Most people know the story of Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, right? In getting to re-route to the Philippines, I can’t help but feel like Charlie when he finds that magical golden ticket in his chocolate bar and is eager for what’s in store. Five kids got to go on an adventure with Willy Wonka and their chaperones. Five world racers got to go to the Philippines with their squad leader chaperone. Do you see the parallels here? Lol. What are the odds that Charlie would get that golden ticket to Willy Wonka’s chocolate factory? Some smart person on google said 0.0000395%. Sounds about right. We weren’t supposed to be here. It wasn’t on the map of countries I memorized that I’d be going to. But God had other plans. And I’m happy He did.
I could write for hours about our time in the Philippines and still not be done talking about all the ways the Lord has poured himself out!
As I’ve mentioned in my previous posts, getting past the anger in my heart toward the customers in the bars who fuel the sexual exploitation has been quite the battle. But I’ve realized I hate the decisions they’re making- I don’t hate them. I hate the foothold the enemy has on their hearts as he’s sneakily building a wall between them and God. As the enemy strategically places brick after brick on that wall, I want to use that righteous anger and kick the wall down in the name of Jesus. I call it righteous anger because I’ve learned it’s okay to be angry. The Lord gives us emotions for a reason. I don’t have to tuck it away and feel guilty for being mad. I believe God uses these emotions in us to grip our hearts of what’s unfair in the world. The brokenness and injustice IS NOT FROM GOD. It’s important to understand that God gives us free will as a gift of love. Love is much more than a feeling, it is a choice. From the beginning of time God chose us. He gave us the choice to love him back. When Adam and Eve ate from the forbidden tree, they chose against God and the result was the fall of man. Brokenness entered the world in many forms- sin, illness, natural disaster, hurt, and pain. Before you get mad at Adam and Eve, and wonder why you got stuck with the consequences of their actions, know that they represent humanity. We have all fallen short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23). God didn’t want evil to have the final say, so he sent Jesus to die in our place, for the forgiveness of our sins. He bore the weight of every sin, every burden, every hurt of the past, present, and future. He did it for me and he did it for you. He was crucified, died, and rose 3 days later just as he said he would. Whoever picks up his cross and follows Jesus, will have eternal life. Life on earth as a follower of Jesus doesn’t mean immunity from difficulties or hardships. Those are actually guaranteed of a life lived on earth. However, the hope we have in Christ, allows us to find freedom in the sorrow, knowing that any painful experience we go through can’t compare to the joy ahead. God promises to be WITH us in our weakness. He promises to be our comfort. One of my favorite ways God displays His love for us is the way He can take our pain and use it for good.
”Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. For as we share abundantly in Christ’s sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort too.” -2 Corinthians 1:3-5
As humans we tend to look at the injustice around us and ask, “where’s the fairness in that God?” Some people use this unfairness as a case that there is no God. As an atheist, C.S. Lewis began to process that if there was indeed no God, he wouldn’t want the world to be fair. If natural selection dominated the world so thoroughly, then we’d see the strong preying on the weak and say that it is as it should be. But within us, there is this desire for there to be something that we do not see on earth… That shows us that we were created for and ultimately headed to a world where there is fairness and healing. And that is why we intuitively and innately desire fairness. We know there shouldbe something that we don’t see around us. That’s why we long to make things fair. We’re just homesick for a place we’ve never been. That place is heaven. The fact that your heart sees unfairness and gets angry/sad is proof that you are a child of God and that this earth is not your home. Before Jesus returns, our job is to bring as much heaven to earth as we can. Our job is to make it feel more like home.
My desire to write this blog is because I’ve had conversations with several people over the course of the last few months who can’t bring themselves to believe in God because of the injustice in the world. God’s ‘realness’ has been WAY more prevalent to me on the race than the brokenness of the world has. And let me tell you, I’ve seen some awful things. Things that bring me to tears in the moment or have my heart stirring later. But I’ve also seen God heal people. I’ve heard the voice of the Lord clearly. I’ve felt the presence of the Holy Spirit more than I ever have in my whole life. I’ve talked to an angel. I’ve walked through deliverance. I’ve seen the body of Christ work together the way God designed and have seen beautiful things come of it. Please know that in no way do I want to force my beliefs on you or shove religion down your throat. That would be the exact opposite of my intentions. I just can’t help but share with you that you have a Father in heaven that loves YOU more than you can ever imagine. A Father that never stops pursuing your heart. This is a relationship, not a religion. He’s more real than the air that you breathe. I’ve never been more sure of anything in my whole life and can’t imagine life without knowing Him. I want the same for you.
Earlier this week my aunt and uncle and my mom’s childhood best friend sent me generous donations to use for ministry. My teammate Karrie and I ran into some kiddos on the street that we know and took them to dinner at McDonald’s. They don’t speak much English, but got the point across that they were very adamant we meet their friends first. They spoke in the Filipino language to a Korean and Filipino man sitting down in front of McDonald’s. Then the Filipino man, ‘S,’ looked at us and said “Oh you’re here to feed the kids too!” We talked with them for a few minutes and learned that the Korean man, Mr. P, comes to the Philippines once every three months to feed the street kids. They had fed 140 kids that day. After we bought the kids dinner, Mr. P came and found me and insisted that he reimburse me for it. Then he sat with us while the kids ate and took out a first aid kit to treat all of their scrapes and wounds on their feet. ‘S’ and Mr. P said they were very happy to meet other people feeding the kids because they’ve never seen that before. They invited Karrie and me out to dinner the next night. At first I was a little hesitant because stranger danger- of course the whole point of the race is to meet strangers, but realized it may not be wise for just Karrie and me to go off with two men we don’t know. This is when you use discernment, haha. We could tell they were genuine. Anyway Karrie and I had a quick convo with our eyes and agreed to meet them the next night for dinner. Bar ministry that night was incredible and we got to ‘bar find’ a girl and let her go home early because of the donations. We had just had a session on financial stewardship at our last debrief and talked about how whenever we bless others, we’re ultimately just lending the Lord money and He’ll usually always find a way to reimburse us. Talk about immediate when Mr. P insisted he reimburse me. The next night our new friends took us to a wonderful Filipino dinner. We got to share the gospel with Mr. P via google translate. He told me he doesn’t believe there’s a god because of all the brokenness of the world. He said if there is a god he doesn’t know why he lets so many little kids go hungry and was moved to tears. So then I typed out a message to him about free will and God putting his reputation in our hands when Jesus died in our place. I see so much of God’s character in Mr. P. Hence, the inspiration to write this post because I think so many join him in this struggle with doubt. After dinner, we went to McDonald’s and Mr. P fed 18 kids. The kids all call him daddy and love him so much. We sang some songs with the kids while we were waiting on their happy meals and then the kids started singing about Jesus all on their own. I hope that resonated with our friend. The fullness of God’s joy does not depend on circumstance.
God has been romanticizing my heart a lot this month. Even though many of the men here have disappointed me with their actions, the Father has gone out of his way to redeem that and show me that men can be gentle and kind. AND that love can be spoken no matter the language barrier.
Love y’all. If anyone has any questions or wants to continue this conversation in any capacity, please feel free to reach out!
Last little bit is from Charlie & the Chocolate Factory:
CHARLIE: “I’ve got the same chance as anybody else, haven’t I?”
GRANDPA JOE: “You’ve got more, Charlie, because you want it more! Go on, open it!”
When we believe that the Lord will show up, He always does.
“Draw near to God and He will draw near to you.” -James 4:8
