It all started with this video. I remember staying
up many late nights in my apartment watching this video over and over again.
I
wondered, could this be what the Lord is calling me to?
The World Race is a really long time, and lot can
change in eleven months. I kept trying to picture who I would be. What would
look like? How would I be different? What would life be like afterwards?
A lot of those questions I could honestly still ask
myself. Yet here I am as a month seven World Racer. I said yes to this crazy
adventure. I heard that crazy rumor. I listened to the whisper. I answered the call
to come out into the wild with God. I have experienced this journey with Him, releasing
His Kingdom on the earth.
I have been to many places around the world and
have seen many different faces. I have had the privilege and honor to be able
to experience so many different cultures. I have witnessed Jesus do miraculous
things, and have seen Him move in the small and quiet ways.
I have made some of the most beautiful and amazing
friends that I could ever ask for, and have submitted and served under some of
the wisest and most humble leaders.
For seven months I have been away from home,
outside the States, and away from my safe harbor. I have learned more lessons
than I could share in just one blog. I have more stories than you have time
for. But when I make my way around your town or when you’re in mine, feel free
to stop and talk with me. Let's have coffee. I will listen to your great
adventures and tales from your life, and I will share mine.
One thing that is certain, when I return home, I
will experience community shock. I'm sure there will also be a measure of culture
shock. Simply stated, the real, raw, and deep community we live in out here . .
. there is nothing like it. It's something that happens because of our
experiences together. The Lord leads us into a place of abandonment and
transforms our lives because of it. I plan to not just learn from this culture I
plan to own it, create it, live it where ever I go. I will change the very
atmosphere of the place I inhabit.
The Lord has been so good to me. I am so close to
His heart, and He to mine. It took everything within me to come on the race and
give up the life I had back home. Now that I'm here, there is no place I'd
rather be. Do I miss home? Sure. Do I miss my family and my friends? Of course!
But there is truly no place I have felt more in tune with God and more
fulfilled. I have never felt that I could just pour out & still remain in
such a place of rest. The Lord has made me a great leader because he taught me
to become a great follower. It is because He is the "greater in
me."
I have had the joy and the privilege of being the
leader of two different teams so far here on the World Race. It's because of
these people that I am who I am today.
These lovely faces, and so many more among my squad
have invested in me, my heart, and into my journey with the Lord. While I have
been away, many of you have done the same.
Ahhh … I wish I could get you to meet every last
one of these beautiful people, hear their stories, and "do life with them,"
as I have.
You probably won't meet most of them. You may not ever
hear any of their stories. But there is one thing I know . . . your life will
be impacted because their words and lives will resound in my heart. I will live
my life with them in my heart and mind.
This journey is not over yet, and I'm very happy
for that. I have much more to learn, to listen, and to hear.
The Lord has given me some beautiful things, and has
put some things on my heart that I'd like to share with you..
I have no idea how things will look when I return
home. I don’t know where I will live, or where I will work. I will start
planning all that fairly soon, but it is not the time yet.
I feel very strongly that I will only be home for a
short while. The Lord has given me a passion to raise up young people like
myself to become Son's & Daughters. I want to help raise them up to become leaders
of their generation. OUR generation! I want to live a life like chivalry really
isn't dead. I want to teach young boys how to be great men, and young girls how
to see themselves as lovely women, and daughters of a King -worthy of
adoration.
If an opportunity presents itself, and Adventures
& Missions would have me, I will be looking into Squad Leading or leading a
Passport team shortly after retuning home. Either option would take me far
from home once again, but not for nearly as long.
I tell you this so that you can pray with me. I
have no idea what's to come of this, but I am leaning into His leading. This
would require me to fund raise all over again, and we all know how fun that is
… psych! But seriously, if there is one thing I have learned it's this- If the
Lord has called you to something, He is more than capable and willing to
provide for your every need.
I am very confident in the fact that He will lead
me and guide me and provide for my next Kingdom Journey with Him.
Please continue to pray for me as I embrace the
beauty of this season, and also look forward to the glory of the next
season.
Love you all dearly.
I love knowing you, and love
being known by you.
Dev
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