Y’all want to know something random? I am writing this blog while on a date at a restaurant with my homie, God!!
Now that we’ve gotten that out of the way, I must admit that I have been putting off writing this blog and fundraising for a while now. One might ask, “Rashad, why?! This is your dream come true!! You’ve been talking about traveling across the world to proclaim The Gospel for a couple of years now!!” My response to that, “Tis’ true. You are correct. But what happens when the dream you’ve been praying for, is finally granted?” One characteristic I want you all to know about me is that I am very transparent and candid. I’m not here to put up a front! So with that being said, I am nervous. There is a part of me that is scared to finally embark on the journey of my dreams. Leaving everything behind for 11 months and traveling with my team to spread His love and His word.
For a long time, my brother in Christ (Daniel White) and I have traveled and gone into schools and churches to deliver a message of “Trust God while chasing your dreams, and don’t stop until you reach them!” Now that the ball is in my court, I’m hesitant. *shake my head* For some time now, all eyes have been on me to carry out this, “Chase your dreams and chase God” motto. And the reason why I am sonervous is because the World Race is way bigger than me. It will not only impact me, but as well as thousands of others that look up to me as a role model and an inspiration. When I got accepted, the first thing that crossed my mind was, “Now people can see the importance of speaking things into existence, and praying BIG.” A year ago around this time I stood before over 1,200 young men and told them that one day I will travel across this WORLD to empower others, and proclaim the Gospel. Ya’ll want to the funny thing? I actually believed it. But I didn’t think I was going to be traveling to 11 countries; Belize, Honduras, El Salvador, Vietnam, Cambodia, Albania, Serbia, Romania, Ethiopia, Uganda, and Rwanda all in 11 months!! Insane right?! Right.
I will never forget, when I first came across the World Race. I was working at Amazon, and on my break my friend tagged me in a World Race Instagram post. After I got done watching the action packed 45 second video, chills literally went through my body.
For two reasons:
- The first reason being; this is literally a dream come true to travel across the world to proclaim The Gospel.
- Prior to finding out about the World Race, my mom and I were watching a movie called, “Jungle” (which is about a young man who literally leaves everything behind, and embarks on a journey to travel across the world living out of his backpack). This movie is what really sparked the idea of me leaving the familiarity and just to trust God and allow Him to lead me on a journey to travel across the world.
So I went back into Amazon on 10 (very excited lol) and I prayed to God saying, “God I don’t ask for tooooo much, but this World Race is literally everything I’ve ever dreamed of. Please show me a sign if this is for me!” I kid y’all not, He didn’t waste any time. He moved in such a way that made it clear that this is for me. So my job as a runner at Amazon means that I have a handheld device, which tells me how to maneuver around the warehouse to pick up items customers order and put them in a small bin on a cart I push around (mind you it’s around Christmas time so I was picking a lot of Christmas cliché things such as; toys, books, Christmas movies,etc.). Check this out; RIGHT after I prayed this prayer, monumental items popped up on my device such as:
- a world map, (I didn’t think too much of it but I was like “mhmm okay God”)
- the second item was a hiking stick (I envisioned Moses using this for some odd reason),
- The third was a world travel backpack
- The 4th was a diary,
- The 5th was a camera
- and the final item was a voice recorder.
I felt like I literally was on a shopping spree for the World Race!!!!! I was so excited. So I said, “Okay God…you made it clear. But you know how I am, I need you to make it black and white for me.” So as I was about to put this bin on the beltway, the Holy Spirt told me to take another way…I obeyed. After taking another way, I ran into a woman whose shirt said, “Expect the unexpected.” And she quickly turned around. If I wasn’t obedient to the Holy Spirt, I wouldn’t have seen her shirt. Andthat right there was THE Confirmation. I know y’all are probably thinking, “Yeah right Rashad, that sounds like a fictional story!” My come back to you is, “WELL DOESNT THE BIBLE SOUND LIKE A FICTIONAL STORY!?” That’s just the God we serve!!! He works in supernatural ways, which is why I am so on fire for Christ because He intervened in such a supernatural way that I had no choice but to believe He was real!!
So to make a long story short; New Years night, I was in a deep prayer and I just knew in my spirit that the year of 2018 was going to be a year of, “…Eyes haven’t seen, ears haven’t heard.” -1 Corinthians 2:9. I knew it was going to be something big that was going to happen, I just wasn’t sure what. A week and a half later, I got accepted into the World Race.
“Okay Rashad…you haven’t mentioned the whopping $18,000 that you have to raise! You aren’t worried about that?!” You are right I haven’t mentioned it…and I am not worried. I will leave off on this, “If God has given you the vision, He will provide the provision.” As it states in Philippians 4:19, “And my God will supply all your needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus.” It is that simple. God will make a way. I am not worried one bit! Why worry when we serve a God that created this earth? *chuckles*
I do hope that you pray in regards to this journey (especially with me getting these vaccinations, that’s my biggest fear. I HATE needles!!), as well as how much you should sow into this ministry of me spreading His word and love across the WORLD with my team!!! This is already a humbling experience due to me having to ask for assistance! Please help me by spreading the word of my missionary trip to friends and family in order for me to accomplish this mission!!
I LOVE YALL!!!!!!!!! CHASE Y’ALL DREAMS AND CHASE GOD!!
