The past month has felt like a dream – everything I’ve known and planned and thoughtfully considered was thrown out the side car window with God as my driver. Three years ago I dreamed of having a chauffeur, and I’m finding out I’ve had one this whole time.
With His help, I’ve done it. I took the biggest leap of faith of my life – quitting my job in Manhattan, ending my lease in the East Village, selling belongings, moving into my parent’s house in Florida, attending World Race training camp in Georgia, and ultimately jumping head first further into the most intimate relationship with the most compassionate Creator.
April 25th my father flew up to my apartment in New York, rented a van, and we took an awesome road trip with all of my worldly possessions back down to Florida stopping in Charleston, SC for a day. The morning we woke up at the hotel in Charleston, we were eating a quick breakfast in the lobby of the hotel and a car alarm went off in the parking lot. My dad’s heart plunged thinking it was our van broken into – it was obvious that the van was teeming with clothing and knickknacks and electronics and was an easy target to would-be thieves. A thought crossed my mind that shocked me, “you know, even if that was my car, even if all the contents were gone, even though I have no financial cushion to fall back on to replace anything, it’s cool. It would be fine. I would be fine.“
The car alarm was in fact our car, but no doors were opened and nothing was missing. False alarm. But I bring this up to note this was the first time that I honestly and truly did not care about my STUFF. For lack of a better word – it was weird. And it’s weird enough that I still remember that one small thought now a month later. Remembering that small thought was how God spoke to me three weeks later in Georgia.
World Race training camp is a beast. Sitting in the Georgia Mountains ripe with hiking trails and scorpions, training camp told me to come prepared with a tent and backpack and sleeping pad. What they didn’t explain was the depth of which I would come to know myself and others in this short time. Sessions after sessions about Bounded Set vs. Centered Set, Modernity & Worldview, Symptoms of Unforgiveness, Disciplines of Honesty, Grieving, Extrovert vs. Introverts, and Understanding Platonic Relationships – I couldn’t have taken more notes. I’ve never sat in a room for session after session and actually WANTED more. Fantastic.
On the evening of what was my 6th day of training camp, we had a 4 hour worship night. No more talks, no more chairs, just worship. And it was here, after two hours of standing and singing my heart out to Him alongside 250 other World Racers who are giving up everything for the next year, that insecurity in the decision I had made to give up everything was absolved. It was here that I remembered the absurd thought that crossed my mind in Charleston, SC that even if all of my belongings were taken from me, everything that I’ve ever worked for in a city that prides itself on the amount of things, I would be fine because of God. I sat down in the middle of 250 of my peers and cried the happiest and longest cry of my life. I felt the Holy Spirit’s peace of mind and assurance. THIS IS WHERE I AM CALLED. He released all doubts and answered my pleas for a sign that this is what I should be doing – that I am on the path He has chosen for me.
I’m sitting here on my back porch in Florida typing in harmony to the choir of bullfrogs and lizards, in awe of the vastness of world that we live in. It is not by chance that these frogs and lizards came into existence. And it is definitely not by chance that I’m sitting here preparing for the World Race.
Support Update:
If you are currently one of my supporters, you better get used to the praise! I am currently at $6,600 with check in the mail! Almost to the 50% mark! I am able to raise support for up to 6 months while on the trip, but it will be much harder with sporadic internet and no access to a phone. Please, if you have been thinking about giving or have already given and would like to be added to my prayer team, please shoot me an email at [email protected] or simply click the “support me” button at the top of this page. Here is a list of my deadlines!
- $150 Deposit – Due 1/9/2014 (2 weeks after your acceptance date.)
- $3,500 – Due 5/3/2014 (2 weeks before Training Camp)
- $7,500 – Due 6/17/2014 (2 weeks prior to your trip) last day to MAIL in checks for this deadline is on the 4th of JUNE
- $11,000 – Due 10/1/2014 (End of 3 months on the field)
- $15,500.00 + $752.00 (*Insurance) = $16,252.00 – Total Due 1/1/2015 (End of 6 months on the field)
Route Update:
July – Nepal
August – India (for my birthday)
September – Thailand
October – Cambodia
November – South Africa (thanksgiving)
December – Swaziland (christmas)
January – Botswana
February – Romania
March – Moldova
April – Guatemala
May – Nicaragua
Also, please keep in your prayers that I am able to continue pouring into the lives of those around me in this last month here in the US. I am being intentional about each moment I can spend with my family and friends while I am still here and I would like this last month to be about them rather than myself. God bless.
-Will
