Have you ever spent four nights on a hospital floor in 90 degree heat with no air conditioning and no internet as Malay nurses wake you up every few hours to draw blood or check the vital signs of your friend as she is covered with a suffocating mosquito net and fighting off Dengue fever?
No? Well, let me tell ya bout it.
A few days ago I got a text from my squad mentor Ashley telling me about my squad mate Jamie who was sick in the hospital. After my Space Cadet team did some deliberation, it was decided that I would be coming to visit!
Because I am a woman, safety requires me not to travel alone. I took along my pal and former teammate Marybeth and we set off from Kuala Lumpur to Kuala Lipis (aka the middle of nowhere), Malaysia. The travel went smoothly and after about 4 hours, we had arrived.
The first thing I noticed when I arrived in Kuala Lipis were the birds. For those who don’t know this about me, I have an irrational bird phobia. If a bird flies too close or sneaks up on me, I lose it. I asked MB to try and describe a situation that would illustrate my fear on my behalf and these are her words: “imagine a beautiful day at the beach and suddenly a tsunami is towering above you about to crush and kill you.” It may be a bit of an over dramatization, but those are the sort of emotions I experienced while being in this town. There were swarms of birds that came out to feed at dusk, so I always made sure I was safely in doors before then. I am not exaggerating when I say it was like the plagues of Egypt. But even during the daytime on my way to KFC or on my way to the host home or hospital, I was constantly dodging these air fowl and ridden with anxiety. During our last night, a bird actually flew in through the window and was flying around in the hallway between Jamie’s bed and the nurses’ station! So the whole night I was imagining horror scenarios about being attacked by the new hospital pet. The adrenaline kept me awake for most of the night.
Another thing to be noted about Kuala Lipis is that there is only one restaurant open – KFC. And unfortunately when your diet only consists of instant mashed potatoes and fried chicken for a week, you start feeling a little weird.
Staying in that place for five days felt like an eternity. The experience I had in Kuala Lipis was so bizarre and sleepless and anxiety ridden, but it taught me a lot of important lessons in hindsight. We all know how undesirable or unusual circumstances put us to the test – physically, spiritually, emotionally, and relationally.
I put this experience into the context of the race as a whole and it brought even more clarity. This 11-month experience pushes you to your limits and tests your faith and your walk with the Lord. It is not like a Christian summer camp, where you can go to experience a spiritual high and then gradually return to the patterns of normal life again. This IS my normal life now. I wake up every day and I only have one responsibility – to follow Jesus. My spiritual walk and my mundane every day routine can no longer be two separate parts of my life; they are one in the same.
When we choose to persevere despite circumstance or sin, our obedience is rewarded.
This experience has given me the opportunity to bring people to know the hope I have. I have gotten to share my testimony and how I am a redeemed woman. Others have approached me and I have been able to share my beliefs. There has been joy in showing the love of Christ to the citizens of this earth. I have grown more into the daughter and disciple I was created to be. This race has granted me endless gifts of grace and redemption and friendship. And ultimately, everyday I get to experience the glory of God.
“To please God… to be a real ingredient in the divine happiness… to be loved by God, not merely pitied, but delighted in as an artist delights in his work or a father in a son- it seems impossible, a weight or burden of glory which our thoughts can hardly sustain. But so it is.” – C.S. Lewis, The Weight of Glory
“Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. Whoever sows to please their flesh, from the flesh will reap destruction; whoever sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life. Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up”
– Ephesians 6:7-9
