Thursday, February 27, 2014
Well, it has been insanely hectic lately!
Alright, last week's lectures were about the Fear of The Lord. Which is so much less complicated and scary than we make it out to be. But I think much more serious and important than it has come to be in our lives. Fear of The Lord is not about being terrified of him - how can we be afraid of our loving Father and Savior? How can we have relationship with someone that scares us? It's about being in awe of him and having deep reverence for our King. God is truly amazing and we should be awe of his power every second of the day! Fear of The Lord is about giving him control of all areas of our life. ALL areas. Every single one. Even that one little part that we would really like to just take care of ourselves. He's the Creator and King of the universe, I'm pretty sure he can handle my life.
So, I've been working on total surrender. I've been working on that for a while; God has been talking to me about it since I got here, and I get constant reminders of it. God is obviously saying that this is something for me to deal with seriously now. Surrender and daily choice. They go hand in hand. It is a daily choice. A minute-by-minute choice. Constantly surrendering all aspects of my life to God. Letting him into the areas where I just want to keep under my control, because if I let him in, he might rearrange things, and I like things my way, thanks. But I'm coming to recognize that even when things hurt, God knows what he's doing, and he is absolutely trustworthy.
Fear of The Lord comes from knowing God more. It's kind of hard to be in awe of someone you don't know. It's even harder to trust someone you don't know. So Fear of The Lord comes out spending more time with God and growing closer to him. Which is what I'm here for!
The reason it has been so crazy busy lately was our big rugby tournament last weekend!
So, ARK International runs a rugby outreach with children from the slum community called Nak Suu. Every Saturday morning they go out the rugby field, play rugby, learn some English, have snack. The point of Nak Suu is to give the kids a safe outlet, a safe place to go, to provide them with hope. ARK helps the kids with their education, which is huge. Nak Suu is such an amazing program.
Every year, ARK has an international rugby tournament to raise money for Nak Suu. Teams come from all over the place (South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, etc, etc) to compete. The children get to play, there is a women's touch league and, of course, a men's league. It's a non-Christian event, so there's a beer garden (raises lots of funds XD). We had a silent auction and raffle tickets. There was a kid's zone and food. I was in charge (with another girl) of the snacks for our Nak Suu players and volunteers.
The tournament was so much fun! Our teams all played great and everyone had a blast! We don't yet have numbers on how much was raised, but we're thinking it's a lot! We were all exhausted by the end of it, but it was so good.
This week we are in Pattaya, partly for a nice change of pace after the tournament, but mostly because it is Evangelism week. Pattaya is known for the sex trade.
Last night we went out to the main sex street, where basically every building is a brothel. There are more prostitutes down along the beach. We prayer walked around the area. It felt so heavy. I was doing fine myself, but it was so hard to keep from feeling oppressed by this deep sadness that lay so heavily over the area. There were so many girls. So, so many girls. All smiling and beckoning, flirting. But broken. As we prayer walked along the beach, I saw a green light waving across the water. It reminded of The Great Gatsby, how he is always gazing across the bay at the green light, longing for something that he just can't reach. The people here - all the people: the prostitutes, the pimps, the johns - they are all reaching for something that will fill them up, but without God, they will never get it.
I also got this sense that the girls are all so used to being looked at, but what they really want is to be seen. To be seen as people, not a sex toy.
And the pimps and johns need to be seen as people, too. It is so easy to look at them with disgust. But they are broken, just like us. They are hurting and empty, or else they wouldn't be here. They are God's children, and they are enslaved just as much as the girls.
What needs to happen is for God's love to come in and heal their hearts. God's love is not still, it is moving. Love is an action. And we need to allow God's love to move us into action, to reach out and show his love to everyone. They do not need condemnation. They need transformation. And that transformation comes from being lifted up, not from being beaten down.
And that is why we are in Pattaya. To start a revolution. To bring transformation. Even if it is only for one person.
Prayer Requests:
for God's love to wash over Pattaya and into the hearts of the prostitutes, pimps, johns, and the church
for us to show God's love to everyone we come into contact with
for courage as we go out into the streets to share God's love
for unity in our team
for a deep hunger for God to move in our own lives
- for a deep passion to move in God's love
Well, it has been insanely hectic lately!
