time to take another risk? (spoiler alert: i took it.)

Dear friends,

There’s been a slight change in plans.

A month ago we received an email from the World Race.

“Dear Racers, we have what we feel is exciting news,” it said. “Seven years ago we began praying about a TV show/documentary about the World Race…”

I kept reading and found out that the dream to tell our generation what God is doing through the World Race has suddenly fallen into place—and turned into a project that is launching (you guessed it) when I leave this September.

The team of storytellers, it said, will be following K Squad as they take on the Race. I was placed on L Squad, so this sounds intriguing, but doesn’t really affect me, I thought. Then at the bottom of the email I read this sentence:

“…if you love media and have a skill (especially in shooting video or investigative journalism) … please let us know of your interest. We will consider moving you.”

Oh uh. I thought. Shooting video (currently, my job). Investigative journalism (my major in college).  

Suddenly, I knew this did affect me and that I was going to have to spend time talking it over with the Lord. Changing routes at this point would mean changing countries, changing the people I travel with, changing the already made, already adjusted to, already accepted, already-on-paper—plan.

Also, a television show? Are you sure about that world race people? I like being behind the camera, but not in front of it. I had so many questions: what kinds of stories were they hoping to tell? who was producing it? and where are their hearts at? how will they maintain the integrity of the race with a film crew? how will they ensure not to disrupt our personal, spiritual journeys as the racers? keep from tainting the cultures and peoples we interact with? allow space for the Spirit to move and true ministry to happen?

The next week I listened in on a conference call with Seth Barnes, Adventures in Missions president, and Maureen Gray, a founder of Gray Media, and production partner in the project.

“We’re not trying to jump on the faith programming bandwagon,” Maureen said. “We believe in the power of media to open the hearts of people to the Gospel and the love that Jesus has for every person on this planet.”

I loved hearing Maureen’s heart for the whole thing. Her daughters both went on the Race and Maureen and her husband Tim saw firsthand the impact it made on their entire family. The Grays have worked with their media company for ten years, but have been in ministry for thirty. Maureen continued:

“God moves in the lives of people who say ‘yes’ to him. There’s a story to tell here, and we believe the world needs to see this story unfold. It’s an opportunity to go to the ends of the earth and preach the Gospel, not just in those countries, but to take other people on that journey, to allow people to look into something and see the possibilities, not only for what you’re doing [as racers] but for what they could do if they just said ‘yes’ to a God who loves them beyond measure.” 

I got the chance to chime in on the call and ask Maureen how someone with a media background would be a good fit for this project.

“We are desiring people who are called to media to be a part of this,” she said, “to interact with us on this project. We want to collaborate together as we pioneer something that’s never been done before.”

I left the conversation at peace about the motives, and my questions answered, but I still wasn’t sure. Yet, in the midst of my hesitation, I could already feel what I was being asked to do.

Trust, again. Jump, again. Leap, again.

Later, I found an unlistened to sermon on my podcast app—it was from JD Greer at the Summit Church in Chapel Hill and it was called “Risk: Matthew 25:14-30.”

This stands now as one of the best messages I’ve ever listened to. Please keep reading to the end of this blog, and I’ll tell you why.

We so often think of being a Christian, Greer said, as what we don’t do. “Christians don’t lie, cheat, steal, drink, cuss, etc, etc” the mantra of our culture goes. But what if being a Christian is about so much more than what we don’t do? What if it’s all about who we believe God is and how we respond to him, something that seeps out of our pores when we know him on a day-to-day basis. What if it has everything to do, with what we do?

Puritan Richard Baxter said, “Rocks do no break the commandments of God, but rocks are never held up as the standard for the servants of God.”

In the parable Greer read from, a Master gives three servants bags of gold. The first gets five bags of gold, the second gets two, and the third gets one. A long time later when the Master returns the first servant is excited to see his Master and hands him back ten bags of gold, the second is joyful as well and hands him four bags—both having invested and doubled what they were given. But the third servant hangs his head. He says that he was afraid, buried the gold in the earth and hands the Master back his one bag of gold.

The Master was overjoyed with the first two; and not so happy with the last.

Why did the first two invest the Master’s money while the last one didn’t, Greer asked.

It’s all in the attitude they had about the Master.

The unfaithful servant was afraid of his Master. The faithful servant, however, believed in the Master’s goodness; they knew the Master was good–he was into their risk-taking, he was on their side–and this gave the faithful servants a freedom and a confidence in risking.

The God who created the universe, who designed the human body with 206 bones, who put more than 200 billion stars in the galaxies, who gave me blue-gray eyes, that God, who knew we were lost and wandering, that God, came to earth and died a humiliating death on a cross so that we could get back to him.

And then Greer points to Hebrews 12:2,

“For the joy set before him [Jesus] endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.”

“When you know Jesus,” Greer said, “you start to realize the joy that was driving him as he endured the most brutal death in human history, was seeing you come to home–

–2,000 years ago as Jesus was on the eve of his crucifixion, he looked through the corridors of history and he saw me. He saw me dead in my sin, he saw me guilty–and the JOY of seeing me forgiven, restored, and reconciled to God’s heart for all eternity caused him so much joy that he DESPISED the shame and the pain–and he went to the cross with JOY overflowing from his heart.”

That is the character of my Master. The essence of the Goodness of His heart: unending, never-failing, always-chasing, I-will-die-for-you-beloved—pure and simple: Love.

Greer asks,

If the cross reveals how God feels about the world, why would I not ask God for great things?

If the Master is in control of the markets in which I’m investing, why would I not take great risks for the Kingdom of God?

If the cross reveals how God feels about me, why would I not feel safe jumping into his arms?

He ends with the hardest question of all:

“Is what you’re living for, worth Him dying for?”

Jesus declared for all eternity that we are worth it when he gave up his life for us. There’s no question how he feels about us. The question is, what is our response?

Taking risks for God looks like a lot of different things. It doesn’t have to look like leaving the country or going on a mission trip. But it starts with knowing the Master. Knowing him intimately, trusting in his Goodness and leaping into his arms.

Greer ends with this,

“It’s not a hero complex, it’s not a lust for adventure or bravado, or the need to earn God’s love, that leads people to risk—it’s not a certain personality type—it’s just faith in the ever-loving, ever-faithful Son of God.

And so, we leap.”

I hope this message is as challenging for you as it was for me. In the grand scheme of things, only eternity matters.

And if that’s true, we have to look at our lives and ask ourselves, what are we living for before eternity begins?

All my love,

katy

 

 

p.s. i changed routes. 

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 Thank you so much for reading my blog. that message was so powerful, I had to write a novel on it. look for it for free on iTunes if you want to really dive in–it’s on the Summit Church podcast page.

So you might be wondering? “Katy, what countries are you going to now?” Well, i’ll tell ya! We know nine of our 11 🙂

Guatemala. Nicaragua. Philippines. Vietnam. Thailand/Burma. India. Nepal. Botswana. Swaziland. + 2 more!

I feel so excited, and so much peace about my decision to change squads. it was sweet too, because i just told them i was open to the switch. A few days later I got an email saying, “good news!” and that’s when I found out they decided to switch me. Did I mention, I’m now going to INDIA. 

I’m ecstatic. 

Training camp is 12 days away. I’m only freaking out a little. I’ll be updating right before–and right after–hang tight friends! I appreciate (and desperately need) every single one of your prayers! THANK YOU many times over for everything! I get closer to being fully funded every day! 

 

 

“…but those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles..” – Isaiah 40:31