I haven’t been a believer very long. It was in March 2016, that I made a commitment to Christ and He changed me inside out. Before then, I had a religious background but never really cared too much about it. I wanted to do my own thing and I did, with horrible consequences for myself, but Christ changed all of that. I always wanted to be a part of something bigger than myself and after a failed relationship, I decided I would join the army and be put on active duty, which is the same as working full time at a regular job. I was what was called a 31B (the military uses numbers and letters as job classifications) or a military police soldier. My responsibility was to police the military installation I was stationed at and enforce all rules, regulations, and laws; both military and civilian. We also trained for combat readiness but never deployed to a combat zone.
So, I always knew I wanted to be a part of something bigger than myself and when it didn’t work out in the army, I looked into joining the AmeriCorps or the Peace Corps, but it just didn’t speak to my heart. So I never did. When I became a believer, God really put on my heart the persecuted church and how much they suffer in other countries for being a Christian. Some are outright beaten, tortured, and killed, but others are disowned by their families, kicked out of their hometowns, and left to die in the streets as a beggar. They can’t get a job, no one will help them, and they’re regularly beaten and mocked just for the fun of it. I don’t know about you, but this bothers me. A lot. It bothers me because they go through all of that, yet, I struggle just to read my bible and pray and to not be so selfish. There’s a problem there. I want the kind of faith they have.
Which, leads me to my reason for the World Race. I had just recently read a book called ‘Standing In The Fire’ by Tom Doyle and it’s stories about persecuted Christians in the Middle East and what they’re going through under the control of ISIS and other terrorist organizations. It’s not pretty and it made me cry more than once. But at the end of the book there was a website you could go to that told you how you could get involved and help out. So I looked it up and I was pretty interested but I never committed to it. I was just too unsure about it. One day, I was on Facebook and I saw this ad for what’s called the World Race (because apparently Facebook knew I had been looking up stuff on Google…interesting…). I looked into it further and there was just something about it that appealed to me. The World Race is not just a mission trip, it’s also a discipleship program teaching you how to live out the Bible everyday. It’s based on the model of the early church found in the book of Acts. Not only will I go to 11 different countries in 11 months, but I’ll also be put in a squad where I will live in close community with other like minded believers wanting to bring the Kingdom of God on earth. That really appeals to me. Not only would I change the lives of countless people worldwide but I would also get a close sense of community that the early church disciples had. If you read in Acts, they shared everything and counted nothing as their own but everything was given to them by God. I want a chance to live like that. I want to learn how to be disciplined in my walk with Christ and I want to learn how to rely on other people and not try to do everything myself. This is why I chose the World Race, or as I said, why it chose me. I wasn’t looking for it, it was just there and I believe God is the one who put it there. I feel a deep longing in my heart that this is something I need to do and so, I’m stepping out in faith, and doing it. I don’t know what I’m going to encounter on the race and how I’ll change and grow. But I know that this is something for the Kingdom of Heaven and that it will change me and my walk with Christ.
Please prayerfully consider partnering with me, either financially or in prayer. I must admit that financially would be the bigger help, as it it would put me one step closer to reaching my goal of $5,000 by May.
Thank you all for taking the time to read this. I hope that it’s touched your heart as it has mine!
