Home Sweet Home

So, it took me this long to sit & write. . 
I am one to process things rarely through writing, and yet I've had so many people tell me they loved following me through this blog. They would describe stories back to me as I returned home from the Race. They would recount moments with me that were hard like having Dengue fever, or beautiful moments like jumping off the bridge in Nepal, and it depicting something far more than just a physical leap.

The number one question I get nowadays is "So, what's next?" 
As I was returning home I dreaded the thought of answering this question. 
See I'm a planner. If I could I'd probably plan the next 5 years of my life, but that just doesn't seem to always be the way the Lord works with me. He loves surprising me. He loves showing me that His purposes in my life are to astonish me with His favor & His blessing, to show me I'm a Son, and He is a great Father. He is purposeful with His presence wherever I go, in whatever I do. 

Guys to be honest with you as the World Race came to a close in the final months, I really thought I had this whole plan of coming home all mapped out. 
My plan was as soon as I got off the Race I was going to go attend a ministry school affiliated with AIM (Adventures In Missions). I was going to attend CGA (Center of Global Action). The course I was looking into taking at CGA was a crash course that dives right into field leadership. It's focus is on community, and how to establish leaders that can lead, call up, & empower others to lead in the mission field. Afterwards my next move was going to be to apply to Squad Lead. Every bit of me wanted to Squad Lead since like month 6 on the Race. I love the platform you have as a Squad Leader to speak into the strangers who become your family on the Race.

As it so happens, plans have changed. . .
The time I have spent with the Lord since coming home has been so amazing! So riveting! I hang on His every word, and I feel so close to Him. I feel His leadership over my life, and couldn't be more thankful for the directions He's given through times in the secret place with Him.

I will never say never to attending CGA or becoming a squad leader for the World Race. I love Adventures In Missions & I absolutely adore the journey I was able to go on with the World Race. I will always keep close contact with Adventures & I'd like to look into short term trips with them in the future.  For now though there are other things I'm pursuing that I would love to share with you!

Let me take you back a bit to when I first came home. We landed our plane stateside on December 7th singing the national anthem as we landed, and I couldn't have been more thrilled. India was hard, especially hard as it was our last month. Month 11. Yes if you can imagine the difficulties we faced in knowing this was it, we did it, and yet the tears that fell because it was over. Man did we finish well. though. . .

 It was hard as people peeled off left & right & we said our goodbyes. I was fortunate enough to be able to spend a week in Chicago with some of my friends from the Race before making the trek home, Friends then volunteered to road trip up to ATL to get me, so then after Chi town I was able to spend a week in Griffin with some lovely friends who served me food, provided a place to rest my head, and be myself. They set the tone for coming home. They spoke life into & over me, and recounted stories with me. It was amazing. 

I made it home just in time to spend Christmas with my family. Arriving just before Christmas Eve brought my mom & maw maw to tears as I loved on them & just enjoyed being close to them once again. Missed out on seeing some siblings but saw my brother & sister & loved every minute I got to share with them. 

After the Holidays I made the trek back up to ATL for what we alumni Racer's call Project Searchlight. Project Searchlight is basically a celebration of you being home, but also a moment of "follow up" where your coaches, and AIM staff takes time out of their week to help you now take control of your life, after all year being told to give up that same control. We spent all week planning goals, setting up jobs, deciding to decide on where to go next. 

Which brings me here. . .

I came home after Project Searchlight fueled with vision & passion. I came home with this drive to see my life have even more purpose than the Race. That's what we want after a journey like that right? 
I begin asking the Lord for a platform of where I could speak, preach & teach. Where was it that I could walk out the Kingdom lifestyle in my every day?
The Lord gave me options and some doors closed, and others opened. I found myself home with the wheels rolling, I begin to develop a passion to get back into Fitness training. I begin to desire this to be that platform. The desire to become a leader through Fitness & Health captivated me & made me come alive!

Now this passion developed more on the Race, and so it wasn't something completely new to me, I've done Personal Training before but I was so young at the time, and lacked vision. 
Well, I decided to go on a silent fast with the intent to hear the Lord with clarity. After this fast He & I decided to decide. I went after my re-certification in Personal Training, and I did indeed get re-certified. Then I begin my search for possible gyms to take me in or clients to take me on as their trainer. Also, My EMS crew at Genesis EMS took me back part time as they said they would before I left, and so I started work on the Box (ambulance) again. 

Through the Lord's leading & networking I now have been accepted & received as the newest personal trainer at our premiere 24/7 gym here in town, Factor X Fitness. I couldn't be more thrilled to be working with the people I'm working alongside. I can't tell you how happy it makes me to be doing what I love, and seeing the Lord work through the gifting & talents He's given me. 

That's not all though. . . not only have I been able to start work, and LOVE what I'm able to do, but The Race and it's journey has inspired me to go to college!

Yep, you heard right! Seeing all the poverty I've seen on the Race, the lack of education, etc, etc . . . it made me thankful for what we have. It made me eternally grateful for the blessings we have here in the States. I have been held back for years because a lack in confidence of myself, a lack of financial means to go to school. Now I do think it was good I didn't go to college at 18 or 19. I was immature, selfish, full of lust and had no vision or purpose for my life. College at that tme would have been a waste of time & money. Just being real I probably would've dropped out an become someone's baby's daddy. 
Coming home I finally got fed up with the lies the enemy was spoon feeding me & I just said to the Lord "why not!? you're never too old to go to college right!? And what I don't know I can learn right!?" I have grown so much out of that immaturity, and I purposefully and consistently walk close to the Lord now. I pefer others above myself, and now I have vision and I'm driven. 
So, I begin to pray about where to apply, where to go, what to study? I knew right when I saw it! I will be going after my Bachelors degree in Exercise Science. 
I've been looking into possibly attending VSU (Valdosta State University). I am currently looking into scholarships, grants, and it looks possible, not only that it looks promising that I'll get in. More to come on that later. . .

So this is life right now. . I am busy as ever, but it's that good kind of busy. The productive busy that you feel like your moving forward in. It's a happy busy knowing I'm releasing the Kingdom as I go in everything I say & do. 

I'm so excited about these steps I've taken & I feel proud of where I'm at. I'm so thankful for the Lord's leadership & your influence in my life. The way that each of you followed my journey, how you poured into me. . . how you still pour into me near or far. My community has received me so well here, and I have such amazing community globally now because of the World Race. To friends near & far I say this to you: You are loved dearly & fiercely by me. I pray the Kingdom over you, I pray you carry yourselves as Son's & Daughter's, and I pray that as you walk you release the anointing of our beloved Holy Spirit everywhere your feet tread. 

Dev