So I’m supposed to explain how I was called to the World Race. What motivated me to make such a radical decision?
Maybe some of you see it as throwing a potential career path away. As with many things in life, to full understand this calling you must look at the root of the issue. So lets dive in, this will be a long post.
I’ve grown up in a Christian family with fantastic parents and amazing examples of Christian relationships in my extended family. The time I spent with family has had a greater influence on my life and who I’ve become then any of them could possibly know. I accepted Christ at a young age and have grown up in a number of ‘modern’ churches throughout the country.
I’m very analytically minded, so I generally make very calculated decisions. Not only do I now end up doing 40-50 pages of math homework a week ( I’m a mathematics major) but I find myself writing out lists and making charts when making a big decision. On one hand this has been really helpful. I attribute my success in many things to being so driven and purposeful. It takes a lot of careful calculation and planning to run a 100 mile race (more on that later).
I tell you all of this not to brag about my math skillz but because I think it attributed to my view of God. Through some gradual process my view of God became very legalistic and self-centered. My God only wanted part of my life, and when He said anything different… went back into the box I had made for him. I bought into the idea that God wanted me to be ‘Balanced and Blessed’ from the viewpoint of a white, middle class, republican. Even though I was involved in student leadership at Liberty where I had a hand in discipling others and held the title of Spiritual Life Director, God became a distant figure. At some point I stopped dreaming and settled. My only real interactions with God came through running and the occasional worship service.
I’m really thankful for the environment that my time at Liberty has provided. Not necessarily for the dress code, hair code, required convocation, room checks, reprimands, or legalism but for the relationships I’ve built here. Men like Corey Hyden, Evan Jones, Pickle, and Lee Bishop who taught servant leadership by example, called me out when I screwed up and pushed me to grow deeper. Professors who challenged how I thought and brought their faith to the classroom.
It was watching the sun rise while running on the top a mountain, that helped me recognize how small i am and how big God is. It was the time I spent with the guys on my hall, the 1 am runs to sheetz, the Starcraft LAN parties, the saturday morning long runs, and the weekend adventures that began to stir my soul. It was the relationships and community built on the halls, in the classroom, and in the mountains that woke me up.
Woke me up to the fact that I had fallen asleep. That the same God who keeps the earth spinning around the sun, who created matter, energy and time, who put ~1.5 million leaves on every elm tree and who with spoken word created everything we see around us did all of this just to show how big and perfect He is. I eventually began to hear a quite voice. A whisper that calls you like a temptress to abandon the monotony of life and to begin an adventure. A whisper that says that theres more then a mundane existence, more then the merry-go-round of the american dream. Somehow I knew that to play it safe is to lose the game. God has orchestrated my entire life around this decision.
“Most good things have been said far too many times and just need to be lived.”
I can no longer go through life simply talking about things. Faith without action is dead. This change in my heart must be matched by action. I’ve known about the World Race for about a year and a half now. That’s how long this process has taken. About the time God started to change my heart, I stumbled upon the World Race website. Coincidence? Nope. I initially dismissed it as too radical and because it didn’t fit in my “plan.” But as time went on that whisper wouldn’t go away. For a year and a half I pushed it away. I couldn’t drown it out with a graduate school search or copious amounts of Real Analysis. It was loudest when I lived loud, whether running on a snow covered ridge line guided only by moonlight or on my knees for an all night of prayer. Life has more to offer. I did a lot of sitting and thinking over the summer because I was jobless. With a new worldview I’ve concluded that the best thing I can do is give in. So I’ve done it, I’ve surrendered. I’m setting aside my plans for safety and security. I will not be rocked asleep by the cycles of success. I’m selling my things, laying down my plans, and chasing after Jesus. It’s now the only thing that makes sense. There was this man that didn’t make any sense to the religious, who was born in a barn and told people to pick up their crosses, die to themselves and follow him. His name was Jesus. You don’t crucified for being cool; you get crucified for living radically different from the norms of all that is cool in the world.
I’m excited for the adventure that comes. This lifestyle is worth the security. This calling is greater then the risk. The relationships that will be built are more valuable then success. I am a bondservant, created with a divine purpose. Let’s get started.
