Watch a video. Read a blog. Talk with a former World Racer. Every communication will probably involve a passionate display of love, service, and excitement. It’s easy to share about ministering to and serving alongside brothers and sisters, hermanos y hermanas, in different communities and cultures all over the world. The reality, though, is that every moment on the World Race
is not necessarily photo and video worthy.
Every place we go will look different, but here is a peek inside my team’s life amidst the ordinary during our time in Panajachel, Guatemala.
Three dollars a day. That’s our budget per person per day for food. It’s actually not nearly as bad as it sounds, but rice and noodles has already become a staple for us. (A quick hop on a scale showed me to be at least five pounds lighter than pre-departure Weston.)
Construction projects are enjoyable when progress is made, but when concrete doesn´t want to break, the drill bit snaps for the third time, a door must be hung in a slanted concrete frame, or I´m just flat out tired, I’m reminded that ministry isn’t always about the results; it’s about the process. It’s about serving even when you don’t want to. It’s about focusing on others, not yourself, throughout each day until it is an unconscious desire.
After our day in the sun, we were often privileged to have Pastor Benjamin give us teachings where our world views were bent yet not broken, shattered yet supported, and challenged yet crystallized. When a typical day had seemingly ended, there was still the preparation of food and everyday cleaning that needed to take place. (Even on the World Race, regular grocery shopping and cooking are a necessity.)
Our dinners typically occurred around a rectangular coffee table where we’d spend the remaining hours of the night laughing, sharing, crying, playing, and encouraging. This array of emotions was usually experienced during a time set aside every single day called feedback. (Our team has adopted the name BS-Being Spiritual-for our daily meetings.) Every time we sit down to share the goal is always the same: to build each other up. How this plays out is oftentimes different, though.
Some times during BS we’ll each share about our day and fellow teammates will speak positive words of encouragement into each other. Regularly we are sharing constructive comments with a teammate not in order to vent or get something off our chest, but because the earnest desire is for every person to become the best they can be. It’s not always easy to share, whether that’s because the act of divulging information is personal, can be challenging, or requires vulnerability. But ultimately our times of BS are freeing, redemptive, encouraging, and downright ordinary-or at least should be.
Last night at 10:30pm we sat in our circle and each person took turns hearing positive and constructive comments from every other person on the team. At 1:30am we finished up feeling refreshed, challenged, and loved.
We as a team challenge the perception that the World Race is anything but ordinary. It causes me to wonder how much of this different, unique, and maybe even exceptional experience really should define the life of an ordinary Christian. The presence of God is not limited by the language, currency, or political stability of a region. He loves the same no matter the location, so why shouldn’t we?
