Truths

“What are you most excited for about the race?”

“Nine months traveling the world? That’s so cool.”

“What are your plans after the race?”

Questions about the race are personally my favorite things to answer and comment on. I love being able to discuss what the World Race is, what I’ll be doing and why I chose to do what I’m doing. Fortunately for me I’ve been blessed with the best support system and squad to be able to brag about as well. Though it is beyond fun and exciting answering the questions about what I’m doing and where I’m going, I’m hardly asked the tough questions. 

“What are you most afraid for?” 

“You’re leaving your family and life of 20 years behind, what is that gonna be like?”

“Aren’t you scared everything will be different?”

Though those aren’t things I necessarily want to think about, they’re real life questions and concerns. It’s not talked about enough with the community I’m in and around. As racers, we talk about those things constantly with one another though. Because after all, we’re just young adults packing up all we’ve ever known and we’re leaving this life behind. We are packing nine months into a 65L hiking backpack and moving across the world. It’s completely mind boggling to think about, but unfortunately it’s a hard reality. 

I’m most afraid to leave my life in Texas, my friends and family. I know everyone’s lives will continue on as they were and so will mine. I keep thinking that maybe everything will be the same when I come back, but I know it won’t, and that’s okay. I will have stories to tell when I arrive back and my family and friends will also have so many stories for me. 

Every chapter of life has to start and end. My current chapter is coming to a close in 46 short days, but a new, exciting chapter is starting. My whole life will be in Texas when I arrive back, it will just have some new stories to it. But as this new chapter starts, it brings me so much joy just by only knowing who I’m starting it with. My squad is my family also. We’re 40 brothers and sisters who just so happen to all choose the same course of action for our next chapter. Times will be tough, we will get homesick, we will learn to get over bucket showers, we will learn to eat whatever we’re given, but most importantly, we will learn to love others and complete strangers so intentionally. 

My life will change so much in the span of nine months, but I will change as a person even more. I know everything will be different, it already is and I haven’t even left yet. I think differently, I praise differently, I walk though life differently. But though these things are different, I am still the same God fearing human I’ve always been. I know life at home will have change, it changes everyday, that is inevitable. How we handle the change is what’s truly important. We could just be upset and mad about how we missed everything or we can look at things with positivity and admiration. Sure it’s upsetting seeing your home life change, but it can be so fulfilling watching others bloom. Though we won’t be around for those things, our lives will also be blooming and that is SO exciting. 

I’ll miss the simple things like getting coffee with friends, having dinner with my parents, going to the beach and so much more. It’ll be weird coming back to a life of chick-fil-a, air conditioning and a real bed, but it’ll be even weirder leaving my sleeping pad and the heat. I get to have the greatest honor of being one of God’s disciples and sharing the gospel around the world. There is no greater honor in the world than being in the Lord’s kingdom. 

At boot camp I was told to just sit in the river of God’s love and just feel what it is like to be completely consumed by his love, and since then nothing has been the same. Every single day I just sit in the river of God’s love and I continue to walk through life with that mindset in hopes of helping lead others into that same river. It is so much easier to just look at all the challenges and hardships and just be so consumed by sadness. But it is so much more fulfilling to sit in the river of God’s love and flood it into others lives. Life is such a weird thing, but it’s even more beautiful when you’re looking at it from the kingdom. Though it is scary facing the realities of the race, I wouldn’t change what I’m doing.