Posted in Pre-Game by Payton Runnels on 4/30/2012
Last night I had a hard time sleeping, so I decided to watch Dear John.
It is about a man who is in the army, and him and his girlfriend write to each other every chance they have.
There is much more to the story, but as all romance movies end, they wind up in each others arms.
Halfway through the movie, I broke down.
And not because of the sad part, but because I started to relate myself to this John character.
Now no, I am not joining the army and going to serve in Germany.
But, I am joining a Christian organization and leaving my life behind to serve around the world.
We both did/are doing something that we love. He loves his country (as do I),
And I love my God.
He left all of his loved ones behind, as am I.
He struggled with the fact that he was changed, and people didn't understand, as I know I will in the months coming.
At the end of the movie, I broke down again.
Not because of how the movie ended, but because it finally dawned on me.
I am leaving my whole life behind me for eleven months.
I have had to raise $15,500 plus the cost of equiptment, shots, insurance, plane tickets, ect. which is probably around $19,000 total,
And I am still not fully funded.
It hit me during the movie, that all I have been doing since December 14, 2011,
was think about raising money towards this journey.
I have never thought about being fufilled in other ways.
I need to be spiritually fufilled for this trip, and right now, I am not.
I have been so focused on money, that I have not even had the time to sit back and see what God has been doing.
I have stressed out over this part so much, that it is taking over my life.
All my family does is talk about my journey I am about to embark on.
I love talking about it, because it is amazing, but I have not even been able to sit down and have a normal conversation with them without bringing it up.
I cry and pray so much, because I want myself to be 90% funded by the time I leave,
So I do not have to stress like this while I am oversees doing what He has told me to do.
Last night, my feeble faith is encouraged once again by how awesome my God is.
As I prayed during my second emotional breakdown of the night, I suddenly felt calm.
I know when the Lord calls you to do something, he will equip you to do it.
So, from now on, I will try not to stress over the financial aspect of this journey,
And more on the spiritual and emotional and physical part.
Because if I do not go into this spiritually fufilled, then I know that it will be easier for Satan to tear me down.
And to be honest, I do not want that to happen!
Dear John,
You ruined me.
Thank you.
| |
|
Posted in Pre-Game by Payton Runnels on 3/21/2012
So these last two blogs that I have written, I have struggled.
I wanted to please myself in what I was writing,
And I also wanted to please others.
So I decided to lighten the mood, and tell you about myself,
And my family.
Because if it wasn't for them,
I would not be the person I am today. :)
They have always gone along with my crazy ideas, and have helped me with everything in life.
So, I decided I could tell about them as well, because I know with this next year in my life, they will be supporting me more than ever.
SO..
I am Payton, of course.
I hate long walks on the beach.
They are not romantic, and your feet make weird sounds when you walk in the sand.
I have a dry sense of humor, and I am super sarcastic.
I always look for the positive in people.
To the point where I will pick up old people walking on the side of the road and give them rides.
Then get into trouble by my parents.
I am very determined.
So determined, that I went blonde when I was 17, just like I said I would when I was 8.
I totally pulled it off, I know.
This is my family.
We are awesome.
I consider us beach bums.
We would rather lay out on the beach than do anything else.
Every year we have competitions to see who can get the tannest.
I always come in second.
I love them. :)
My dad, Steve
He is awesome.
He is always there for me.
I remember once when I had a volleyball tournament one weekend in Houston,
And my dad could not make it because of work.
But decided to suddenly fly down Saturday when he got off just to watch me play for the last few hours.
True story.
He is the Christian leader in my family,
And I can go to him for anything.
I have never had a problem talking to him because he is my father,
And I know a lot of girls that struggle with that.
I guess we are just tight like that.
Mi madre, Gina.
There are not enough words to describe this beautiful woman.
I pray that one day I can be as good as a mother as she is.
She is not only a strong Christian, but any person can go to her to talk about anything.
She can prank like no other, and is creative as can be.
I love the fact that she tells me the truth when I need it,
But will sit by my side and cry with me over the little things.
She is the strongest person I have met, and I love her with all of my heart.
My sister, Brooklyn.
She is ridiculously amazing.
She is three years older than me,
And I am three feet taller than her.
(Not really.)
She is my best friend.
And I am not just saying that because I have to.
It is true.
We sometimes fight and bicker just like sisters do,
But she always comes around and admits I am right.
Ha, kidding.
We do everything together.
And talk to each other on the phone like ten times a day.
We have weird nicknames for each other.
Sister. Sista. Jodge. Jodgie. Hot stuff.
The usual.
I go to her for tons of advice, and she is not afraid to tell it to me straight.
People always ask if we are twins. I never understand these people.
Sometimes, I say yes, just so I don’t have to disappoint the people that asked.
This is my family.
These are the people that have supported me and have been there for me for 21 years now.
I don't know where I would be without them.
| |
|
Posted in Pre-Game by Payton Runnels on 2/13/2012
I have been struggling for almost a month on what to say for this specific blog.
I did not really want to write this, but we have to.
To go on this trip, everybody wants me to have expectations.
Between you and me.. I do not want to have any.
At all.
If I don't have expections, then I won't be disappointed.
It's not like I don't already have them,
I just do not want any because I know what whatever they are,
God will use me in a completely different way.
I am very ready for God to use me,
But I do not want to try to expect or prepare for whatever it is.
