I’m on a mission to take the fear out of sharing your message.
Everyone has their own unique testimony. Everyone has experienced trials and tribulations. Every saint has a past, every sinner has a future, right? No one’s testimony or walk with Christ is better than another, so be proud of who you are, where you came from, and how you got here.
As I stated in my “About Me,” I currently attend Northwestern State University, I play soccer here, and I will be graduating in May of 2015. Most people take, on average, four years to obtain their undergrad degree, some take a semester longer, and others sometimes take a year or more longer to finally get to their goal. However, my case is slightly different. An interesting fact about me is that come May, I will have obtained my undergrad in three short years as opposed to four or more. I came into Northwestern State with 31 credit hours, classifying me as a sophomore from the get go. My degree is in Psychology with a minor in Spanish, so once graduated, I will continue my education to the graduate level, but a faint voice in the back of my head has been urging me that there is something more in store for me before I get to that point in my life.
This past summer, I worked at an FCA leadership camp in Shreveport, Louisiana where I met two girls that were vital to my decision making process. On the second or third day of camp, a girl arrived while we were learning about one of the lessons we would be sharing once the kids got to camp. Many of the “huddle leaders” became ecstatic when this girl popped into the room and I had no idea what all the commotion was about. The head of the camp allowed this girl to share a bit about her experience she had just gone through and naturally, I was enthused to find out why everyone was so thrilled to see her. She had just gotten back from The World Race, where she traveled to 11 different countries in 11 months. If I hadn’t been paying attention yet, that sure was an attention grabber in and of itself. Not only had she gone on this race, but she had just gotten back a week prior and one of her very first stops she wanted to go to was this campsite. This girl had just been traveling for 11 months sharing and preaching the gospel and when she got home, what was her first instinct? To share with more people, how incredible is that?
The next day, all the kids arrived that we would be counseling. The huddle leaders were all assigned different groups of kids and some leaders were paired up to counsel groups. I happened to be paired with another amazing girl. This girl hadn’t gone on The World Race yet, but she was about to leave in less than a month to embark on the mission. So not only did I meet an incredible, God-fearing girl who just returned from The World Race, I was also teamed up with an equally incredible, God-fearing girl who was about to embark on the same mission! Coincidence? I think not; however, if you still aren’t convinced, here is the final hook that led my to my decision.
No more than a week after this camp, I was doing my Bible study one morning and happened upon a certain topic that wasn’t exactly something I could mark as mere irony. In a 90-day devotional covering purity of the mind, body, and spirit, on the 60th day, the author talks about “Carrying the Message with You.” In Philippians 2:15-16 it states “go into the world uncorrupted, a breath of fresh air in this squalid and polluted society. Provide people with a glimpse of good living and of the living God. Carry the light-giving Message into the night so I’ll have good cause to be proud of you on the day that Christ returns.” Rebecca St. James, the author, takes this message a bit further at the closing of the Bible study by saying “you may never get the chance to carry the gospel of Jesus to Europe, but then again, you just might.”
In a matter of less than two weeks, three crucial signs hit me:
1. I met a girl who just returned from The World Race
2. I worked day in and day out for four days with a girl who was about to leave for The World Race
3. Whilst doing my Bible study, God had me read about going out into the vast world to share the gospel with others.
Hook, line, and sinker, he had me. Even after all those incredibly distinct signs, one could still have some doubt lingering in their mind as to whether this was truly their calling or a very large coincidence. But every time I thought about The World Race, every time I wondered if it was truly what I was meant to do, every time I pondered my plan for the next year, I never got scared. I never questioned God’s intentions. I never had any doubt. You see, at first I thought that maybe I was just on a “spiritual high,” if you will. Maybe I just felt like I should go on the race because I had just spent a week surrounded by Godly people doing Godly things, waiting for reality to sink in. Until one day I realized, this is my reality. This is my calling. This is his plan for me.
Matthew 28:19 says, “therefore go and make disciples of all nations” and that is what I intend to do.
Until next time,
Peyton Rector
