To future Racers: you’re home preparing for the Race. You’re pumped. You can hardly contain the excitement. I get it. I was once there too; a year ago this month I was accepted to the Race! You’re expecting this to be the best year of your life, but let me tell you and please listen….this will NOT be the best year of your life and let me tell you why in just a moment.
To everyone following my journey or another Racer’s- It is not uncommon for us to receive countless messages from people expressing one way or another how they admire this life, what it entails, and what thousands of other Racers and I are doing. Thank you so much for following us and supporting us, but please try not to over-romanticize what life looks like for each of us. This is NOT the best year of our life. I’ll explain.
It seems glamorous. Traveling to 11 countries in 11 months, stepping foot on multiple continents, pictures upon pictures of Racers being attacked by adorable babies all over the world and videos upon videos (you know I have several myself….it happens). There’s something truly freeing about throwing your hands up and saying all right I’m in. I’m leaving it all. Let’s see what’s out there. God have Your way with all of me. It’s terrifying and exciting. It’s life changing, but it will NOT be the best year of your life.
(Disclaimer- all the following are true examples from either myself or a squadmate’s journey)
The World Race will NOT be the best year of your life because:
Maybe you will find yourself in a country when it’s 115 degrees every day and you’re stuck sweating literally every minute of the day and you have a parasite or food poisoning and you’re stuck in bed sweating through your clothes, through the sheets, trying to pour water down your throat while not allowing yourself to become too dehydrated while running to the bathroom every hour or so.
The World Race will NOT be the best year of your life because:
Maybe you’re in a country without running water and because they’re in a drought the barrels are empty so you can’t shower or wash your hands for nine days. You’re sweating every day and because there’s no water you can forget about washing your clothes either.
The World Race will NOT be the best year of your life because:
Maybe you’re at a children’s home and all the kids have lice and while you’re loving on them and helping care for them your entire team gets lice and can’t get rid of it for the entire month you’re there.
The World Race will NOT be the best year of your life because:
Maybe you will not be able to see or talk to your family or friends back home on your birthday, Thanksgiving, Easter, Christmas, New Year’s or any other major holiday that happens while you’re away.
The World Race will NOT be the best year of your life because:
Maybe there are times you are faced with something on the Race that wrecks you. Maybe an encounter in ministry or maybe it’s just a quiet time where you and God wrestle with something you’ve ran from for so long. Maybe you’ll get wrecked. Maybe you’ll cry yourself to sleep or maybe you won’t be able to sleep at all. Maybe pouring into a ministry every month then having to say goodbye after a few weeks will tear your heart out month after month. Maybe you’ll feel like you can’t take it anymore and the thought of just going home sounds so appealing.
The World Race will NOT be the best year of your life because:
Maybe although you are 21-35 years old Mother Nature doesn’t care and with the combination of all the random food you’re served, traveling every three-four weeks, climate changes, lack of sleep, physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual exhaustion scaling at their all time high you may lose control of all your bowels and well, join a club all in it’s own on the Race….an adult poop your pants club.
The World Race will NOT be the best year of your life because:
Maybe random things that would never be okay in “real life” become just another day on the Race such as…..maybe you will wake up with a dead lizard on his back next to your pillow because the heat got the best of him. Maybe you will have a frog jump directly on your face when you’re trying to walk through a laundry room. Maybe a gecko will land on your head when you’re laying in your bed in a hostel. Maybe a mouse will run through your team’s packs in the room you’re staying in for the month. Maybe fire ants will find their way into your tent. Maybe having to fight off a cockroach or several mosquitoes while in the shower will not phase you one bit. Maybe you will be happy there are only two ants in your bowl of cereal in the morning and you won’t even try to pick them out anymore.
Have I ruined it for you yet? This is my reasoning for writing this blog. Yes although, as promised, those are all true stories from my very own squad, some from the teams I have been on, and some from myself, they are all true. I still stand behind the fact this Race will NOT be the best year of my life, my teammates’, my squadmates’, or any Racer for that matter because I want more for us than that. It may be the best year of your life you’ve had so far, but I want this experience to only be a launching pad into even greater things!
So yes…
while maybe you have food poisoning and/or a parasite and are trying to stay hydrated while sweating to death in a bed somewhere your teammates will be trying to find anyone in the city who speaks English to get you crackers to eat and electrolyte packages to stuff in your water bottle that they make sure you drink why they sit with you hours upon hours to keep you company so you don’t have to be in it alone.
And yes while maybe you have no running water so you can’t shower, wash your hands, or your clothes, you are at a children’s home where even if you did have a clean glass of water you wouldn’t think twice about sharing it with the kids who have stolen your heart because even when you’re starving and they ask for the food on your plate you give it to them, because you realize what really matters.
And yes while maybe you and your team are doing daily lice checks to try to get a handle on the lice situation that is trying to overtake your life your heart breaks for the kids coming to the home from state homes who’s heads are covered with bugs because they have been so forgotten and disregarded and you can’t help but hug them or hold them when they sprint at you every time they see you.
And yes while maybe you aren’t able to do the normal holiday routines and traditions you’re used to your heart is filled when a host spends a day running around for groceries to make dishes she knows would make it seem more like home, or you’re brought to tears when you’re handed a phone card and phone and told to call home for a few minutes on Christmas, or on your birthday your team scrapes all their pennies together to buy you candy and a sketchpad you haven’t been able to find in the last four countries.
And yes while maybe you are going to have your whole world rocked, you’re going to be broken, wrecked, stretched, and wrestled with you’re going to have a community of people around you that would literally do anything for you. They’re family. They’ll stay up all night with you praying for you and with you, listening to you, holding you, and loving you with the most real love that exists in the world. They’ll fight for you in any circumstance.
And yes while maybe you may lose control of your bowels at an inopportune time you are in a community that gets it. They get how it is actually a reality to be pushed to a limit to where you have no control any more and they understand, love you in it, through it, and after it help you see the humor in it all.
And when life is crazy and seemingly ridiculous with the little creatures that enter your daily life you’ll find those on your team who are willing to protect, serve, and laugh with you because only they will truly understand.
This isn’t a “great trip”. It’s our life. For future Racers it’s about to be yours and when you enter this world trust me you can’t go through this thing and be untouched. People can’t be close to you while you going through this thing and be untouched. You cannot go back to what you were before you left because clearly something wasn’t working. You felt there was something more, so why would you try to return when it wasn’t okay before? Why in the world do you think you could even possibly fit back into that mold when you’ve been reshaped and stretched?
Current Racers you’re different now. Future Racers you’re about to be rocked. You’re about to be turned upside down and inside out but if God’s calling you to this incredible journey then it’s only the beginning of a much larger journey. You’re taking that leap into something great, something unknown to yourself, and each Race is going to look different than any other because it’s unique to yourself. It’s your Race.
As my squad mentor said at our last debrief, “It’s not about making the most of your Race, but it’s about making the most of your life.”
The World Race will NOT be the best year of your life but will be a great one.