I cannot have a certain mind set for this trip on what I think God is wanting me to do.
If I have my mind set, and I am already determined, I will be blocking
Whatever it is God is telling me.
I have talked to previous racers,
and asked many questions.
From the "What did you do about toothpaste?"
To the "How did you feel when you prayed the demon out of the woman?"
A previous racer, Ruth, told me one day during coffee,
"Payton, you can ask me all the questions you want, but whatever I tell you happened to me,
you will NEVER be prepared enough for what will happen to you."
Good.
Great.
Awesome.
I want to expect nothing.
Honestly.
So when something does happen, I will be joyful.
Or thrilled, shocked, scared, humored, anything.
I want to think right now that all I am doing is traveling to these eleven countries,
to tell all of these strangers about my God, and how mighty and powerful and loving
He is.
If something comes along the way,
Let it.
To be called to the Race,
I feel honored.
Honored that God thought I was good enough to share the great news.
Honored that I have this amazing opportunity.
On a completely different subject, this has been in my heart,
And I did not want to make a different blog for this little paragraph.
So I thought I would just throw this in.
People keep on calling me a missionary.
Please don't.
I understand it might hurt some people's feelings for me to say that,
But please hear me out.
Most people believe that a missionary is somebody who leaves the current place they reside,
And travels the world preaching about God.
Yes, that is a missionary.
But we are all missionaries.
Anybody who believes in the Lord, Jesus Christ, is a missionary.
Every person we speak to, we should be sharing the Lord.
We are all missionaries, but I choose to travel the world for a year and do it.
We all have jobs, mine is working in retail.
My sister's job is working with sick children.
Both of my parent's job is doing hair.
But our main job, is to share the good news.
I have decided to leave for a year, and do this permanently, with no distractions.
I am trying not to expect anything, even the little things.
It is hard, because I want to be prepared for anything.
But I can't. I won't.
| |
|
Posted in Pre-Game by Payton Runnels on 1/28/2012
When you look at all of my other member's blogs, you see why they were called to the World Race.
I would absolutely love to tell you why I was called.
But I can't.
I don't know why I was called to leave my family and friends and my boyfriend for a year.
You are probably thinking, "Who in their right mind would just get up and leave their whole life behind them to just go and be a missionary for a year?"
Well, I guess I'm not.
Right now, I am just answering what I know God is calling me to do.
So since I can't say why I am called, I will just have to tell you how I was called to the race.
Growing up in a church, I always heard my pastor say that we are ALL missionaries, whether it is here, or in another place.
I never understood what that meant.
When I was 16, my youth minister at the time wanted to take a group of kids to Romania for a mission trip.
Seven went, and I was one of the seven.
Honestly, I went because I wanted to have an awesome experience, and be with my friends the whole time.
I had never spoken the Word of God before, teaching wise.
And when it came my turn to do a lesson, I freaked out.
I had to just pray and pray to God for him to help me out and say the right words to these Gypsy children.
Of course, God heard my cry, and decided to help me out.
It was amazing.
This is when I knew that my passion was missions.
My next mission trip I went to the Dominican Republic with my church and my whole family. This was an eye opener for me. I knew on that trip that my calling was to children.
As for the next summer, I decided to switch things up and go to Japan.
Obviously, I was not prepared.
I was not ready for that place.
I was used to going to places where people were starving and craving for the Lord.
In Japan, the people had idols to worship, and electronics to obsess over.
I was not ready to be spat on, kicked out of places, threatened many times.
I was not used to rejection.
This was God showing me that some people are oblivious of the Lord, and didn't think that they needed him.
Especially like I needed him.
The last two summers I went back to the Dominican. It was amazing because I got to see my kids grow up, and I got to build relationships with so many people.
And I was comfortable.
But, are we just supposed to be comfortable in our lives?
Aren't we here to make Him famous?
Why should we live comfortable lives knowing that there are millions of people in the world that have never even heard of my God?
My friend Ruth went on the World Race.
If it wasn't for her, I would have never known about it.
As her months went on, I became obsessed.
It was to the point where I could quote what her blogs said.
I was jealous.
And not in a bad way.
In a way that she was going out of her way and risking her life for her God.
While I sat at home, reading her blogs. Comfortably.
This is when I started praying.
For six months I prayed if this was something that I needed to do.
And I kept it to myself.
At our church, we had a month called Missions Month.
The whole month my pastor spoke about missions.
This was a God thing.
Every Sunday I cried.
I was torn if I should tell my parents and my family about my decision.
One Sunday a missionary named John Burns came to speak.
When he spoke, I could swear that God slapped me up side the head saying,
"OK Payton. Listen up. This is for you."
My Pastor, David came up to me after the sermon.
I could tell that he knew something was on my heart.
I broke down to him, and even called him a butthead for making me cry!
David sat there and listened and prayed for me.
That night, I sat down and told my parents.
I know for a fact that they are torn apart and sad.
They are excited as Christians, but nervous as parents.
I don't know why I was called to do this.
But I am ok with it.
I am ok with the fact that I will be sleeping in a sleeping bag for eleven months.
I am ok with the fact that I will probably never take a hot shower until I return.
And I am ok with the fact that I am going with complete strangers.
Because I am going to return with a new mind.
I am going to return with a rejuvinated spirit.
And I am going to return with over fifty new family members.
| |
|
|
|
|
