| Bangkok City Overview Photo Gallery Director Bio Journals: · Jun 23 2008 · Jun 27 2008 · Jul 05 2008 · Jul 07 2008 · Jul 09 2008 · Jul 15 2008 · Jul 20 2008 · Jul 22 2008 · Jul 30 2008 Trek 2008 Home |
Global Urban Trek 2008
Saving TensionJune 23, 2008
“Walk slowly. Enjoy, learn from the journey,” is how Joel, one of our Global Urban Trek directors, instructed us to live this summer. The minute I heard the idea of walking slowly, I felt a weight lifted off my heart. I had come into this experience feeling unable to ever do anything big enough to “save” Thailand. But in that moment, I realized the purpose of this trek is to live and observe as Christ would, and that, by simply being as Christ was, I would be transformed.
Our week of orientation was filled with team building, culture learning, and praying with all the Asia Trekkers. We had a great time, but all the while, I felt like I didn’t care at all about the people of Thailand. I finally became honest about it and many of my teammates felt the same way. As we prayed, we felt our hearts empty of the baggage we had stuffed in them, and there was finally room to grow love for the Thai people.
One of the most meaningful experiences we had was when we participated in an activity that showed us how racism, gender inequality, and socioeconomic status have given us undeserved privileges and setbacks. We tied this lesson to one we learned the night before about how unequally wealth has been distributed around the world and how as Americans, we have privileges for which to repent and be reconciled with our neighbors around the world.
We left asking questions like, How are we supposed to help the inequality? Why do we have to feel bad for privileges we can’t help but have? Finally, we concluded that there is a tension at the cross that we will always face when we concern ourselves with the justice God calls us to seek. This world is not as God intended it to be and until all things are reconciled to him, we must repent corporately and individually and be advocates of those who do not have a voice.
We heard testimony after testimony about people who answered God’s call into the slums, people who couldn’t turn away – who finally read the Gospel and understood that Jesus wasn’t joking when he said that it is hard for the rich to enter His Kingdom.
These testimonies left me scared, but ready to hear how God is calling me to obedience, not just now this summer, but for every single moment He gives me breath. What we’re doing here is not a temporary call, but a huge part of the essence of the Gospel. It’s tough, but we must lose our lives, our security, and our status to save it. This tension feels more right, more like Jesus, than the apathy I sat in before.
- Jessica
Print
Email
