The World Race is all about countdowns. How many days until training camp? How many days till you get your team? How many days until the race starts? How many days until the next month? The next continent? The next debrief? The next ministry? The next shower? You get the picture.
Well, we’re down to the Final Countdown…
25 days.
25 days until my countdown to be back in the States hits 0.
25 days until this thing called the World Race will be over for me.
This season of life will be finished. I won’t be traveling every month (except for my roadtrip 3 weeks later, but that’s besides the point). I won’t be in tight community with the truly spectacular W Squad. I won’t be living with my awesome family of teammates who I spent 24/7 with for the last 8 months.
It’s true; I could easily start focusing on the next season of my life and get more and more excited about getting back to LA where I can see my family and eat In-N-Out. After traveling for 11 months, it’s nearly impossible to not think about life back home again.
However, the biggest question in my mind right now is: how do I want to finish this Race?
I could just stop caring about ministry or stop pouring into my team. I could start researching jobs for when I get back, and believe me, that looks appealing. I could start pouring all my time and energy in reconnecting with friends back home so it would be a smooth transition when I get there.
But I don’t want to do any of those things. They told us at month 8 debrief that the way we finish this season of life will dictate how we begin the next season of life.
Being a swimmer, I look at the World Race like swimming the 500 yard freestyle in a meet. You swim hard the first 100 or so, feeling out where your competition is (kind of like the first 3 months, trying to figure out what this race was all about). Then the middle section you are cruising; you’ve gotten in a groove and life is good (like the middle part of the race). But for that last 100 yards, you swim as fast as you can knowing full well that you will have nothing left when you touch that wall after 20 laps.
That’s how I want to finish the World Race. I want to spend these next 20 days of ministry going all out. I want spend my time in the Word, in communion with God, and in community with my team. Who cares what teams are in the NBA playoffs and I know there will be jobs in the states when I get home (hopefully). When else will my life EVER be like it is now?
Let me break down my last 9 days for you:
Saturday: leave Cambodian ministry and head to a beachside hostel with Family Force 6
Sunday: All day boat/snorkeling/island tour.
Monday: Relaxing on a beach all day. Dinner on the beach for $3. Nightswimming
Tuesday: Phnom Penh with 4 World Race squads in the same hotel.
Wednesday: Leave Cambodia and fly to Malaysia. Find a hotel in Chinatown and watch a movie inside a 10-story mall.
Thursday: Take a bus with squad leaders and Cory to Pangkor Island to relax and plan final debrief.
Friday: Live on an island, doing logistics and going to the beach. Dinner with hotel owner
Saturday: More logistics, more beach, more island living. Eat stingray and mantis shrimp
Sunday: Travel alone by ferry, bus, train, foot, and scooter (WITH my big pack on) to ministry site in Kuala Lumpur. Eat Chinese dinner with Indian pastor and then see the 2nd and 3rd tallest buildings in the World.
Seriously? Is this really my life right now? It’s surreal that A) this has been my life for the past 11 months, and B) I only get this for a few more days. As great as America is, life does not get better than this. Instead of focusing on what I will have in 4 weeks, I’m going to focus on what I DO have these next 26 days.
Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.
Talk about Scripture being applicable. Call me selfish, but I believe that God put Hebrews 12:1 in the Bible solely for World Racers. It doesn’t get more straightforward than that.
Touché, God.
Here’s to leaving it all in Malaysia for my final 26 days of the greatest year of my life thus far.
As the wise Katy Perry once said:
No regrets, just love
Story of my life
**If you’re wondering where I am or what I’m doing, I can fill you in. I’m living in different churches around Kuala Lumpur inviting people to church, sharing in small groups, and leading church services. I will officially be home June 9th, but you probably shouldn’t expect me to be coherent until June 11th.
