“But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith”
As I hope hasn’t been too readily evident on my blogs, life on the World Race is always the land of milk and honey. Believe it or not, there are moments of frustration, discomfort, and hardship. Be those communication barriers and all the confusion that flows from that, cultural differences and all the awkward situations that those can generate, lack of comforts traditionally taken for granted (running water, hot water, western toilets, a trash can, chairs, etc), or perhaps just the meals of a plate of rice and a couple slices of carrot for a month. Occasionally, this is not the “ideal,” however that may be defined.
The bulk of our time in Nepal was spent in our pleasant mountain village, with an undeniably gorgeous view of the mountains, and occasionally a sight of some snow peaks in the distance if you wake up on a clear morning. The family we stayed with poured out their love on us, despite speaking different languages and having to communicate through our 15-year-old translator. That said, it was my hardest month so far on the race in terms of basic comforts and conditions, though certainly coming on the race it’s effectively drilled into our heads not to expect anything. We were staying in small bamboo huts on our sleeping pads, without any running water, a squatty potty outhouse, and a 45-minute (if you’re in peak health, or Nepali) hike down to town for internet or to buy anything.
The novelty of such things wore off eventually, and became the first seeds of some frustrations that began compounding within me this month. Upon these were some challenges in crossing into Nepali culture, and living in a village where our young translator was the only other person who spoke English that we could interact directly with. Waking up to young boys standing in your window, staring for an uncomfortable amount of time without a word or seemingly a desire to actually engage in communication, and just in general always being the object of prolonged staring began to get old quite quickly. I was often perturbed when trying to meet individually with our pastor about logistic details, and soon we’d be surrounded by a large group of locals entirely intrigued by our conversation and all too eager to chip in their insight, which I wasn’t always quite eager to receive. Church services around the world are amazing…but I sure would love to sing some worship songs with a full congregation in the same language.
Just as these frustrations were perhaps approaching some sort of breaking point, one evening Matthew prayed the above sentiment from Philippians 3, and I was struck by a heavy wave of conviction. This is a verse that I have readily spouted off, that I raised up in my eagerness to come on the World Race and give it all up for God, as the banner to wave over this show of sacrifice. In a realization I never enjoy having, I knew my tongue had been more eager to commit to these sentiments than my heart had been, at least in view of their sweeping inclusiveness.
I didn’t give up my worldly comforts because I’m on the World Race, but because I believe that Christ is worth more than absolutely anything this world has to offer. I have not come to these far corners of the world and to this small village in the middle of the Nepali mountains because I wanted a neat tourist experience and to get some great pictures, but because the desire of my heart is to see the gospel of the glory of God in Christ proclaimed and embraced in all nations, and all peoples in the world, because I believe it really is all that matters.
I’m reminded of Hebrews 11:33-38, the end of a long list of the heroes of faith throughout history, and the recognition that a life of faith will walk through the greatest glories and the greatest flames. Men and women “who through faith conquered kingdoms” (v33) as well as those “destitute, persecuted and mistreated” (v37) In light of this, we are told that “the world was not worthy of them” (v38). We are told that “God had planned something better for us” (v40). These promises haven’t become void. There is a hope that far outweighs all that this world could offer, western toilets and squatty potties alike.
