Runners Take Your Marks

Here it is friends, time to make my official announcement:

I’m going on the World Race.

11 countries.  11 months.  1 mission.

Some of you have been a part of this process from the beginning.  Some of you got the news after I’d made my decision.  Others are hearing this for the first time.  Regardless, it’s time to rally up all the support I can muster and begin seriously preparing for these 11 months that will likely change me in every way possible.

Let me begin by explaining myself.

What?  The World Race is an 11 month mission trip to 11 different countries spanning the globe.  I’ll be doing all sorts of mission work from manual labor and feeding hungry people to playing with orphans and doing evangelism.  I’ll be living the gospel.  I’ll be going to rough places that I probably won’t want to be in and pouring love out to people I would normally never interact with.  I’ll be getting on their level, feeling their pain, seeing their lives, getting to know their hearts, and hopefully leaving them with a glimpse of Christ.  Basically, God will be using me to do crazy things in rough places with people that need to be loved.

Where?  I’ll be a part of January route 2, which will include these countries:

Ecuador

Peru

Bolivia

Romania

Ukraine

South Africa

Swaziland

Mozambique

Thailand

Malaysia

Cambodia

The exact places I will be in those countries isn’t determined yet, and I might not even know until I get there, but the Lord will lead us to the places he wants to reach, and that’s pretty exciting.

If you’re interested, here’s the specifics:

http://www.theworldrace.org/?tab=routes&subtab=january-2013-2

When?  I’ll be gone from January 2013 through November 2013.  No, I can’t have visitors.  No, I can’t come back and visit you.

How?  I’ll be raising my support starting now until I leave, and probably while I am out in the field as well.  This is the part that makes me anxious right now, but the Lord will provide the means for this if it is what I am called to do.  And I believe—potentially with more certainty and confidence than I have ever believed—that this is in God’s plan for me.

Why?  What in the world could I possibly be thinking?  Let me tell you what I am thinking.  I’m not thinking.

That’s right.  I’m not thinking.

I’m trusting.

I’m believing.

I’m listening.

I’m obeying.

I’m going.

When I first heard about the World Race a few months ago I couldn’t get it off my mind.  I was taken aback completely and I spent hours researching what it was all about and pouring through blogs written by racers.  It’s nothing I ever thought I’d do and I didn’t go looking for it.  It took me by surprise and within a few short weeks I knew I was going.  After some serious prayer I made the decision to apply, with the knowledge that if I was accepted, I knew I would go.  It seems crazy and impulsive but in reality, I have never felt more secure in a decision in my entire life.  Don’t get me wrong, I’m scared of this.  A lot of things about this whole thing make me incredibly nervous and insecure.  But the bottom line is that I am certain this is something the Lord wants for me.  Right now.  And if that’s true, then my fear is not important.  It can’t drive my thoughts because God is bigger than that.  He is bigger than all the reasons I shouldn’t do this.  He is bigger than all the things I am scared of.  If this is what He is calling me to, then the only thing that really matters in that I obey and go.  So that’s what I’m doing, because I am learning that He really does know best.  He really does know how to protect me.  He really does know what I need.  He really does love me.  And He really really is all that matters.

So it’s crazy, but it would be crazy not to go.  It’s unexpected, but God’s plan is rarely predictable.  It’s scary, but if God is on my side, then what is there to fear?  It’s what I am being called to right now, and that’s all that matters. 

I don’t know what God will do in this, but he does.  I don’t know what my life will look like when I get back, but He does.  I don’t know what I’ll have to endure, but He does.  What more do I need really?

Here’s where you come in.  What I really need is prayer.  I need you to go before the Lord for me, if you feel so compelled, and ask Him to lead me.  Ask Him to protect me, guide me, grow me, use me, change me, help me, comfort me, and fight for me.  I have no chance of getting through this without being completely filled and surrounded by the Spirit, so I am asking you to help me in that.  Pray for my trip, my travel, my work, my team, and the people I will encounter.  Pray that every person I meet will leave me having experienced more of who Christ is because of how He is going to use me in their lives.  Pray that I can have the endurance to serve selflessly for almost a year.  Pray that I constantly see myself as completely His, and completely loved, that I might be able to pour out to those around me.

From now on, I’ll also be using a different blog through the World Race website.  I’ll still post here, but probably not as often.  For those of you interested, here’s where you can find me:

http://pattyreed.theworldrace.org/

Thanks for being in my life, friends.  Thanks for being a part of bringing me to this place in my life.