Well I completed my first PVT, (Parent Vision Trip) that’s a mission trip for parents of kids on the World Race Gap Year, where we as parents get to come alongside the racers and do ministry with them. The following is my debrief. 🙂
Why did I go? What were my expectations? What were my hopes? What did I do? What did I see? What did I experience? I hope these are the questions you are interested in, because that’s what I’m giving.
So why did I go? The short answer is that God wanted me there, but what fun is a short answer? When Carey and I went to the launch of Amber’s race, and Amber heard there was an opportunity for us to go at some point and do missions with her, she asked us if we would. We said we would think about it, but my initial thought was no. The reason for that is we were already struggling to fund Amber’s race still, and I didn’t have money for this, and I wouldn’t be able to fit it into my schedule. But I did think about it some, and knowing missions had helped grow and mature some people who I admire, I thought to myself, that I would like to do a mission trip, and maybe be in a better position to hear and relate to God. And so, I made myself available, and prayed that if God wanted me there, that He would provide. Though I did work hard at fundraising, I was still coming up quite short, but I expected that if God was wanting me to go, it wouldn’t be all by my own hand, and it wasn’t the funding came right on time as needed.
What were my expectations? I didn’t really expect anything, except that it would be hot.
What were my hopes? I was hoping for a lot. I hoped to see a daughter changed for the better, I hoped for a closeness with God, I hoped for downtime from the life I do daily.
What did I do? We arrived a couple days earlier than required, just for our own sake, and walked around, checked out some markets and food, went for a tuk-tuk ride around the city visiting shops and monasteries. On our first day of ministry we went to visit the monks at a Buddhist temple for “Monk Chat”, the monks like to practice and learn English, and this is a good opportunity to share our culture and ideas with theirs. In the evening we walked through the red light district in small groups to to see what God would reveal to us and for ways the local ministry to potentially help save people from the slavery of that life. We helped rehab a hostel that supports the local ministry, we did some work at a transition home, and every evening there was worship. Took a trip to some waterfalls, went to a Thai culture festival, had a real Thai massage by a real Thai person, met some equally cool and cooler parents of great kids.
What did I see? I saw a culture on the edge of prosperity, a bunch of great young men and women having learned to live in community with God, the fruits pf a life lived in obedience and community with God, new perspectives, new culture, lots of scooters and tuk-tuks.
What did I experience? A lot, and in no specific order here’s that. On our first night with our racers during worship apparently it didn’t seem right to one of the racers, so she got up and introduced herself to the group and gave a little testimony that inspired the group to kick it in gear, and worship was really good afterward. It was Amber. I was really proud of her, because if you know Amber, that is not her thing to get up and talk to groups. After worship and throughout the next day as we went around with Amber, people would say to Amber “good word”, or “good message”, and I realized I didn’t tell her that I was proud. And I was really proud, not just of her, but of her whole squad and teammates, because they worshipped so happily and without a care, that you could tell it was really worship and not a show for parents, it was for God, and all subsequent worships were the same. But I felt a bit convicted, because everyone else was thanking Amber for the good word, but I hadn’t. So after worship the second day they opened the floor up for testimonies or just thoughts, and I felt compelled to explain and confess my feelings of pride and conviction to the group of racers and parents, so that amber would know that I was proud, but also so that no other racers might be discouraged if their parent had not let their racer know the joy of seeing the changes in them. I did this proudly with tears and snot as a grown man and I don’t care who knows it. I went to bed that night but I did not sleep, instead I was as close as I’ve ever felt to God, as I lay there for hours, tears just streaming out for no bad reason. I had a conversation, we talked about the parable of talents. I always thought of talents as strictly money, a talent is a lot of silver. But God said to me it is more than just that, it is about whatever He gives us, that if we invest it, so that the goodness of what was given is multiplied, more will be given. In worship the first night, it was given to me to see the beauty of a bunch of hearts all in for Jesus singing from the heart. Then it was given to me to realize why sometimes Amber could think I’m not proud of her, and that it could easily be the same for other racers and their parents. And after I shared what was given to me, more was given. But mostly I just basked in the joy that God was with me all night. At one point I thought briefly that I should get some sleep, but immediately I get something like ‘The Lord is my strength’, and I said to myself, nope I’mnot sleeping while this is going on. The next night I slept hard, but the night after that I was up half the night again, we talked about the armor, we talked about Peter and why he left the boat and followed. He gave me a picture of how we are. The picture was when we are baptized and when we come out of the water, we are given a new spirit, stamped with a seal and enter the kingdom. But that we become wall flowers, not looking around the kingdom to see what else there is for us. He gave me a picture of someone coming off the wall and while poking around, found the belt of truth just sitting there in a case, they were surprised and looked around, there was no glass, and they could just grab it and put it on, and it fit! Then they look some more and finds the helmet of salvation there, and they tried it on, and it fit perfect. And the sword of the spirit and the breastplate of righteousness and shield of faith were there too.
He gave me the impression that we have to put these on intentionally, and that we aren’t as effective until we do. And that often forgotten are the boots of prepared good news of God, that we need these for our journey. I wondered often why Peter would just up and follow Jesus, when at that time he did not know Jesus was Lord, so I asked, and got a picture of Jesus walking down the shore with a bunch of people being stupid happy, giddy, full of joy, having been set free, in person by the Son of God. The impression was that it was the seeing of people in this condition that got Peter out of the boat, seeing the fruit of a life lived in obedience and communion with God the Father, it looked like the faces of our racers.
All this encourages me that our Racers have learned a valuable life lesson they can come back to their whole life, whenever they are unhappy or feeling less than because of the circumstances of life, they can remember a time in life when they were poor, living without a home, without an income, without a family, happy, fulfilled and will have hope. That came from God only.
I’m grateful for a great time there on a short stretch of the race, and am thankful to all who had a hand in making it possible. Thankful to see all the beaming faces of the teammates with my daughter. My prayer is that God continues to bless the ministry, the people serving and the peole through them.
