"Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, 'whom shall I send?' I said, 'here I am Lord, send me.'" Isaiah 6:8
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The World Race from Adventures Productions on Vimeo.
As I’ve read so many blogs from other racers about their amazing mission work I feel somewhat behind. The World Race will be my first actual mission trip. I’ve helped out in the community and done work and plays at church, but my experience is minimal. Until now I had turned my back on doing a mission trip. Not because I didn’t want to, but that’s a few paragraphs later. First I’ll start with where it all began.
Africa. That is most likely the answer you will get if you ask anyone who knows even the least about me what I’m passionate about. There is no rhyme or reason for why, it just is. For as long as I can remember I have felt a calling towards the land where time seems to stand still. A land stuck in the midst of centuries of violence and poverty. While most people would want to spend their lives staying away from that sort of turmoil I have always been drawn towards it (sorry mom and dad!). Let me explain a little bit more where I’m coming from.
I do not care about having millions of dollars. I do not care about living in a mansion with expensive cars in the driveway. I do not care about fame. I care about helping people that others forget about. I have always felt a strong calling to do mission work and to make a real difference in this world. Yet for many years I brushed it aside. Always acknowledging this calling but never acting upon it. I would make up excuses for why I couldn’t follow through with a mission trip. Whether it was school, not having the money, or simply being too caught up in my own life that I forgot about the people I want to help, the excuses kept coming.
Growing up in mainstream America, going to high school with peers who drove BMW’s and Mercedes, I was thrust into the belief that it was these ‘things’ one should strive for in life. That material possessions could determine one’s self-worth and would create happiness. Though I never fully gave into this idea it still did have its effect on me.
As I continued to grow up I would often lay awake at night and think about the world I lived in. As Americans we have such skewed opinions of what it means to live a good life, to be happy. Good values and morals are no longer the centerfold of our lives. Fame, popularity, and financial success have suddenly replaced them and are now the basis for how people are judged. This new ideal has been at the forefront of my mind, bothering me for many years. I’m not saying it’s not okay to have nice things or to enjoy the finer things in life, but there has to be a point where it goes too far. With anything in life there must be boundaries. I may be wrong but I think Americans have become so fixated on the ‘me’ type of lifestyle that they forget about what’s really important in life. Naturally (thank you MTVCribs), I sometimes think about how cool it would be to have my own jet and fly where I wanted and have a beach house on each coast. But my mind would quickly hear a yell, a scream, a cry for help from an ocean away. People who are hurting and suffering never stray far from my heart and my 60 second fantasies about a ‘fun life’ are dashed when I realize what is happening outside of my own little world. I’ve said it before to family and friends, though it may sound nice, I could not have a hundred thousand dollar car sitting in my driveway knowing that there are people out there starving and suffering. I wouldn’t be able to live with myself. Now I know I can’t save the world and some people may think I am crazy for saying that, but it’s just not me.
So after a decade of pondering life’s unanswerable questions it dawned on me. I finally realized I can either sit back and watch and continue to let our lives be run by these abstract perceptions and give the next generation even less of a chance or I could join a movement, not just in Africa but around the world, bringing love and hope to those who so desperately need it. For those I’ve never met, yet have always had a spot in my heart. A mission trip. The World Race. My race. I have answered the call I have felt in my heart for so many years, and now I can finally say, I’m on my way.
