'Ello there! *British accent hehe
This
blog here is tell you how I got to where I'm at..To tell you THE CALL
TO THE MISSION FIELD. I would like to share the story/ history behind
how the World Race came to be for me. It is rather long, but worth the
read. So sit yo' self down with a cup of hot joe, or hot tea, relax and
listen er..or read of how good God is, and how this great adventure
begins..
Coming out of high school most young people my age, us
20 something's we have this big vision to change the world around us.
Everyone of us are running around like chickens with our heads cut off
going to college's, getting married, becoming parents, or often
wondering why all of our friends are doing these things, and we're not.
In this season we really our establishing ourselves and finding our
place in the world. This is one of the most beautiful and messiest times
of our lives. Everyone at or over this age I'm sure you know this to
be true.
At this beautiful yet crazy
time in our lives we are hard to pin down for appointments, we are
ALWAYS busy, but manage enough "free time" to develop lifelong
friendships. We work our butt's off for very little pay, we often find
ways of capturing moments of our childhood back by being mature 5 days
out of the week while allowing ourselves some grace to be kids again on
the weekends. We laugh, we cry..We keep our friends close and often
times (sad to say) push family away. Over time we learn how important
our family is and their role in our lives. We learn the meanings of
"Identity", "trust", "loss", "relationship", "broke as a joke" and
"dreamer." We are in a constant state of self discovery and shape our
beliefs of who we are and why we believe what we believe. In this season
we develop our ideas of what it takes to be a man or woman in this
world. What a man or woman should look like... what and who we should
be.
Around my 20th birthday I had a dream inside my heart, a
vision and an idea of what it looked like to BE A MAN. That form took on
the role of a firefighter. This was a dream of my heart that me and a
childhood friend had sat on the roof of an abandon house with years
earlier. It had been a dream of ours to go out save the world being
hero's in our city. We dreamed of running into burning buildings,
saving peoples lives, day in and day out risking our lives for the
preservation of others. Always putting one above ourselves, always
making our parents, our family, our friends and one day our future women
proud of us. This dream became a possibility at age 20 when both me and
my childhood friend were both in the same EMT class together and a spot
became open at our local fire department. One spot, one chance that's
it. We went for it!
Desperation of the heart leads you to do
incredible feats, accomplish amazing tasks, and chase crazy dreams. The
fire department was so impressed with both of us, we were both hired.
Out of 84 contestants all fighting for the same position.. another spot
was opened to us and they hired us both! Bam! Just like that the dream
became reality. I thought that, that was it. That had to be. I became a
man that day. Turns out that was just the beginning.
Naturally I
thought I was done working on "becoming a man." In this season I
achieved my great dream of becoming a firefighter I had a good
reputation among the men I worked along side, I bought myself a truck, I
established myself financially, I had a beautiful relationship with a
gorgeous girl, and yet something was missing. Something inside me was
still not convinced that I had achieved all it took to become a man.
John Eldridge writes "The worst thing that can happen to a young man is
for that man to have a living, breathing dream inside of his heart..and
for that dream to die while that man is still breathing." When I
started work at the fire department I thought to myself "heck yeah! I
just landed the best job ever!" I thought I would be there for the next
30 years. I would retire here. I would marry here, have a beautiful
home, raise beautiful children here. I closed any doors of opportunity
to go anywhere else or do anything else, and I chose to let my dreams to
change the world die because the world was just too big, and I was just
so small. No more thinking like Peter Pan, I closed the doors to big
dreams. ..Well the Lord decided to blow those doors wide open..
I
first heard about the World Race in a college group meeting..Miss Ada
Grantham was being prayed out of our group as she prepared to embark on
her journey in the WR. The moment I heard what the WR was my heart leapt
inside me. I was moved by this idea to backpack around the world and
release the kingdom wherever your feet went. I asked myself the question
as most men do.. "Do I have what it takes." I quickly dismissed myself
from this great notion. This was just "much too big for me", "It would
be impossible to do, to even get accepted, to raise the money it takes
to do that" " plus I got it good right where I'm at." I went home and
thought nothing of it for weeks.
Soon after that meeting I was
on a walk with Jesus at a lake that we like to visit here in town, and
life had been hitting me hard. Every thing I held dear to me was
shifting and in constant transition. "My fail proof plan" was failing
miserably and I was no longer finding fulfillment in the things I had
found fulfillment in before. The relationship with the gorgeous girl had
ended, my loving PaPa was diagnosed with terminal lung cancer and
approaching his death bed, my dog died, and I found myself so uneasy at
where I was at. At work, in some of my friendships, with my family,
everything. Sounds like a country song geesh!
I found myself at a
standstill with God.. Him knowing my heart, me knowing my fears and
insecurities I didn't want any more things to go south, so up the walls
went. He being so faithful, and so kind He gently led me into
conversation. I had to address why I had closed the doors. I had to
address why I had closed off my heart. I had to come to grips with the
fact that I was angry at God, cause believe me I was mad at Him. I came
to understand that I had closed Him off because I didn't think He was
capable of giving me a "good future " as he promises in Jeremiah 29:11. I
believed I had to achieve this myself. I had to be a man with a "suck
it up solider" mentality I had to be strong! Through love and care of
family, friends, and friends who are basically family Jesus took the
next few weeks to show me how wrong I really was.
