Here it comes…..it’s August we are officially 8 months in to the race and the excitement levels are dwindling. Community isn’t awesome. Feedback is hard. We are tired. We just got thrown in the battle.
Recently the Lord gave me a word for one of my squadmates.
It was from Job 40: 7
“Dress for action like a man; I will question you, and you make it known to me.”
I would be sorely mistaken if I thought that this was just for one person. I think this was a message for myself, my squad, my family, everybody. The battle is going to happen, and I can either sit in my exhaustion or buck up and get ready to fight.
We are working with SHE Ministries this month (http://www.shethailand.org/) in Phuket, Thailand. The first week has been amazing and our contacts have a huge heart for the area and the people within it. This month we are working with 3 other teams from our squad, so there are about 27 World Racers here at SHE for the month. During the day we work in a field of a new property they recently leased, cleaning, fertilizing, basic construction or we prayer walk and make mosiacs for the new property.
At night, we dress for action, literally. I was recently skyping with my mom while my squadmate was getting dressed to go to the bars.
She yelled to me “I have nothing to wear to the bars tonight.”
My mom was first to comment about how that now has a whole new meaning. I am no longer pulling out the heels and cute little black dresses to head out at night with friends. We are all wearing whatever is semi clean and presentable.
Phuket is a prime vacation spot and with that comes a nightlife. This isn’t any ordinary nightlife. There are approximately 200 bars down one road in the main area of Patong. It is called Bangla Road and within these 200 bars there are what they have come to be known as “bar girls”. There are about 5-6 “bar girls” at each bar and their job is to entice you, the customer, to buy drinks and themselves for the night. They work off of commission so the more sales the more money they actually pocket. The “bar girls” sit and play games like Connect Four, Jackpot, and Jenga with you and flirt shamelessly.
I didn’t believe it until I saw it and then it all made sense. Some of these girls are as young as 17 and as old as 37 (these are just the encounters I have had) and they do not want to be there. They live in community on top of the bar with the “Big Boss” and most of them will openly tell you that they don’t like their job. If you can stand to stay and watch long enough, you will understand why.
When we show up the girls faces light up. They know for at least the 35-40 minutes we are there, the spotlight is on them. Not their bodies, not their sweet talking. Their smiles, their laughs, their families, their lives, their pets. It is the biggest treat ever to walk up to a bar girl and just give her a big hug. They literally melt in your arms knowing that they are safe and there is no pressure to “seal the deal”.
Needless to say….Our teams have loved dressing for action and doing it for the Lord.
