(By the way, my main blog is over at thisbeautifuldust. Head over there so you don’t miss a post.)
Being in Gainesville at the Adventures base, I get to see a lot of people come and go. From squads launching or getting back 200 people at a time, to individuals and friends living here for a couple months or visiting for a week. It’s full of life and adventure but sometimes it is a hard place to live when everything/everyone is constantly changing. Welcome to transition.
I didn’t expect to do so well with transition on the Race. My first week in India was terrifying to me, if I wasn’t so afraid of flying I would have been on the next plane home. But I soon found that moving to a different culture every month was exciting and I adapted well. The language changed and I would just start learning different words. Ministry changed and I learned I could do things I’d never thought I was capable of, like preaching. Team changes happened and I learned to be vulnerable again and love a whole new group of people I hadn’t known very well before. My environment changed and my identity started to remain, unmoved. I braced myself for the big one though, the transition home.
Home looms on the horizon of every Racer. For some, it’s a beacon of normal and an anticipated finish line. For some, it’s a painful reminder of who they used to be and what they might become. No matter how you feel about it though, you know you’re going to get off the Race and face home eventually. (Or if you’re launching, you are going to have to get on that plane.) Things are going to change and you are going to have to make a transition.
It’s unavoidable. If you try to avoid transition, you will end up avoiding life. I’ve been off the Race for a year and a half now and I’m still experiencing it and currently going through it. I feel like I live in it 24/7, honestly. The best advice I’ve got for anyone, World Racer or not
YOU’RE GOING TO BE OK.
It’s going to be hard and it’s going to hurt. You’re going to mourn what is left behind. You are going to freak out about whats ahead. You are going to feel alone. You are going to want to just not and say you did. You are going to want to stick your headphones in and pretend its not happening. You are going to wonder if God is with you. You are going to wonder wholl be left around you when it’s all over. You are going to walk forward in uncertainty. You are going to get excited. You are going to dream. You are going to be different.
You are going to get through it.
It won’t last forever. No matter how you handle it, the transition will unfold and you will keep going. You can’t control the transition, but how you get through it is up to you. How you approach whatever season of transition is looming on your horizon directly correlates to how much fruit youll get from it when its over. Its a reflection of how you see life and its a good indication of how you deal with fear. Dig your heels in and miss the point or go all in and let God redeem every single uncomfortable minute with revelation and breakthrough. It’s up to you.
If you stick it out, you’ll find yourself speaking differently. You’ll find you can do things you never thought you were capable of. You will learn to be vulnerable again and love a whole different group of people on a whole new level. You will find that your identity remains the same even when your environment doesn’t.
I promise you, it’s worth it and it’s going to be ok.
We’re going to be ok.
I’m going to be ok.
