"Where there is light there is no darkness, and where there is song there is no silence.
Light – inherently victorious – seeps into death and evil, loving them into life and warmth.
Song- essentially joyful – writes story into blank pages, invites family into orphaned places, paints cheer onto tired, worn faces.
N Squad has been afforded the amazing privilege to seek out two of God's fiercest weapons against a dark world in the Unsung Heroes Campaign.
The devastating reality that we live in is that there are people all over the world living trapped in darkness and silence. The overwhelming hope that we profess and declare is that "the people who walk in darkness have seen a great light." Though there are millions walking blindly through the world's blackest places of sex trafficking, forced labor, abuse, addiction, war, injustice, pain and loss, there are also those who are fighting to illuminate those places with the torch of the great light of Jesus Christ.
The Unsung Heroes Campaign has been created to find these heroes, these unknown beacons of light working day and night to bring hope to the hopeless, all in order to their arias into choral arrangements, to partner with them as brothers and sisters in Christ to shine light in despairing places. "
-Meredith Hastings, my great friend
Back in February, my great friend Meredith and her team helped launch the first month of Unsung Heroes in Trijillo, Peru. Each month a team is put in charge of this campaign — an opportunity to find out what God is up to in each country we enter.
It's our turn.
Our month has been partnered with ATL (Ask The Lord). A month that says — STOP — LISTEN — now..GO. We had no ministry contact, no lodging, no direction, until we asked. . .
We began to pray, then pray some more.
Where do you want us God?
I remember asking God this question a lot within the two days of knowing that my month had no definite direction whatsoever.
Then it happened. I was in shower, and I heard a deep voice coming from outside the bathroom…. calling for me.
God?
Nope, just the guy in charge of where we were staying for night, insisting on having a conversation..yes right then.
He shouted, "We will meet at one." ( approximately four times ). Then was persistent in knowing where we were off to next..questions, lots of questions, yes still shouting in from the outside of the bathroom.
Sir, I really don't know, but we will meet with you at one.
We meet.
After the main guy found out we had no idea what was next, he began to write…name after name, number after number.
The first paper said.. CHOM POO, meaning pink in English. It was a must that we call her, in fact his assistant was even more convinced that she was our woman.
A short story made shorter, she was our woman.
I couldn't have asked The Lord for a more precious woman to put in our path. She was thrilled to help us. She said, "You are doing The Lord's work, so we will work with your budget." Perfect.
Our third night in Bangkok, resulted in us being beyond blessed, sharing a king sized mattress with only one other person and an air conditioned room. Oasis for my soul. A bed. I didn't care if we had to sleep on top of plastic wrap, it was spacious and delightful.
She was quick to share life with us, inviting us to everything __ voice lesson class ( HA yes, she asked me to sing, oh karoake, definitely a strong point.), and teaching English ( more my strong point, leading children in an intense "practice your English" game of Simon Says).
Chom poo was also quick to take risks for us and invite us into her fairly conservative church. What she didn't know is that The Lord was already breaking barriers, and they were quick to welcome us as well. In fact, they had us lead a spontaneous diddy in front of everyone, "Amazing Grace," which apparently never happens. And yes, this time I couldn't avoid the mic, I had my own… Thankfully the windows were spared and avoided mass destruction..
My team continued to seek The Lord. We knew we wouldn't be in this part of Bangkok long, we knew we were suppose to be closer to the Red Light District, and specifically by that Wednesday. But how? Hostels were not in our budget and we were still making phone calls to build connections in the city. We prayed. It was Monday and we knew we were moving Wednesday, but that was all we knew.
Later that night, The Lord had answered. We had an email and an offer; two rooms, two showers, a kitchen, and a price way under our budget located right outside the Red Light District.
As my people would say…Bada Boom! Bada Bing!
Stay tuned to what happened next in the adventures of the 112 and their pursuit to follow the voice of God.
