Why I’m Going on the World Race

Sometimes the Lord starts opening doors and then suddenly they start closing and we feel lost. If you had asked me 5 weeks ago what my plan was for next year, I would have told you that I was going to college to major in Spanish and Nursing. Things were looking great, I thought I had everything ready, loved the college, and felt like the Lord was calling me to it. But then, doors started closing. And I got this weird itch that there was something different waiting for me. That the Lord had something better right around the corner. This itch was confirmed as one night at youth group we were asking God about what He has for us, and the Lord told me “You are trying to pick the lock on doors that are not supposed to be open.” He reminded me “I don’t call the equipped, I equip the called” and so there I was, without a clue of what I was going to do. Back to square one. But the Lord says “Trust in the Lord with all your strength, and lean not on your own understandings” (Proverbs 3:5)  and “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways” (Isaiah 55:8). So, as any other teenager would do, I searched gap year programs on google, trusting that the Lord would the right one before me, and World Race was the second link. And as soon as I got on the website, I knew this was an opportunity I did not want to miss out on. What I find interesting in this whole process is how the Lord reminded me of the passions I had as a kid. Since a very young age, I had a huge heart for Africa and could not stand the unjust way that kids my age did not have clean water to drink, and on the World Race, I will be serving in Africa. Another passion I have is Spanish. I have been immersed in it at school since first grade, and love the Latin culture, and once again, one of the stops of the World Race is in Latin America. Another passion that I had forgotten about was my longing to take a gap year. It always seemed adventurous to me and something spontaneous that a planned person like me would not do. Yet another passion of mine is missions. Since fifth grade, I knew the Lord was calling me to missions, and after reading Katie Davis-Majors’ book “Kisses from Katie” I was dead set on being just like her. And while the Lord has shown me that I am not called to live exactly like her (specifically the part about 13 kids), he has nurtured my calling for missions. So I guess one of the main reasons I am going on the World Race is because the Lord has been preparing me for such a time as this since a young age.

Another reason I am going on the World Race is because I am ready for a challenge. What am I willing to give to the Lord to further his kingdom? 9 months? The comfort of home? Time with family? Consistency? Food I know I like? A familiar culture? As I considered more and more the idea of doing the World Race, the Lord kept reminding me of the twelve disciples. He reminded me of how Jesus sent them out two by two and told them to not bring anything along.  Not food, clothes, shelter, nothing, but rather to put their complete faith in the fact that God will provide. And while I hope to bring some clothes and a tent along, this is much less than what I have right now in my air-conditioned home with a closet full of clothes.  So if the disciples can do it, so can I (certainly not by myself though, without the Lord, I would be terrified). There have also been many people since I announced that I was going on the World Race who told me that they would have loved to take a year off to just stop and not jump right into the future with college. And there may not be much stopping on a race, but it allows me to better understand where the Lord is leading me. This is also a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that, once I am older, I will not be able to do. So why not do it now and live a life of no regrets, knowing that I spent as much of it as I could bringing the kingdom of God to earth and being salt and light?

So why am I going on the World Race? Because why not.