1: this is my confession
We were picking up trash in a little Bangkok neighborhood where a new-found contact ministry was working. After nearly a week in limbo with no ministry outlets, many of us were excited to be back into it!
We’d only been there about an hour when the phone call came at 3 p.m., and Krystle announced to us that by 7 p.m. we were to be packed and ready to leave…to fly to London. Our ministry for the month would happen there, and Africa would be delayed until January.
All around me Racers started cheering and getting excited about going to London. But I sank from standing into a squat in the street as bitter disappointment rose up inside of me and spilled down my cheeks. Everyone else rejoiced while I wept in the street.
Why was I so sad? (As it turned out all of Kiatera was sad at first–our team had been looking so forward to Africa!) Well Great Britain is anything but third-world, and when I signed up for the World Race I wanted to serve the poorest of the poor. I wanted to walk down streets of dirt and love on people who the world had left behind–I hadn’t thought I’d be doing ministry in one of those countries that actually did the leaving behind.
Secondly, I already knew (lived in) London and while I love the city and the country, I hadn’t planned on coming anywhere on the Race that I had been before (because I hadn’t been to any third-world countries, see?).
Thirdly, I simply yearned to make it to Africa! I had wanted to throw Christmas parties for AIDS orphans in Swazi and see what a ninety-degree sultry Christmas would feel like.
I came around soon and decided to focus on how excited I would be to visit London again…stop by my old flat, go to Hillsong, wander around the familiar streets, hang out in pubs and enjoy the winter and Christmas. Please know that I’m happy to be here! 🙂
So that is my confession. I was utterly disappointed at the Race re-route because I felt like I wasn’t getting “what I signed up for.” As much as I KNOW that on the Race if we “make plans, they change,” this was one that came so far outta left-court not even Tyler Hansbrough could block the shot!
part 2 coming soon….”culture shock”
here are some photos from a day i spend in Oxford with some old friends, Ian and Monica Verhage. this was before our ministry was established so we had two days to enjoy Britain. cheers!
