April: So this is the blog where we describe our blog name. If you didn’t know, it’s a quote from Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings. Seth really wanted the second part, “not all who wander are lost” and after he said that, I really wanted to add in the first part, “All that is gold does not glitter. So, I will explain why I like my part and he’ll do the same for his.
I feel that the phrase “All that is gold does not glitter” is really appropriate for the race. In my life, God has called me to many things that I did not want to do, things that were sometimes painful. God tends to put people, tasks, experiences in our path that are not traditionally desirable. We may lose a family member. We may have to admit a very painful history to someone. We may have to give our possessions away, all in the name of following Christ. To many, this may not glitter like gold. It’s not really something that ignites jealousy or desire, that’s for sure.
A lot of the reactions I’ve gotten from people about this race (especially about the Haiti and Africa parts) is “Wow, that’s gonna be really hard…” and “Why are you doing this?” Well, I’m doing this for God, and yes, it will be hard. See, to some people, this trip is not desirable. They don’t look at it and see gold. But God does. God sees, God knows, all the lives that will be touched by the July squad. And it is more valuable than diamonds to Him. All that is gold to God may not glitter like gold to us. But we have to trust that God’s eyesight is a whole lot better than ours. And I have faith that the future God has for me, and the inheritance He wants to give me is so much better than anything that this world ever come up with.
Seth: As soon as I realized that we would have a World Race blog dedicated blog page, I thought about I’d like to name it. The phrase “Not all who wander are lost…” soon came to mind. In The Lord of the Rings, this is a line from a verse that Gandalf uses describe Strider. For those not familiar with the story, Strider is a ranger, a person who wanders the uncharted wilderness, living off of the land. Gandalf writes about him, “All that is gold does not glitter” to contrast his his true character, which is a man with a heart of gold, with his physical appearance, which is rough, unshaven, and unkempt. The next line reads, “Not all who wander are lost.”
These words resonated strongly with me from the moment I read them, though I didn’t realize precisely why until I had a conversation with a good friend of mine by the name of Darren. I was telling him about my life growing up, specifically how my family moved around a lot and I struggled with feeling disconnected because I didn’t have a place with strong roots. I talked about how there was a good chance I’d be moving again soon after April finished grad school, and I wondered if I was somehow destined to go from place to place without ever putting down roots, feeling lost.
Almost immediately, he replied with, “But remember, ‘not all who wander are lost’.” I’m blessed to have Darren as a friend. First off, as a great big nerd I need someone in my life who is as nerdy as I am and will use metaphors and literature quotes to make a profound point. More importantly, Darren is a man of God and has been a huge encouragement in my spiritual life.
Less than a week or two later, Darren calls me out of no where and says that he feels that God has put something on his heart. He tells me that I have a powerful anointing on my life and that I’m going to reach people. He also says that the words “not all who wander are lost” keep floating through his mind in regards to me and my anointing. The Race came to my mind almost immediately. I’d already heard about it through my friend David who is on the Race right now, but the Race wasn’t something that, at the time, I had seriously considered for myself.
When God really spoke into me about going on the Race, I didn’t want to go. I thought of how hard it was going to be to leave just as I was beginning to feel connected to Baton Rouge as a home. God then reminded me of my past, all the moving around I did, and asked me how much harder would it be if I was a person who had lived in one place from birth until college and had those sorts of connections. April is one of those people, and April had already told me that she believed God wanted us to go on the race at this point.
I’ve known for a long time that God doesn’t bless everyone the same way. We usually think of this truth in regards to talents or money, but it deals with all of God’s blessings, including the blessings of roots and a stable place to call “home.” For much of my life, I have felt like a wanderer, but I now step forward into the adventure ahead in the confidence that I am not lost. Not because of a physical place, or a stable group of friends, or even a place where family members are, but because I am found in Him.
Some racers may have been military kids who moved around even more than I did. Some racers may have lived in one place, stayed in the same school system, for their entire childhood, like April did. Regardless of our situations, for this year, we are all like Strider in a way: not having a permanent place; and in some cases, giving up being clean and well-groomed. But “not all who wander are lost,” and we are not lost, because our true home is wherever the Master is, and He is always with us.
