We are about half way through month 4 and I’m not going to lie… it has been TOUGH for ya girl. Here in ‘Nam, I call myself the local celebrity. I’m a big, friendly, giant and a ‘stop and stare/take a picture with’ to all of the locals. Also, my legs don’t fit under any public tables because everything is the size of your kid/grandkids’ Little Tikes furniture in their play room. Annoying? A little (no pun intended). And also, if you didn’t know, Thanksgiving is not celebrated around the world and it’s one of my favorite holidays… real cool.
In all seriousness, Vietnam is a closed country. They do not allow people to openly share the Gospel with others. My immediate thought when I saw this country on our route was, “Well I’m a missionary and that’s a pretty large reason why I am in the country to start with… so why can’t we just choose another country to go to?” [I know, how ignorant of me.] When I brought it to God, He pointed me to Paul and Silas in the book of Acts. These two men were thrown in prison for telling people about God. I told God right then and there that though my parents love me dearly, I have a very hard time seeing Ken and Joni hopping on a plane to Vietnam to bail me out of prison.
But that wasn’t the point. The point was, “HB, do you love me enough to go to prison for sharing the Word or even die for the Word?”
Before coming on the race, if you had asked me if I would be a martyr for Christ, I would have said yes. But if I’m being honest, I never thought about it much because I never thought I would be in a situation where that would happen. It’s funny because God’s plans are far different (and better) than mine will ever be.
Being on the race for almost 4 months now, I can openly and honestly say I would be a martyr for a Christ. Christ has become so real to me and this mission He has called me on in life… I just can’t take it lightly. It’s literally life or death. If I knew the game winning play that the other team was going to run against my team to win the game, then I would tell my team so that we could stop them. I know who is taking the game winning shot so I just need to tell my teammate to face-guard that player (in basketball, face-guard means to stay with that person/guard at all times). It’s a similar concept… I already know who won the game of life and that’s Christ. I tell my team (people I meet) to face-guard Christ… to spend time with Him and not take their eyes off of Him. Now yes, He’s already won, but when you face-guard Christ, you get the incredible opportunity to TURN UP for eternity in the locker room with Him and everyone else who chose to face-guard Him. How amazing is that?!
So here I am traveling around the world to countries where I don’t reside, telling people about a man who died on a cross to save them. Yes I’m going to take a little caution, but you better believe that as soon as God highlights someone to share His word with, I’m there – closed county or not, because I know that the man that I face-guard daily will always have my back.
