At the beginning of this week our squad was staying at YWAM Bangkok for our month 4 debrief. This is a time of restoration where AIM leaders come out to speak a lot of life back into us, help us figure out where we’re headed, and remind us of the culture of honor we have agreed to live in. During one of the talk sessions Sean used a phrase to describe people on the World Race that is rather impeccable. He talked about how being with world racers is sort of like being home and something which distinguishes that is that “there’s a slight funk in the air.”
That phrase stuck out to me for a couple of reasons. One reason being that the giant room serving as the meeting room and the girls’ sleeping quarters reeked of one of the most funky and uniquely disturbing odors I have ever experienced. (which I later noticed was very strongly infused into my towel.) The second reason being that I think that “funk in the air” is more than an odor. I think it’s a lovely metaphor for the presence of God that comes with us as we travel. A funk that we as Christians bring into the world.
A couple days ago, 14 other lovely ladies and I arrived in Phuket, Thailand to work with SHE Ministries, a ministry whose passion is to bring hope and freedom to women working in prostitution. A big part of the ministry is going into the open bars at night to begin building relationships with the women working there. Our first day in Phuket, after traveling 12 hours on an overnight bus, we went out to the main bar road twice, once in the afternoon to get a feel for the street and prayer walk, and again at night to get to know some girls. It was a very strange merging of two worlds. A clash, really. Between light and darkness. My past and my future. A real smile and eyes filled with emptiness. Searching and a glimmer of hope. Walking around those streets with over 200 bars, I felt different. But I couldn’t place why exactly. And I felt like maybe we added a different funk into the street air.
In thinking about what to write in this blog, I remembered that the world isn’t going to like the way Christians smell. Or if we’re really living as God calls us to it shouldn’t. Because we’re supposed to be different. We’re light instead of darkness. Hope instead of despair. Freedom instead of bondage. Love in place of lust. and Life rather than death. We are these things because that’s who God is. We are these things because He has redeemed us.
There are points in my life where I didn’t want to be different, because being the same meant being accepted by the majority. “Fitting in.” And in all honesty, there are still moments I fight wanting to be just like the rest of the world. Because it’s easier and looks pretty comfortable and it usually means I get to do whatever the heck I want. But right now, I’m so thankful to be the difference and bring that hope into the night. So thankful for the freedom God has brought me into. That first night in the bars, I think I fully realized that more of me won’t be who I was when I left home than I ever realized. At this point, I’m still processing what that means, but I know it will be good. And I’m hoping it will be a little funky.
And do not be conformed to this world, but transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect. – Romans 12:2
