My Last Lap

Have you ever tried running? Not just from danger, I mean. I have run cross country all four years and track my freshman and senior year. One of the many things that I love about this sport is that, as selfish as this might sound, this whole running experience is all about you as an individual. It is up to you to decide how fast you are really going to run, whether it is around the track or up a hill, and the biggest aspect of this is your mind. Your mind is capable of telling you whether or not you should slow down as you run up the hill because you still have a mile to go before you cross the finish line and your mind will also tell you that you can do it as you know that you only have one lap left. As excited and thrilled as I am about being done with competitive running, I can choose now that tomorrow both during my race and throughout the day my mind can be sent on things above. "Set your mind on things above not on earthly things." Colossians 3:2. We can sent our minds on our current circumstances, our emotions, pain and hurt, or we can set our minds to focus on the truth of who we are, how we are made and in whose image we are made. When I have one lap left to run I am going to leave it all on the field and give it my best. What are you going to do with your last lap? 

The part you are probably wondering about as a reader is why I have started this blog. The title is  helpful describing it as my YWAM (Youth With a Mission) adventures. I am so excited for YWAM! I prayed that I would be accepted as a part of this DTS, but when my mom pulled up to the back door of the school to tell my that she had something exciting to share I remember standing by the car window and listening to a voicemail she had gotten saying just what I wanted to hear: that I had been accepted! After that began the process of writing support letters to help raise the 7,000 dollars that I pray I will reach by September 8th. The overall cost of the DTS/outreach is 6,000,but my goal is 7,000 so that I can purchase the rest of what I need for this adventure (anything from bedding to hiking Himalaya gear...).  I hope that my posts will keep you informed and encourage you as I write more when I start my YWAM adventure to start doing ministry. You don't have to travel to Idaho and be apart of a DTS for 3 months to do ministry. You don't have to travel to India for 3 months  in order to serve and love people. (Hopefully you already know all this). Bloom where you are planted, says my mom. Do the next thing in love. Ask God what He wants you to do right now, right where you are. It can be something that calls for physical change if He is calling you to travel, but it can also be something  that  matters for  His kingdom in another way like praying for missionaries like me who will be going to places like India to preach the gospel. My hope and prayer is that this blog will inspire you in the days to come and that you will  feel challenged to live love right where you are.