Reason 1: Don’t do the World Race in order to find you’re wife/husband. This isn’t Christian mingle. If you’re coming on the Race for this reason, you’ll only end up frustrated and possibly ruining someone else’s Race experience.
Reason 2: Don’t do the World Race just because you want to travel. Odds are you’ll be disappointed with the living arrangements, and you’re not going to have weeks at a time to go exploring.
Reason 3: Don’t do the World Race if you want to stay exactly the same. When you actually buy into this thing, you’ll come home a very different person than when you left.
Reason 4: Don’t do the World Race if you aren’t okay getting a little dirty. That’s about it.
Reason 5: Don’t do the World Race because you want to, “Discover yourself.” This one might sound harsh, but I’ll explain in a moment.
Reason 6: Don’t do the World Race as an act of rebellion. This one is for the Gap Years. If you want to prove something to your parents or something like that, the Race is not the place to go. And if you do anyways, your parents will probably end up supporting and loving you in it. My parents did.
I hope you can see a common theme forming here, but I you can’t then let me sum it up for you:
DO NOT DO THE WORLD RACE FOR YOUR OWN PERSONAL GAIN.
This isn’t something that one ought to be doing because they want to gain something or learn something. We have been commissioned by the Son of God to make disciples of all nations. That’s it. That’s why someone should do the Race. Now let me explain my reasons here a little. Some of these things, like discovering your purpose in the Kingdom, or growing as an individual, or finding incredible community will all come to you on the Race. But only if you buy into the two greatest commandments: Love God, and love others. Everything else is a byproduct of those things, and they’re gifts from the Lord. That said, they are not guaranteed. I’ve seen many people do the Race and other trips or volunteer opportunities in hopes to gain something, and without fail they’re all disappointed. C.S. Lewis wrote, “Aim at Heaven and you will get earth ‘thrown in’ : aim at earth and you will get neither.” We need keep our crosshairs pointed on something beyond this world entirely if we want to gain anything of actual value.
So if you want to do the Race, know that you don’t need to be perfect. It’s hard to sacrifice these desires we have. But I hope you take time to ask the Lord for the grace to desire more than these things. If you do, I promise you’ll start on a path that will lead to things you never dreamed of.
