Day 100 of the World Race.
Finally, a chance to sleep in ‘til 10 am. I just might die from excitement.
A delectable breakfast at 10:15 am consisting of cold cereal and peanut butter/banana toast. Yum!
Then, THEN a few hours to hang out and relax before we trekked across the island in the EVANGEVAN (as we so named it) to a rehab center associated with YWAM Penang and KWAN Penang.
So started our journey around 1 pm, not knowing what the day had in store. Day 100 ended up being exactly what I always thought the World Race was supposed to look like….
…this van was sketchy. No offense to the YWAM people, but it was sketchy. 6 of our 7 teammates hopped into the van, with a few extra bottles of water for the radiator “just in case”, and headed towards the other side of the island. Here we were, cruisin’ with our windows down to breathe in as much of the “cool” air as possible when Jeremy’s butt suddenly gets REALLY hot. About that time, our driver, Ed, looks at the temperature gauge and realizes that it’s HOT, so we pull over and check it out. We realize that the reason Jeremy’s butt was so hot was because the engine of the van is underneath the passenger’s seat. Weird! Since we had to wait for the radiator to cool down before we could pour water in it, we decided to hike up the mountain a bit to the Penang Buddhist temple that our van just happened to break down right beside.
We hiked up this mountain, though it wasn’t a terribly long hike, maybe only 20 minutes or so, to this outrageously gorgeous Chinese Buddhist temple, the biggest one in Penang. We knew that God had us there for a reason. We walked around, exploring, praying silently, standing in awe of the beauty that surrounded us, even if it was of a different religion. It reminded us all of the temples in the Old Testament, sort of.
It was HOT, and I had forgotten our water back in the van. We decided we didn’t want to purchase any because all proceeds went to the temple fund, but I was getting increasingly dizzy from the heat and lack of water. Also, I have asthma and didn’t have my inhaler with me, so that was working against me as well. It’s all in a days journey on the Race, though. A word of advice to future racers: NEVER GO ANYWHERE WITHOUT YOUR WATER BOTTLE!! I finally got a few sips from one of my teammates, Alison, and we explored a bit more. As we started our decent back down the mountain, Jeremy started walking behind a guy who had a severe limp in his right leg. He felt the Lord telling him to pray for this guy, so he (Jeremy) asked him if he spoke English. He did, so Jeremy asked him if he could pray for him. At first the guy seemed a bit confused, so Jeremy explained that he noticed the limp and asked if he could pray for healing. I walked a bit further as to not interrupt—and the rest of our team had already walked far enough ahead to not know what was going on—and stood in the background watching my sweet husband pray for the Buddhist man who had come to the temple to worship Buddha. He had no idea that he would leave that temple having had a Christian man praying for healing! And while we didn’t see immediate healing right then, we just KNOW that God WILL HEAL him one day of his afflictions.
We continued our journey up the mountain, where we broke down a second time and had the wait about half an hour for the radiator to cool down a second time. When we finally opened the gasket, it explored, but thankfully no boiling water hit us.
We finally made it to the other side of the island, 2.5 hours after we were due to arrive. Hot, sweaty, and tired, we walked into the rehab center still not sure of what to expect. For two hours we listened as the pastor who runs the rehab center shared his heart for us for the men that come in and out of the center. He shared his passion for changing the way they live in hopes that one day they will come to love Jesus the way he does! He, too, used to be addicted to drugs, and God saved him from them in the same way he is trying to help the men. What a servant this man is!! He works there alone, and rarely has volunteers come and help him. He surely was an encouragement to us, and we suddenly didn’t feel as tired as we had earlier in the day.
He asked if we wanted to hike up the mountain to see the new rehab center they were building. We agreed, even though we were exhausted. He assured us that, if nothing else, the view would be worth it. We drove as far as we could, then hiked a steep mountain for another half hour. The view at the top was breathtaking. We arrived at the top and saw nothing but ocean. Photographs could never capture the beauty we saw, though they try. God’s beauty overwhelms me every single day, and the more I see, the more I want to see.
We worshiped and prayed atop that mountain with our team, the pastor of the rehab center, and the three men who are currently in rehab. Nothing made my heart more glad than to know that we were all of one accord, worshipping Jesus in MALAYSIA. I NEVER thought I would be living my life like this!! Nothing brings me more joy than to know that we are serving Jesus in this capacity, and that I am doing it with my husband. DREAM. COME. TRUE.
