February 6th, 2011
No hacking or slashing today, and I didn’t wake up to karaoke either! Today is Sunday, and we eat breakfast and head to church to lead the youth groups. It goes well enough; I believe that God continues to confirm that I am not meant for youth ministry. After church for 3 hours we go back and have lunch at the house, followed by a quick mid-afternoon nap. We start for the beach at 2pm. As I mentioned yesterday, our aim was to do some dude ministry.
We went down the the far end of the beach where there were some open lounge chairs and tables and also an open volleyball court. As we sat down and ordered milkshakes we noticed a certain man from California lounging nearby. We were still waiting for our milkshakes when he got up to play volleyball with some dudes a court over. Jake Van Norman (jakevannorman.theworldrace.org) went and hopped in too. It was a quick game, and my milkshake went fast too.
Nine of us then went to play volleyball with Mike, the californian gentleman who had been “working” with Paris, the girl that Jesus set free from the sex industry just a day or so earlier. So we played a game, and then the girls went off and did something while I, Derek Begin (derekbegin.theworldrace.org), and Jake played doubles with Mike. It was a competitive game, so once it was over we all took a dip in the ocean where a good conversation began with Jake and Mike and me.
We shot the crap for a while and small talked as we built some rapport with Mike. Here’s his story as I heard it:
Mike is semi-retired; he works only a few months out of the year. The rest of the time he spends traveling the world, and for the last five years he’s been enjoying foreign women around the world. He’s in his sixties. Never married, he had been dating and looking for a wife for nearly 40 years. A few times he had come close, but for some reason it always fell through. Five years ago he gave up and resigned himself to living a life of cash-based love.
It’s interesting here, because we’ve noticed that many of the men here who travel with asian companions do just that: they find them in Manila and bring them here with them. They buy them dinners, clothes, accessories; they walk on the beach and play in the water together sometimes… at least on this beach, it looks more like a relationship than just cheap sex.
And that craving for a relationship and desire to be loved is why men like Mike do what they do. Here’s Mike, 40 years looking, lonely, given up, living out the end of his life. I believe that’s the Mike that God sees. Does that mean he’s justified? Of course not. But he’s not the sicko we like to think he is. He thinks of himself as a benefactor even, helping the poor girl who offered herself to him to make ends meet, in return for her being his “wife” that he never had, for a short time. But God knows his heart’s pain and his loneliness and loves him in spite of his actions, because God’s love is based on his own character, not ours.
Mike was incredibly open and honest. He said he was searching for happiness. He had come to accept the way things were, but he was searching for happiness. When we asked, he even went so far as to say that being with women was fun, but there was still the emptiness inside. Jake opened up and shared some of his life experience with Mike, talking through to where God has brought him. The Lord gave me some verses to share with him. He explained that he was raised in Turkey in a Christian Orthodox church and was now an athiest (but he’s really agnostic). Nonetheless the Lord touched his heart, as evidenced by his favorable comments of our group, knowing we were the same people who had talked with Paris shortly before she decided to leave. We were able to challenge his life philosophy of “if you’re not hurting anyone it’s ok” by asking him to ask himself “is what I’m doing bringing me lasting fulfillment?” We share of the hope we have in Christ and part ways. Hopefully the Lord wil continue to send people to search after him and he will come to realize that it’s a God-shaped and God-sized hole he’s trying to fill that only God himself can fill. Mike leaves early tomorrow morning, so we won’t see him again.
Meanwhile, I’ve got in mind to get back in the game quick after the race cause I’ll be danged if I’m going to wait 40 years for a wife. (God, please don’t make me eat my words on this one!)
On the business side of things… I’m technically not fully funded, I’m remaining on the race by promise to pay any remaining balance by the end of the final month. Right now that balance is about $4,000. Please help me pay it down by donating! Also, for security reasons I’ll be out of contact for the month of March. No news is good news.
On the business side of things… I’m technically not fully funded, I’m remaining on the race by promise to pay any remaining balance by the end of the final month. Right now that balance is about $4,000. Please help me pay it down by donating! Also, for security reasons I’ll be out of contact for the month of March. No news is good news.
