Part of the World Race is packing up all of your belongings, and only bringing the necessities for 11 months. Fitting your life into a 65L pack already half filled by a tent, sleeping bag, and sleeping pad. But for us racers our pack is not just a way of storing our belongings, it’s our connection with home. We stow items that we know we won’t need but are a memory for times of homesickness and loneliness.
After a while we get sick of wearing the same clothes and having so few items of comfort – but that’s the point. The simplicity of the life we’re called to for these 11 months pushes us towards God. The removal of the comforts of home makes us seek comfort in God, and face each day with new eyes.
But for my teammate, Bridget, that wasn’t enough.
Bridget heard God call her to a lifetime of simplicity in the first month of the race. She knew that when she got home she’d be selling most of her belongings and living with the bare minimum. But she shoved the thought aside, thinking it was a call for after the race.
As God worked in her life during her second month, she began to realize that all of the changes He was making in her life were for life. They weren’t only meant for her time on the race. And, as that reality set in, she understood that the life of simplicity God was calling her to was to begin on the race.
And He told her exactly how she could begin – by sending home everything that didn’t fit into her daypack and djembe case (used to carry her drum for worship).
“Everything I had in excess wasn’t necessary to have because He supplies.”
Her 65L pack, tent, medicines, and most of her clothes were shipped home or given away. Her DSLR camera was lent to a team member for the remainder of the race.
Now, almost 4 months later, Bridget looks back to that time and is grateful. She understands that by removing those items that she depended on she has allowed God to work in her life. As the clutter was removed it’s provided more space to focus on those things that are truly important. She continues on her journey trusting that God will provide everything that is necessary. And even now, she is finding items to give away.
More than that, though, she says that the simple act of obeying God has deepened their bond. As each day progresses, Bridget is able to see exactly where God is in her life. And His love and provision is blowing her away.
Like Bridget, we’re all called higher by God. Whether that’s by living a life of simplicity or a step towards God in another area, we can all learn a lesson from Bridget, and choose to walk beside God now – trusting that He will provide all our needs. Although I often complicate matters by questioning every detail of my life’s decisions it really is as simple as choosing God now.
“He called me to simplicity. A simple life. And I was thinking I can do that when I get home. But I can do that now.”
‘For our boast is this, the testimony of our conscience, that we behaved in the world with simplicity and godly sincerity, not by earthly wisdom but by the grace of God, and supremely so toward you.’ – 2 Corinthians 1:12