Alright, last week's lectures were about the Fear of The Lord. Which is so much less complicated and scary than we make it out to be. But I think much more serious and important than it has come to be in our lives. Fear of The Lord is not about being terrified of him - how can we be afraid of our loving Father and Savior? How can we have relationship with someone that scares us? It's about being in awe of him and having deep reverence for our King. God is truly amazing and we should be awe of his power every second of the day! Fear of The Lord is about giving him control of all areas of our life. ALL areas. Every single one. Even that one little part that we would really like to just take care of ourselves. He's the Creator and King of the universe, I'm pretty sure he can handle my life.
So, I've been working on total surrender. I've been working on that for a while; God has been talking to me about it since I got here, and I get constant reminders of it. God is obviously saying that this is something for me to deal with seriously now. Surrender and daily choice. They go hand in hand. It is a daily choice. A minute-by-minute choice. Constantly surrendering all aspects of my life to God. Letting him into the areas where I just want to keep under my control, because if I let him in, he might rearrange things, and I like things my way, thanks. But I'm coming to recognize that even when things hurt, God knows what he's doing, and he is absolutely trustworthy.
Fear of The Lord comes from knowing God more. It's kind of hard to be in awe of someone you don't know. It's even harder to trust someone you don't know. So Fear of The Lord comes out spending more time with God and growing closer to him. Which is what I'm here for!
The reason it has been so crazy busy lately was our big rugby tournament last weekend!
So, ARK International runs a rugby outreach with children from the slum community called Nak Suu. Every Saturday morning they go out the rugby field, play rugby, learn some English, have snack. The point of Nak Suu is to give the kids a safe outlet, a safe place to go, to provide them with hope. ARK helps the kids with their education, which is huge. Nak Suu is such an amazing program.
Every year, ARK has an international rugby tournament to raise money for Nak Suu. Teams come from all over the place (South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, etc, etc) to compete. The children get to play, there is a women's touch league and, of course, a men's league. It's a non-Christian event, so there's a beer garden (raises lots of funds XD). We had a silent auction and raffle tickets. There was a kid's zone and food. I was in charge (with another girl) of the snacks for our Nak Suu players and volunteers.
The tournament was so much fun! Our teams all played great and everyone had a blast! We don't yet have numbers on how much was raised, but we're thinking it's a lot! We were all exhausted by the end of it, but it was so good.
This week we are in Pattaya, partly for a nice change of pace after the tournament, but mostly because it is Evangelism week. Pattaya is known for the sex trade.
Last night we went out to the main sex street, where basically every building is a brothel. There are more prostitutes down along the beach. We prayer walked around the area. It felt so heavy. I was doing fine myself, but it was so hard to keep from feeling oppressed by this deep sadness that lay so heavily over the area. There were so many girls. So, so many girls. All smiling and beckoning, flirting. But broken. As we prayer walked along the beach, I saw a green light waving across the water. It reminded of The Great Gatsby, how he is always gazing across the bay at the green light, longing for something that he just can't reach. The people here - all the people: the prostitutes, the pimps, the johns - they are all reaching for something that will fill them up, but without God, they will never get it.
I also got this sense that the girls are all so used to being looked at, but what they really want is to be seen. To be seen as people, not a sex toy.
And the pimps and johns need to be seen as people, too. It is so easy to look at them with disgust. But they are broken, just like us. They are hurting and empty, or else they wouldn't be here. They are God's children, and they are enslaved just as much as the girls.
What needs to happen is for God's love to come in and heal their hearts. God's love is not still, it is moving. Love is an action. And we need to allow God's love to move us into action, to reach out and show his love to everyone. They do not need condemnation. They need transformation. And that transformation comes from being lifted up, not from being beaten down.
And that is why we are in Pattaya. To start a revolution. To bring transformation. Even if it is only for one person.
Prayer Requests:
for God's love to wash over Pattaya and into the hearts of the prostitutes, pimps, johns, and the church
for us to show God's love to everyone we come into contact with
for courage as we go out into the streets to share God's love
for unity in our team
for a deep hunger for God to move in our own lives
- for a deep passion to move in God's love
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