Written August 23, 2018
View original blog at https://jensummy.theworldrace.org/post/the-world-is-broken-but-god-is-perfect
As training camp is coming closer, my sugar-coated fantasies of what the world race will be are slowly dissolving. I'm realizing that the troubles of life are not going to disappear because I'm following God. In fact, they are going to intensify as we throw ourselves into places with the direst needs right now.
The World Race is not a vacation. It's an awakening.
After reading many blog posts by racers at various points of their journeys, this seems to be the theme. They are awakened to the depth of need in this world, but they are also awakened to God's Grace, and how he works even in the most heartbreaking situations.
Because no matter what, God is perfect, even though the world isn't.
You see, the way I see it is that if we are following God, God will provide. Sure, it will be hard. It certainly wasn't easy for the first disciples, but it was only because of the risks they were willing to take that the Christian faith is what it is today. All of the other scary questions are important, but irrelevant because I know for a fact that God will protect those who follow Him.
Christianity is about a relationship with God, not with the world, and I think that's why God works so strongly through the World Race. By having to uproot ourselves from our homes, and then consequently from different countries each month for 11 months, racers learn that the material things of the world don't define us; only God defines us. By obscuring the comforts of the world as we know it, we have no choice but to be in a closer relationship with God, and then we get the honor of sharing that with others, and the way we share looks different for everyone since God has gifted us all with unique talents meant to bring his love and glory to the broken world we live in.
I'm gonna be honest. I'm the most nervous about evangelizing (I know. I'm going on a mission trip and I'm nervous about that!) I have never felt comfortable walking up to people and just telling them about my faith or my beliefs because I know, in the same way, I have deeply held beliefs that have grown over the years, everyone else does, too.
But as I've been lying in my bed tonight, unable to sleep because I keep thinking about these things, I've realized that evangelism is different for everyone because if we are doing it correctly, it is not us talking to other people and trying to prove that we are right, but it is God talking to them through us, helping us find a way to say what they need to hear. It's not our job to say what we think they need to hear, because quite frankly, we have no way of knowing that.
I am not the type of person who can recite bible verses out of the blue to people. I am also not the kind of person who will shy away from trying new things in different cultural contexts. I know that God will find a way to use my strengths and my weaknesses to relate to and give hope to the people who need it most.
That's perhaps the most exciting thing about the race. I can't wait to see how God uses our various talents and weaknesses to raise each other up while raising others up with us. Those who worship, preach, listen, and serve will all compliment each other while we are doing God's work, and that even our brokenness can be used to do good things.
In order to make this race worthwhile, we need to understand that the world is broken (ourselves included), but God is perfect, and the only way to fix a broken world is to get out of the way and let God work, and we are just vessels through which he does his work.
And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect - Romans 12:2
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