I’ve recently been inspired to say yes to every opportunity that is offered to me. It seems like every day in Vietnam we’ve been asked to do different things for ministry. A lot of the times our contacts only want three or four of us to volunteer to serve. It’s so much easier to say, “I’ll stay back this time,” and then just stay in the AC and watch TV or read. But I didn’t come on the race to be comfortable. I came and have been pushed out of my comfort zone time and again. Why would I want to back out of an opportunity to grow?
As Bob Goff says in chapter 9 or his book Love Does, “Am I the right guy? I don’t know, but I’m the guy being asked, and the last thing I want to do is miss an opportunity or make God mad, so I just keep saying yes. Maybe God is doing some inexplicable things in your life. Each of us gets to decide every time whether to lean in or step back – to say yes, ignore it, or tell God why He has the wrong person.”
This paragraph is what inspired me to say yes. Since choosing in, God has given me so many cool adventures! I just wanted to share with you what happened tonight.
I just got back from the park. Shelley asked if anyone would go with her to meet with her 20-year-old Vietnamese friend, Hung. I said yes right away knowing that I wanted to be intentional about saying yes to every opportunity. After having dinner with the team, Shelley texted Hung and we walked over to the park to meet up with her.
There is a food festival going on at the park right now, so it was packed. We got some ice cream that was imported from California, and made our way over to the main stage. The second act was a group of maybe 7 Korean guys dancing to Gangnam Style. After they finished, I danced like them behind the seating area and then decided that I wanted to go meet the Korean superstar dancers. Hung went with me, and Shelley followed behind us. I walked up right behind them and started my version of the Gangnam Style dance. They all turned around and watched me. Then Hung asked them to teach us. So they did! I got to dance Gangnam Style with Korean dancers!
Laughing together, we walked after taking pictures with them. We continued exploring the festival, picked up more food, and looked for more adventures. The park was lined with restaurants from around the world. One of the restaurants was really fancy and out in the front there was a chef cooking some wantons. He asked if I wanted to try. Well, I had decided that I was going to say yes to every opportunity, so I did it! Hung tried first and did so great! I tried and honestly, I did quite awful. They threw one of mine away.
We bought some of the wantons and continued walking through the park. We decided that we wanted to just hang out, so we left the busyness of the festival and went to the park on the next street. On the way, we saw two of Hung’s friends. One was holding a guitar and he asked if we wanted to play and sing. Of course, I said yes!
We went to the park, sat in a circle, and sang together. Since Vietnam is a closed country (I I really only know Christian songs), Hung’s friend played the most. He asked for Shelley and me to do a song, so we played ‘Mighty to Save’ and changed a few words, such as Jesus to Baby and God to Dad. Yup. That happened.
I’m just excited because it was such a fun, random, adventurous night! And it would have never happened if I decided that I was too tired or too hot or too… fill in the blank.
But I said yes.
I’m planning on keeping up the trend through the end of Vietnam (if not longer), and I can’t wait for the adventures that I’m going to be able to blog about because of opportunities that I didn’t turn down.
