So when I left off last time I was just beginning to tell you the stories of three encounters that have stuck with me. So I will continue where I left off starting with my friend Q.
Justin and I saw him almost every night when we went out. God even allowed a sweet moment when he left the bar with us to get some food. For a moment there was no music to interrupt us and there was actually enough light to actually see his face. We spent that time eating deliciousness and laughing at each others’ attempt at speaking English and Thai. As fantastic as that was for all of us, there still remained the fact that we had to return to the bar.
As I said, Q came out almost every night; more like he came out every night except one, our last night. According to the guys at the bars he had gone home to visit his family. On that night we spent our last bit of time with the guys we met and we even spent some time in the other bar that Q worked in. We got to hang out with his friends there and even had hot chocolate. Praise Jesus! 🙂 But we were still sad that we hadn’t gotten to say goodbye to him that night.
We left Chiang Mai to head to our debrief in Phuket (Poo-Ket). We were so thankful for all that the Lord had allowed us to experience in Chiang Mai and expressed our hope to return. After 12 hours of travel we arrived at our debrief location where the other team there was also finishing their last day of bar ministry. I decided to participate in their intercessory prayer time and was enjoying it when Justin ran up to me and to tell me he had received a message from Mitchi. She had come with us to bars in our last nights.
She wrote how God was working and she had really connected with one of the other guys at the other bar where Q worked. Then she ended her note with a quick btw…”oh btw Q left the bar. He decided to go home and just focus on his studies.”
SHUT THE FRONT DOOR! WHAT?!?!?
God had just allowed us the grace of seeing Him work. For three weeks we just smiled and prayed for Q and God sweetly allowed us to see the desire of our hearts and really His own heart.
God didn’t need us to do this but let us be a part of it and in that, spoke so much of His sovereignty, love, and many other things.
The only words that came to mind were thank you.
Moving along, I also told you a story of a man I met at the bar. Where I left off (in the last blog), sadness had just come over me. As I continued to listen to this man my repulsion began to fade and a realization was dawning on me. The reason I was meeting this man in this location was because he was attempting to escape his life back home. He didn’t want to be where he was at home. He came to Thailand seeking something. Maybe it was a break, something better, fun, adventure, etc. Whatever his reason, it didn’t matter because I knew he was never going to find it there or anywhere for that matter.
Another thing then hit me as well, the fact that he and I were not very different from each other, except that I carry the spirit of Christ in me. That might sound cliché but the truth is that in my life I have looked to so many things to satisfy the longings in my heart for something more. Even my being on this race shows that.
One of the greatest things I have found in pursuing Christ is that I’m never bored with Him. Every time I can feel myself beginning to put the “figured out” box on God, He completely blows me out of the water with some new or deeper understanding of Himself.
In the last three years I have really come to realize how shallow everything else is compared to really knowing him. There is no ministry, job, family, friend, adventure, school, car, amount of money, marriage, or perfect life that can satisfy every depth of every desire I have as perfectly as God can. Believe me I have tried.
I’m not saying this as another sermon, I’m just saying this because there is ACTUALLY freedom in Him. You actually do gain life when you lose yours and I just don’t want people to miss out on this anymore, believers and non-believers alike!
So yea…
The last story I mentioned in my previous blog was about a girl named Mitchi. Actually, she was telling me her story. The longer I listened to her talk the more my heart raced. It wasn’t because her story was awesome (which it was) but because I kept feeling the Father’s intense love for His broken creation. Never in my life have I met a person more passionate for people outside of Jesus Himself. Every ounce of Mitchi desired to fight for and rescue those trapped in the bars. She had been there, done that, received the greatest Love, and now wanted it for them.
“I will fight for them because I wish someone had fought for me when I was in the bars.”
Mitchi goes out every single night to the bars. There were times when she would spend almost 3000 baht ($100 USD) a night to pay the bar fee to take the girls out for the evening. When she’s not in the bars, she is spending time learning Thai and hanging out with the girls and guys she has connected with. She has literally devoted her life to this at all costs.
If a human being can have such a strong desire then how much greater is God’s love for us; the One who actually created every part of us down to the last detail. Knows every intimate desire, dream, and disappointment in our heart. A Father who sees us drowning in the debt of sin. Hopeless maybe… comfortable maybe… but not alive. Stuck in a lie. Knowing we will never find life in all these other things.
So He pursues. He visits us in the bars every night. Trying to tell us how much He loves us and how He wants us for Himself… not to be sold to all these things that don’t deserve our hearts. Paying for more than just a night with us with more than just some paper bills.
I’ve been traveling for almost 4 months and have been to 4 countries. I have asked God to speak to me and to recognize His voice above all else and the one thing He keeps telling and showing me is that He LOVES me and that He will keep doing so until I believe it.
To everyone who is reading this, if God’s love for you is something that seems fake, far away, or whatever please sit down and ask God to help you believe this simple but crucial TRUTH and allow Him to begin showing that to you. 🙂
