Tuesday. Today I met the girls. The girls I have been working day after day for. The girls who will be protected from their past by this wall. The girls who have gone through more pain than my entire immediate family may ever experience. The girls, who in spite all this, have joy in their laughter and smile on their faces. I wish I could convey surreal experience into words. We played soccer. A simple game everyone k...
To preface, I did not write these incredible words. They are the lyrics of the the song “I Won't Let You Go” by Switchfoot. This song nearly brought me to tears the other day when I had my headphones in and was singing praise to God. He won't let me go! Listen to it here. When it feels surgery And it burns like third degree And you wonder what is it worth? When your insides breaking in And you feel that ache a...
Ahh. Ecuador. A new place with new friends. New experiences and new realizations. I am in love with the idea of doing life like this for not just 9 months but, hopefully, a lifetime. Serving, loving, and walking boldly in the authority of the Spirit while still humbling yourself to exalt those around you and in turn exalt the Exalted. On Monday night, my team sat out on the staircase beside the wall ...
¡Hola mis amigos! After an amazing launch in Atlanta, my squad safely made it to Ecuador at about 2am Thursday morning. My team and one other have been doing manual labor at a facility that will house sex trafficked girls between ages 9 and 14. We are currently building a wall that will prevent the girls from running away and going back to their enslavers, but will also prevent the pimps and their gangs from trying t...
My Matthew 3:17 Son As I sit here trying to put my thoughts together to guest write this blog for Philip, we are wrapping up the celebration with some family of Philip’s 19th birthday. It is the last get together with all of his siblings, some cousins, and maternal grandparents before he leaves for nine months on his World Race mission’...
I leave this Saturday for Atlanta, Georgia for a little more training before launching to Ecuador as the start of this nine-month journey. I want to thank everyone who has supported me to this point and encouraged me. It means so much to me. God has provided much more than I would have ever imagined. However, I did not hit my $10,000 deadline last month. The Carolina Reaper challenge failed miserably (which is proba...
(part 3 of 3) The Kingdom Of Heaven I’m sitting here at my computer staring at this blinking, vertical line. I’ve learned so much at camp, and I want to share some this vast knowledge that was dumped continuously upon me for 10 days, but where do I start? The baseline. The foundation of the World Race’s goal. The central focus that over-pours into everything else. It is the bringing of God’s kingd...
(part 2 of 3) So now that you met the team, what exactly did we do at Training Camp? Well, I flew into Atlanta on a Tuesday. It was my first time flying by myself, but I think that I did just swell. Upon landing and finding my bag, I searched and found my squad. Julia was the first person I met, but Ben was the first to leave a lasting impression. Immediately, he was asking ice-breaker questions and helping...
(Part 1 of 3) As many of you know, I was recently in Gainesville, Georgia outside of Atlanta attending Training Camp for Gap Year. So what happened? Well first I have to explain the logistics of the World Race and introduce you to who I was with. So on the World Race: Gap Year 2018 there are 6 routes (or squads) each going to a different set of countries. I am on Route 6 also known as Gap Squad V. Each s...
A couple of weeks ago I was viewing videos on YouTube when a video titled “Throwing a Dart at a Map and Flying Wherever it Lands…” appeared in my recommended playlist. Intrigued, I watched as two guys flew to a small town in Missouri and completed ridiculous challenges. I found myself instantly hooked on this channel, so I watched another video and another as these guys hitchhiked, skydived, and threw fashion shows i...