133 Days Later: Now What?

So I’m home, I’ve been home for a while now, 133 days to be exact. And here’s the part where I figure out what I’m supposed to do, who I’m supposed to be, where I’m supposed to go, etc.

Between work, church, fielding my mannyyyy marriage proposals, Netflix and petting my cats, I’ve been a busy gal. Honestly, transition home has been good but it’s also been hard; there are so many things I miss about life on the race, most of all I miss my squad. I miss the amazingly weird community I lived in for 11 months.

Coming home I didn’t realize how tough it would be to say goodbye to them. Because the reality of it is, we will never all get to be in the same place, living life, and doing ministry together, and that’s sad.

I’m so thankful for the time we did have; I got to share nearly a year of my life, trek around the world, and preach the gospel with them. And I wouldn’t trade it for anything.

This blog really isn’t about what coming home has looked like, I’ll write it eventually, but not right now. Instead, I want to tell you a little bit about what I’m doing next!

I first heard about CGA when I was at Training Camp, back in the day when I was a baby racer. I thought, “Hmm sounds cool, probably not for me.” But it was always there in the back of mind as an interesting post-race option. At month 7 debrief, my Squad Mentor was talking about life after the race, AIM programs, and CGA came up, of course.

In the months leading up to debrief I had been thinking about CGA pretty often and as soon as my SQM started talking about it, I had this sense of peace and I was pretty sure it was what the Lord had next for me.

In May I’ll be moving to Gainesville, GA to go to The Center for Global Action, which “prepares World Race, Gap Year, and Passport alumni to follow their calling, bringing the kingdom of God all over the world.”

“CGA exists to mobilize a generation to be passionate followers of Jesus who live out their faith whether at home, professionally, or church planting overseas; it’s a leadership and discipleship program that equips followers of Christ to recreate biblical community through teachings, scripture, and activation.”

That’s all from their website, truthfully, I don’t really remember how to do in text citations and all that stuff. I’ll include my bibliography at the end…or something. See, I don’t plagiarize?!

I’m not quite ready to pack up my life, move overseas, and serve somewhere by myself. So I’m going to CGA to be discipled, to learn how to disciple others, and lead a missions team well. After CGA I’m planning to lead a Passport trip; which is a 3-month trip for 18-22 year olds and maybe Squad Lead for the World Race, who knows! I sure don’t, but it’s fine, right?

If you go to church in the US you’ve probably heard about how many college students stop going and stop walking with the Lord. I’ve been there; for a long time I was the only person in the college ministry at my church. I tried other churches and it was the same there. Sure, there are lots of young married couples, some with kids, but overall they’re in a pretty different season of life than the average college student.

18-22 year olds are the age group I feel most passionate about. They’re the ones that are constantly getting lost in the shuffle, their voices aren’t heard because they’re young, and they usually aren’t empowered to lead in their churches. I want to help change that.

On a Passport trip they’re taken across the world, out of their comfort zone, and away from everything they’ve know. They get to live in authentic community with people their age and serve alongside them. They get to experience a dependence on Jesus that isn’t often seen in the US. When we live a life of abandonment it creates so much space for the Lord to move in us, for us to be changed, and to be spurred to action.

When I signed up for the race I thought I’d do 11 months of crazy ministry and then I’d be good on the whole mission trip thing. If you had told me a year and half ago that the Lord was going to call me to this and I’d be excited about it, I would have said something noncommittal and forgotten about it.

We all know support raising is not my favorite, but it’s been an amazing lesson in the Lord’s faithfulness. I would love if you’d pray about supporting and partnering with me in this next season! Just like fundraising for the Race, donations are tax deductible and can be submitted online by clicking the orange “Donate” button at the top of the page.

If you have questions or you’d like to talk about CGA or the Race, you can email me by clicking on the “Contact” button on the left toolbar, send me a Facebook message, or comment below!