Crash course- “Nightlife in Thailand.”
We are all dancing. We
are at debrief. It is supposed to be a time to have fun, rest, grow
closer to the Lord (not in that order). I love dancing. The band isn’t
very good, but you can at least dance to it. The aren’t very many
people in the room. Mostly world racers drinking Pepsi while
experimenting with new hip international moves.
It’s an hour and a half later. The room is hot, and the humid air is making us sticky and sweaty.
There
are more people on the dance floor, but it’s still light hearted and
fun. Moving to to music, I turn around to look at the floor behind me.
My stomach churns, there is a tall white man groping a Thai woman. I
turn to face my friends, dancing harder to block out the image I just
saw.
It’s two hours later, and I’m about to call it quits. The
mood on the floor has changed. World racers are now a minority on the
floor, and I don’t want to turn around because I am afraid of what I
will see. I just couldn’t help spinning, and I turn around just in time
to see the same Thai women pass out on the dance floor. One of the
nurses on our squad rushes over to take care of her. She pulls her
aside to take her pulse. Another world racer prays over the girl. We
all pull back, and silently pray. As I look around the room, my stomach
churns. Dance time is over.
It’s ten minutes later. The woman is fine, and she wants to go back on the floor. We have to let her.
I’m
now outside walking on the beach. Usually the beach is a place of
peace, but I’m angry, and I don’t even know why. I also feel shame, Did I just do something very wrong? God I’m sorry for dancing, I will never go there again. O no. I have to go again. This
month I’m going to be sent into the bars to love. This is my new
mission field, and it looks nothing like my picture of church.
It’s morning now. I didn’t sleep very much last night, but I’m not that tired. I feel bad for the woman I saw. Lord free her. Free her, I’ll take her shame, just free her. Wait, I can’t take her shame, that’s a ridiculous thought. I feel torn. I don’t know the answers, I just know that someone needs to Cary this shame that I feel.
It’s
night now, and as the sun has set it is now it’s clear to me. Jesus
will take the shame away. All shame (lust, loneliness, oppression,
etc) has been put on Him when He was on the cross. Jesus took all the
shame that exist.If He has it, I don’t have it. If he has it, then I
am free. If He has it, then humanity has been freed.
So now my
mission for the month is becoming clearer. I walk back onto the dance
floor, and I share this amazing truth that their is freedom.
