Good afternoon from Serbia, it is currently April 19, 2019. It’s 12:18 p.m. here and 4:18 a.m. in Albuquerque, NM (my home town). I am currently in month seven on the World Race and in a little over a week, I will be heading to Romania to begin month eight.
I think the most asked question while on the World Race is, “What do you do?” I know that my supporters want to know they are not just paying for a 11 month backpacking journey across the globe. As racers, we often hear people jokingly (sometimes not jokingly) say that we are on a vacation.
After spending seven months on the race, I’d like to share with you what I have been doing. If you base the last seven months and the next four months on my social media, I can understand why some may perceive that this is a vacation. As a disclaimer, I would like to say that these type of comments do not offended me, or bother me for that matter. My heart and hope is that this blog will bring clarity to some of those questions and shine light on our purpose.
My heart is that every nation and tribe will come to know Jesus. I will give up my life (job, friends, etc.) again and again, if it means more people come to know Jesus. I can truly say my heart for those who don’t know him has increased. I desire to spread the love of Jesus. I believe that my role in the kingdom is to not spread religion, not to convert or convince people to believe what I do. Let me say that louder for those in the back, I am not here to convert or convince. I am not here to change people or their culture. I am simply here to share who I believe Jesus is based on the Bible and who He is in my life. This really takes so much of the pressure off because I know it is the Holy Spirit who changes hearts.
I actually do not prefer the word “missionary” because of the the way it has been abused and because of people that come in the name of Jesus and do harm. I face challenges of sharing with people that who are scared of Christianity, who are persecuted if they believe and have never heard the name of Jesus. As a World Racer, I have come along side people around the world and shared about Jesus. That has looked many different ways. There have been days I am working in a church, working in a bakery, sitting on the side of the street with people who experience homelessness, working with individuals who are trafficked, and so on. Ministry can be anything, and I am willing to do things that are uncomfortable just to be able to build relationship with people and share who Jesus is.
While writing this blog, I have been interrupted three or four times. A man who is homeless came in to the cafe we are working at, instead of ignoring him and continuing on writing my blog, I stopped, talked to him, made sure he got coffee and let him know that he is worth my time. That too is ministry! There is a saying on the Race that we use often, it is “Life is ministry and ministry is life.” In everything we do we can share the love of Jesus. It is not just a carved out time in our day.
I have done the expected things such assisting in building things, feeding the hungry, and working with orphans but I have also done things not ordinary. The unordinary places have been the sweetest and where I see Jesus move the most. It has been the unplanned moments where I was bold to act when the Holy Spirit prompted me to.
I could spend hours giving you a month to month recap on what I have done in each country and how I have seen God move but I am not going to because we would be here for hours. Please pray for us because we need it. Please be forgiving and graceful of us when we all you see on our social media is our adventure days. One of the greatest gifts of all this is the opportunity that we get to see the world and yes, adventure is apart of that. The truth is none of that is why we are here. We often post pictures on our personal social media accounts that tend to highlight the best parts of the race, the adventure and travel. Why? We live in a different world today with social media. To protect the people, communities and ministries that we partner with, we are often asked not to post details about the ministry we are doing. There are also countries that we travel to where it is illegal to be a missionary and to protect ourselves and future missionaries we don’t post about why we are in that country. I cannot always post the good and bad. There are moments on the Race that are difficult, I want to be honest about my experience but cannot always do that without hurting or harming others. This all provides great stories and testimonies that can be done one on one!
I am so super excited to share all that God has done. If you would like to reach out to me personally please do. I will also be home in four months and can’t wait to have coffee dates and share more.
Thank you for all the overwhelming support,
Rocky
