The night before my
squad left for Bangkok, my small team “Citizens of Hope” was reentering
civilization. With civilization came BBC World News, and with world news always
comes bad news.
“All U.S. citizens should avoid unnecessary
travel to Bangkok.” (kind of
made me want to go more).
So, if YOU haven’t
watched the news, here’s an update:
The Red Shirt
protestors, known by the color shirt they wear, have led demonstrations in the
Thai capitol of Bangkok since March 2010, when they reinstated their protest of
the Thai government. They have pulled crazy stunts, parades through downtown, created roadblocks, and are
demanding the dissolution of the Parliament due their dissatisfaction with the
current Prime Minister. Recently, there have been grenade explosions and some
deaths associations the Red Shirt actions. This is when the U.S. Embassy upped
the travel warning and this happened to be the day we saw the news.
With that, our squad gave 2 rules regarding
the demonstrations:
Don’t wear red or yellow.
Avoid the Silom district of Bangkok, where the current demonstrations were held. (fyi- we were
staying about an hour away).
Here is a funny
story:
Myself, Jeff
Mitchell (a former World Racer), and my teammate Amanda were on our way back
from seeing the city of Bangkok, specifically leaving the “Temple of the Golden
Mount.” We hopped on board a boat at the canal, and exited at Pratnuum stop to
catch a bus from there (a stop not anywhere near Silom). Upon coming up the steps to the street, we quickly
realize something: “We shouldn’t be here. Oops.”
Red Shirts were
everywhere. So were booths selling everything red: shirts, caps, lanyards,
flags, and even red fruit (i.e. lychees). There was a loud speaker with a
booming Thai voice and there were posters of government officials with markings
and holes punched through their faces. Despite the barbed wire and wall of tires
blockading road traffic, it was actually quite peaceful and happy.
On the bus ride
home and that night at worship, I thought about the war we as Christians fight.
It’s not a war against flesh and bone. It’s not a war against a government we
don’t agree with. It is not a war of violence. In fact, we already know who
wins our war.
Our war is against
principalities. It is a war against the traps of the world. But we come in
surrender. We wear white in a sea of red shirts. Not in surrender of our enemies,
but in surrender of the God who already saved us.
Let me repeat that.
We surrender not to men, but we surrender to God.
That’s when God
uses us the most. We ARE warriors. We just don’t wear red shirts.
