Heather Snider of 2014 I Squad found the World Race to be more than just the ultimate trip to 11 countries in 11 months. Instead, it has become the training ground for how she will live the rest of her life.
I’ve said it myself: “I’m going on the adventure of a lifetime.” Which is true. But shouldn’t each day of our lives be an adventure, discovering what God has in store for us? I’ve also said the the World Race is an awesome mission trip.
But I was wrong.
The World Race is not a trip at all. The World Race is life.
I didn’t just leave my life for a year to go on this ‘mission trip’. This trip is my life. For a normal mission trip you are gone a few weeks to another city, state, or country. During this time you further God’s kingdom and typically return home on a spiritual high which normally dulls after returning to life.
The World Race is different.
On the World Race you are living life, but it is dramatically different. Normally I don’t sleep on a concrete floor in an 8×8 room with 6 other girls, but on the World Race I am this month. Normally I don’t take cold showers or eat things that I have no idea what they are, but on the World Race these things are actually enjoyable most of the time. In normal life work ends and I go home. But there is no going ‘home’ on the Race because home is a different place each month. And many times even at home there is still ministry to do.
There is a new ‘normal’ on the World Race. So different from my old definition of ‘normal’ that the word might not even apply.
Never before has there been a time in my life where I get to devote myself solely to ministry for 11 months. And each month that ministry is different. As I’ve never before had experience in disaster relief, digging a hole for a septic tank, or in prison ministry, this is very stretching. New ministry brings new growth, but growth has also come by surrendering myself solely to God for these 11 months, diving into His Word, praying, fasting, and learning total dependence on him. Personally, I’ve grown in the depth of relationships with my teammates and many of my hosts. Three of my teammates and I have been together the whole Race, eating, breathing, sleeping, ministering, and living together since September. We’ve created a deep bond I didn’t know was missing from my life. Now I can’t wait to dive deeper with people when I get home from the Race.
*photo by @courtwoodworth.
Future Racers, be prepared to be changed. I thought I was just coming on the Race to minister. I didn’t expect the Race to change me. I’m sure God laughed when He heard that because He has changed me so much.
For family and friends of Racers, remember your Racer will come back changed 110% – guaranteed. They will have experienced life in new and stretching ways; they may now like different foods or clothes or music. They will probably want to have deeper relationships and more intimate conversations. Racers’ priorities and worldview are likely to have changed and their relationships with God probably have a new personal level of intimacy. Most of all, we’ll be looking to learn how this new normal we lived on the Race can be how we live wherever we are.
The World Race is preparation for the decades we’ll live after final debrief. When all the epic social media statuses and Instagram photos disappear from our newsfeeds, what will remain will be how the ‘normal’ from the field is translated and lived on the commute to work, in Walmart, in our families and churches.
For all those reasons and more, the World Race is way more than just a trip.
*First photo by Julie Sliwinski.
Are you hungry for a “new normal”? Ready to be wrecked for the ordinary? Click here to find out how you can start the rest of your life by going to 11 countries in 11 months.
