Words. Where would we be without them? What would we do if we didn't have words? How would we communicate? The Bible says that words have the power to give life and words have the power to give death.
We met a guy in Thailand named Tony the first time we were on our way to the Slums. Instantly Zac and Jacobus knew there was something about Tony's life they needed to be a part of to show him the Gospel. Over the next couple weeks, the boys got to know Tony and become friends with Tony. They got to hear stories from when Tony was a Navy Seal, stories of love and stories of loss. In some ways they were able to relate, in others they were mind blown by this man.
Zac and Jacobus, while they never said they were missionaries, were able to share who Christ is in their lives because of the love and respect they showed Tony. After the first week we, girls, were invited to come hang put at Tony's too. There would be times when he was drunk and even made some of us uncomfortable, but by us showing that we wanted nothing in return from him, we too gained respect from him and were able to share our own stories with him.
On one of the last few nights we had with Tony, he played this "game" with us. He asked us one at a time "why are you here? And why are you doing what you're doing?" And recorded our answers with tally marks; some said "I want to…" and others said "God told me to…" He was making a point, before we go and do all the things we want to do, and try to change the world, we need to be sure that we are asking God if that is His plan for us too. Tony said God told him to open this 'bar' for volunteers and children to have a safe place to learn and hang out that would not include being on the streets getting into trouble. This is the paper Tony had written before we got to his place that night
You see, I had posted this on Instagram and Facebook because my friend Tony had a revelation of truth that day and I was pumped about it. I was asked by three people what it was about, yet once they found out I did not write it, they stopped listening; even walked away. I do not share this story to justify anything, but to remind you, words are words. Just because the F-Bomb got dropped doesn't mean God wasn't glorified through it. Think about it, if God expected us to be perfect and never have any problems right away, who could measure up? I firmly believe God meets us where we are and blesses our situation as we see it. I even believe we hear him talk to us the way we hear friends on our personal conversation. God doesn't care that the word fuck was used, but He would care if we wrote Tony off just because he used it.
You can read more about Tony's life by clicking Zac's blog in the left column.
