Pacing the World Race

Happy February, a month to celebrate LOVE!

While in the middle of confirming I have another summer full of camp ministry, I was asked a question by Craig Boronow, the director at ADK Deerfoot, about the pacing of my World Race experience. He asked something like this, “With this program being called the World Race, the word race implies you are rushing / running to accomplish an event or task, how are you pacing this race experience?” Now this question caught me off guard. I didn’t know how to answer that question Craig asked in the moment, so I tried to answer it after our conversation.

The official definition of pacing is to “move or develop (something) at a particular rate or speed.” My interpretation of the word pacing is to know your limit, boundary, or skill and act based off that knowledge. For example, I broke my toe and so my walking pace declined. I knew my injury (my limit) and it forced my pace to slow down. As a runner, I pace every official running race. I pace because you have to act according to the strength or speed you have in that moment and plan to reserve energy for later moments in that same race.

So yeah… I did indeed break my toe in Thailand. I’m not going to share the whole story to save me from some embarrassment, but I will share that God worked his will through my broken toe! After travel days from Thailand to South Africa and serving Global Leadership Academy (GLA) with physical labor for around three weeks now, my toe is officially healed. Praise God! Thank You God! It’s actually a miracle that God created our bodies to heal themselves overtime… LIKE WHAT. Our God made each beautiful intrigue body able to heal itself and to fight against pain or sickness… can I get a virtual AMEN:)

Let me now share with you a simple lesson God shared with me while I endured this painful broken bone. It’s funny because my mom was attempting to teach this lesson all the time while growing up but I never decided to listen until God was like “you know what Josh, you need some serious intervention.”

Ready for the simple lesson that you hear a lot but choose not to apply in your own life. Hear it is: slow the heck down. It was a simple conviction when God told me I was not going to be five feet in front of the group I was walking with anymore or that I wasn’t going to be the first one to get dinner. It just was not possible to do these physical acts anymore because of my toe. And thank God for that because I was challenged and awoken to all these prideful acts I’d pursue in group settings. I was forced to slow the heck down… literally. And at first, my toe was very frustrating & challenging for me, but then while listening to God, the awful experience became one that spurred personal growth and produced a patiences that will last.

Now to actually answer Craig’s question, “how are you pacing this race experience?” I’m pacing this World Race lifestyle by putting into practice the act of slowing the heck down. I walk slower, think more before I speak (most of the time), and don’t rush those who take longer to get ready. Let’s just say the answer to Craig’s question was formed through the broken toe which provided practical ways to slow my life way down. God taught me to take something that would usually be a huge burden and instead focus on the takeaway of pacing the rest of this race and life in general.

Now for those of you in American who are thinking “Josh, you are in one of the slowest cultures to ever exist in Jeffreys Bay, South Africa and I’m in America right now where every which way I look there’s something for me to do and I never get time to rest, let alone slow down.” Now I can’t do much for your specific situations, but I do know that one of the biggest reasons Americans can’t slow down is because they worry about everything. I was one of those people a couple months ago, so trust me I know. So for that I can give you the advice that worry has no authority over you. Matthew 6:27 says “Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life.”

Please don’t burn out or get worn out from worry, but pace your precious life by slowing the heck down.

But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own. Matthew 6:33-34