Teams Relentless Audacious Disciples and Golden Girls have been living in the sex capital of the world (Thailand) for 2 weeks now. Here’s what God’s been doing here in Phuket, Thailand!
On May 15th, my team and I went to Bangla Road, to shine Jesus’ light and bring the Kingdom of Heaven down to earth. During the night, we (Ray, Paul and a young woman who is interning at SHE ministries, Kris, and I,) went into a bar called Lion Bar.
We ordered our Red Bulls and Cokes and began talking to the bartenders (other girls were occupied dancing on the poles) I played a few rounds of Connect Four with one bar tender and then another. After I lost my umpteenth game, she said, “If you lose again, you have to dance on the bar!” Obviously, I quickly said, “NO WAY!”
Kris played a new game with her, and as I was sitting, absorbing and praying, a wild and crazy thought entered my mind: “Go ahead and dance.”
I thought about it for a few moments, and then asked Ray for some counsel. (Would I be disrespecting/mocking the girls if I got up on the bar and didn’t dance like they usually dance?) After a few minutes of deep consideration, he and I both thought I should just give it a shot and see what happens.
Ray and I went to the back and saw the DJ, I asked him to play Lil john’s “Turn Down For What” since that has become the A Squad’s new favorite song to dance to. I really wanted to try dancing in a pair of the girl’s shoes, so I went over to some girls and tried to ask for a pair of their shoes, but I was already too late: the song was already in the speakers.
I ran to the bar, and noticed that ALL of the girls stopped dancing on the poles, just looking at me. I quickly hopped up on top, but suddenly my mind went blank. I was so high, it was so strange, everyone was looking up at me, and I froze.
It was organized chaos. I couldn’t control it. But Jesus was there.
I suddenly came back to myself, and looked at my team, smiled, and then did the “Used Car Salesman” (a dance move which the A Squad has adopted as our unofficial temporary favorite dance move) As I wildly flailed about, pretending to be one of those blow up squiggly men full of hot air, I just let myself be myself, my crazy, silly, goofy self, and had a good time.
After busting out few more sweet dance moves to a few more bars (of music) I got off the actual bar. I smiled at the girls, and then Team RAD quickly headed out. As we were at the entrance way, the bar tenders smiled and hugged me, and told me to come back.
As we walked down the road, I immediately began to ask God, “God, why did I do that? Why do I do such crazy things? I didn’t get what I wanted out of that experience, to REALLY feel how the girls felt, to feel the brokenness, the emptiness, the hurt?”
This was His reply:
“My dear, I wanted you to be yourself, your goofy, silly, funny self, because that’s how I shine through you best. And the whole ‘I want to feel how broken they are’ thing, well, my dear, you have already been fully redeemed, and fully healed, and so no, I don’t want you to wallow in sadness with them, what I wanted you to do tonight was share my Light, show them hope, and have fun. Through your willingness to go up and dance, while being your goofy self, you opened the door for me to change the atmosphere of the bar. For about 45 seconds, the girls stopped dancing, and the customers weren’t focused on the girls. You were a fabulous distraction. I’m proud of you. Good job!”
So there you have it. I never thought Jesus wanted me to pole dance at a bar in Thailand, but by golly, that’s one of the many ways how my Savior moves and shakes in my life, and I love it.
My World Race account is currently at $11,572.00.
I need to have a total of $16,254.00 in my account by July 1, 2014 in order to stay on the World Race.
This means I need to raise $4,681.00 to stay on the Race.
If you’d like to support me financially, you can donate to my account directly here.
If you’d like to do a fundraiser (garage/yard sale/bake sale/ selling T Shirts) and mail a check to AIM you are more than welcome to.
I’ve got about 6 weeks until July 1, 2014. Let’s see HOW God Provides!
