Thailand: Day 27 – The End of One Journey, the Beginning of Another

Posted on July 27, 2015 Updated on July 27, 2015

My last full day in Bangkok, and my last Sunday here. I decided I wanted to attend church at the Bangkok campus of Lifepoint Church. Lifepoint Church is where I gave 6 years of volunteer service to make Sundays a place where people could come worship Jesus, before they told me I was not allowed to come to the church, any campus, dressed as a woman. I thought it would be quite poetic that I was attending a 3rd campus, not only dressed as a woman, but with a full female body too. Oh the irony.

All that aside, I got up, got myself ready, and went down and ate breakfast before grabbing a taxi over to the church campus. The driver had a little trouble finding the place because he had never been there, but Google Maps led us right to the front door and I arrived about 15 minutes before the service started. I walked in, only to be greeted by a familiar face from my hometown. She thought she recognized me but felt like she couldn’t put a name to the face. I told her my name, but it still wasn’t ringing a bell for her. Fair enough, because she hadn’t seen me in about 2 years, a LOT had changed in those 2 years, and she didn’t know my new name.

I then saw another woman that I knew from my hometown as well. She too thought I looked familiar but couldn’t quite place the name or face. It was then that I told them my old name. At that point, both their eyes lit up, their jaws dropped, and they both exclaimed, “WOW!!!!” I love seeing that reaction on peoples’ faces because it reinforces the notion that when I’m being myself, they absolutely can not tell that I have ever tried to be anything else than who they see in front of them. I am natural in who I am.

After a little bit of chatting, I found a place to sit and waited for the service to start. The worship team came out and prepared for the music portion of the service. There was a guy playing acoustic guitar, a girl singing with a shaker, and another girl singing as well. It was very much an acoustic version of what I was used to, but it was nice to have that change of pace for once. The music was great, and the songs familiar. I even got to sing a song in Thai. I have no idea what I was saying, but it was pretty cool just to be able to hear some sing in English and some sing in Thai. Truly a wonder of global worship.

When the music was over, the pastor came up and introduced himself. He would speak a few sentences, then wait for the translator to translate what he said. This was the M.O. of the entire service and was interesting to say the least. I can’t help but think that more sermons would be better understood if the pastor had the same amount of time as always, but was forced to slow down and make sure that every word counted. This is what happens when you have to wait for the translator.

The sermon was on Exodus chapter 2, where it was explained who Moses was and how he came about. The sermon touched on the fact that Moses’ parents knew he was wonderful, not because that’s what every parent thinks about their children, but because they belonged to the tribe of Levi and they had faith that God had a plan. When Moses was a baby, Pharaoh called for the death of every baby boy born within the last month. He did this because he did not want the Israelites to grow a strong army. The sermon also touched on how his parents tried to hide him until they could no longer hide him, not because they were afraid, but because they knew it was what they had to do. Eventually they gave in and threw baby Moses into the Nile River, but first they gave him a little boat to sail in.

This allowed them to follow the edict that Pharaoh had called for, but still allowing for God to work His plan, His way. Baby Moses ended up sailing up to the shore, right where Pharaoh’s daughter had come to bathe. When she found the baby, Moses’ sister was nearby watching to see what would happen. Pharaoh’s daughter noticed immediately that this was a hebrew child, and decided to keep him and make him her own son. Moses’ sister came up and asked if the princess would like her to find a hebrew woman to nurse the child. Being told to do so, his sister went and got his mother, unbeknownst to Pharaoh’s daughter. Pharaoh’s daughter then paid Moses’ mother to nurse and raise him until a time when he would come live in the palace.

There are a lot of parallels between the story of Moses and the story of Jesus, whom the entire bible is about. A king tried to have baby Moses killed, a king tried to have baby Jesus killed.  God had a plan that saved Moses, God had a plan that saved Jesus. Moses had a purpose of freeing God’s people from slavery to Egypt, Jesus had a purpose of freeing God’s people from slavery to sin. The parallels go on and on, but what struck me was the irony of it all.

God used Hebrew women and Pharaoh’s own daughter to free the Israelites. Imagine that, in your life are two forces. Those that are telling you what to do that isn’t loving, honorable, or just, and God using you to do something bigger than yourself. What’s more ironic is God using Pharaoh’s own daughter to free the very Israelites he’s trying to keep down. I can relate. Called to follow Christ, everyone loved me as long as I looked like them, acted like them, and they could relate to me. As soon as God called me to work in a way that everyone else thought was wrong, all of a sudden I was no longer worthy to even be allowed into God’s house or to be considered part of a local church body, part of the family. In the end, my faith never changed and my love for others became greater. Sometimes God’s plan is funny, strange, and ironic.

Moses’ parents did not let their fear control them because they knew God had a plan. They fought their fear and stress with faith in God. When I was called to this new journey, I was scared. I wasn’t fearful, just unsure of what would come next, however, my faith in God helped me push through all the stress, allowing me to arrive on the other side. Now, just days away from the 2 year mark of this new journey, my life has become so much more, so much greater than I could have ever thought. I took a risk trusting the voice that I knew was God. Like always, it has paid off in a much greater way.

Every day we take risks. From the food we eat, to driving in traffic, to the people we meet, risk is all around us. Everything in life is a risk, but following God is a different kind of risk. The risk of following God has a huge reward. I can attest to this in my very life. I risked that I would be rejected, ostracized, bullied, assaulted, even murdered. My own family feared for my safety as I began this journey, but I had to use my own faith to assure them that God is in control. I still have my family with me. I still have my kids with me. I still have all the friends that really cared about me with me. I still have the ability to do my job. I am still alive, I am still breathing, I am a new person, not only in my heart, but physically as well.

So today, as I’m ending my journey in Thailand, I am beginning a journey of living out the new life that has been bestowed upon me. I am excited about what the future holds, finally feeling completely at peace with myself physically, and mentally. No longer will I deal with the hormone based depression that plagued me all my life. I am a new creation. No longer will I hold contempt in my heart for those who are different from me. I am a new creation. Compassion will rain down on others, from me, who struggle with this life they live in. I am a new creation.

I am a new creation, ready for this new leg of my journey.

Watch God be glorified in my new life.