body of Christ. I have heard this many times. “If you are an eye, don’t
try to be a foot,” etc. etc. Seeing so much around the world, including
the United States, my heart beats for so many causes, SO many. If I think about
it too much I get overwhelmed and a little jumpy just wanting to solve every
issue. Talking to some of my amazing friends here on my beloved P-Squad, I am
learning how much I really do need to trust the Body. There are people who are
called to work in orphanages, work with refugees, to go back to Chiang Mai and
work for fighting the sex trade, loving on women, to start up an to stop the same thing from happening to your daughter from ever happening to
other kids, or overseas mission work. There are also people called to the
United States, to working at a coffee shop, a doctor, a vet, a graphic
designer, to being a CEO or a manager of a company, or whatever position you
have been burdened to be in. Some are called to adopt a special needs child
from China so they can grow up to have a normal life, or to work in a
prevention home for children in Thailand so they never have to see the ugly
side of the sex trade, to sponsoring a child for $50 a month so they can have
food and an education, treating your employees with love and respect, to be a
teacher and teach our youth important education, or to treating your co-worker
with Christ’s love even when they have wronged you. That is the beauty of the
Body; everyone has their own specific calling on their life, no two are the
exact same. For some, they have not yet heard the cause they are going to fight
against or the job they were made to work, or the country they were made to go
to, or the skills they were born to use. Everyone’s calling is different. I
don’t know what your calling is, but would love to ask questions and dig deep
to see what you might be called to if you are interested, but I really do not
have the answers. I recommend praying and asking, and then going and doing it. That
is why I love the Body so much though. I cannot do it all, I cannot do the
calling you have on your life, only you can. God loves you enough to give you
your own personal calling, many of you that involves doing it with a spouse and
teaming up with other like-minded people, but it is still your own personal
journey with God through your life.
A lot of people have asked me what I am going to do when I
get home. Well, I really do not know. Right now, I have had a calling on my
life that I cannot ignore. For years I have been interested in helping with Human
Rights violations, I used to think I would go to law school for it. Will I?
Maybe, maybe not. I have narrowed it down to prevention on the sex trade. I am
applying to a typical ‘post-grad’ temporary position right now and am planning
on moving back in with my parents. My main focus though- to learn. I want to
learn everything and anything about prevention on human trafficking and the sex
trade. Risk factors of people/children entering, what successful prevention
tactics are, what to look for, what is the need right now…all of that jazz.
If you have any contacts I could get in touch with I would be more than happy
to receive references. My nose will be in a lot of books, internet sites, and
meeting and talking with people who have experience in this realm. It’s
exciting, it’s fun, and I am curious to see what it is all going to look like.
Thank you for being on this journey with me. I would love to
hear about your own journey as well as you continue to live in and search for
the calling that is on your life.
Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and
whoever sows generously will also reap generously. Each of you should give what you have decided
in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God
loves a cheerful giver. – 2 Corinthians 9:6-7
Last thing. I will most likely being having a dessert and
coffee get together to talk about this eleven month journey and some of the
stories I have been blessed with. If you are interested in attending in
Portland on June 11thsorry to keep changing it, the official day is the 5th!), please email me [email protected].
