I’ve spent the last two summers in Washington, D.C. and it has very quickly and easily become a place that I love, and a place I hope to call home someday soon. So, I was very excited to spend my third and final college summer there again.
When my summer program was canceled, I was devastated. I was looking forward to being back in the city I love, serving the people I love. It was very hard for me to understand why this was happening when the people of D.C. need the Gospel so desperately.
As I struggled with this sudden change in plans, I heard a message from someone on Hebrews 12:1-2. These verses say:
“Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.”
They mentioned how the race we often think we are meant to run is not the one set before us. I thought my race would take me back to D.C. this summer. I thought my race would look a lot different than the current COVID-19 world we live in. It turns out the race set before me has me taking summer classes and living in my college town where I can invest in the local church and ministry there.
So, even though my summer plans seem so completely different than what I imagined, I take comfort in knowing this is not a surprise for our God. As we are all being reassigned this summer – whether it’s a new location, your hometown, or your college town – I pray that we all keep our eyes on the founder and perfecter of our faith, and strive to live a life worthy of the calling we’ve been given.
Though so many things in our world have changed, the mission hasn’t, and neither has our God.
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