Jesus walked
with me, He talked with me everyday. He begin to breathe life upon the
dreams I chose to let go. He gave a dying heart a heartbeat again.. He
revealed His word to me more and more and showed me to the freedom I
longed for, the freedom I deserved. He showed me that my life is to be a
better story than I could write, paint or produce. He revealed that one
career wont suit me. He knows me best, and knows my heart, and He knows
I would die from boredom at the end of a career living with a
comfortable retirement and FAT paycheck, but these great dreams lost in
the process. "A life without risk in no life at all." He showed me
that it is His desire and His doing to partner with my heart and my
desire. He promised me a good future! A future that I would prosper in
and lack nothing, a future of hope..who am I to discredit Him? Let me
blow your mind for a second. "I have come not to be served, but to
serve, and to give my life as a ransom for many." Jesus desires to serve
me! He desires to serve you.. WHAA!? I know that is what your thinking,
but read the word.. Look at how intimate Jesus wants to be with you and
your life. Look at how the word says how involved He longs to be in
your plans and your desires. Jesus begin to free me up in my mindsets,
and allowed me to think about being in a story that is so much bigger
than myself. He gave His life as a ransom for many, so I just started
following in my daddy's footsteps. I decided to let go of what I thought
success meant and looked like.. in life, and as a man.
One night
as I was laying in bed watching the clock roll by hour after hour
dreading that I had to work the next day knowing I was going to have
another restless night ..all of the sudden He spoke to me about the
World Race. He reminded me of it. He reminded me of how I felt when I
heard about this "World Race" He reminded me of how my heart leapt and
came to life as I thought of this great adventure.. He led me to
Habakkuk 1:5 "Look
at the nations and watch--and be utterly amazed. For I am going to do
something in your days that you would not believe, even if you were
told." When I read this I thought "I want to be a part of that." Night
after night I begin to research this "World Race" watching videos,
reading blogs, listening to testimonies. I begin to spend time praying
and fasting over this idea. I couldn't get it off my mind. I couldn't
sleep, I couldn't seem to think much of anything else other than wanting
to do this. To travel to this north star and then straight on till
morning..I wanted to be a part of this great adventure. I wanted to be a
character in this great story.
Finally one day I decided
to just give up and apply. I had and still have many fears, many
concerns, but they don't rule me. They are not the source of my life. My
career, my education, the amount of money in my bank account, if I have
a girlfriend or not..these things are not the source of my life. The
source of my life, my abundance, my song and my shield..it is built upon
the rock that is higher than I, and for that reason I applied. I
decided to conquer the fear of not applying, and put to rest the regret I
would face in later years if I didn't at least try. Now something
happened that I hadn't planned on.. I had no idea that I would then get
accepted!
Now here we are 7 months out from launch, and I am
preparing to become a missionary in distant lands. This happens to be
one thing I thought I would never do or even say I would do, and it
certainly scares the crap out of me thinking I'm going through with this
thing, and yet here I am. I heard the call, I heard Him asking whom He
could send and here I am saying send me! It's a lot of money to raise
and is daunting at times, but already the Lord has shown He is more than
capable to provide my every need.
I am still learning and
growing into the man I desire to be.. and the beautiful thing about that
is, is that I think that will be a lifelong process through transition
in every season. I have the best example I could have following Jesus,
and walking in His footsteps or in His Chaco's ;)
"He will be
like a tree planted by streams of living water, his roots going down
deep being fruitful in every season, and lacking nothing" Jer 17:7-8
Thank
you to all who took the time to give this a read, and thank you for
your love and support. I hope this is as encouraging to you as it is to
me. Let the testimony bring freedom to you and inspire you. Follow your
dreams, never let them just fade away, and know that The Lord has a GOOD
future for you! A future of hope to prosper you and not harm you. He
loves you ..let Him love you like only He can.
Love you all dearly
Living a great story ~ Devin
People
are like trees.. Some people come into your life and it seems that in
just a moment, just as quickly as they came into your life POOF! the
seasons change, transition comes and they go out, fade away.. Don't get
me wrong there is nothing wrong with that kind of change or transition.
In fact I believe that some people are meant to be in your life for just
a season. I believe the Lord plants those people in your life for a
season and they help you find something in yourself, you help make them
feel great..these people will tell stories of your love and friendship
and think fondly of you always... But then there are those certain
people who remain no matter what transition comes or how the seasons
change us.They are immovable, unshakeable..It's those people, those
special few who like trees, they are planted in your life and in your
heart, and it's there in your heart that their roots go down deep.
My lovely Arwood Family =)
All dem lovely Weeks girls!
These
people are my "nearest and dearest" of my heart: The Arwood family,
Weeks family, Roberts family, Sarah Taylor, My Mum, My Brothers Dawson,
Drew and Sistah Delynn, David Malone, David Conner & Wifey, Josh and
Carolyn Freeman/family all of you mean the world to me and I would not
be the man I am today without you. Thank you!
The one and only Sarah Taylor! =)
Dawson and his lovely girlfriend Hailey
