And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.” (Revelation 21:3-4, ESV)
This is a continuation of the story of our time in Olongapo City, focusing on Friday night at the base. This is our leader Dan's response to our great experience from that night.
After a week of bar outreach, Friday night came as an amazing time of
spiritual refreshment for us. Earlier that same day, we had led a Bible Study
for girls and lady-boys that we had invited during the week and seen many of
them decide to pursue a relationship with Jesus. That was the very start of a
journey for them, and it was a great thing to see. However, on Friday night we
got to see women (a whole little community really) much further along on that
journey, having already experienced some of the healing and redemption that God
offers us. And that was even more
amazing to see.
After eating dinner together outside in the long “courtyard” within the
YWAM base compound, everyone at the base gathered together for a big party
consisting of testimonies, performances, LOTS of dancing, photos (of course,
it’s the Philippines), and awesome fellowship. Officially, it was a party
celebrating everyone there with a birthday in May. In reality, though, it was
simply an all-out celebration of God’s goodness to us and an outpouring of the
excessive joy that He gives us. It was so right
that several times during the evening I had the profound impression that I was
seeing a glimpse of the kingdom of heaven: people of all ages from all over the
world were singing, dancing, and praising God in unity, filled with real joy.
It started with the children doing dances that they had learned,
including the hit “Tootsie Wootsie” that our team had taught them. Their other
dances were “choreographed” and incredibly cute – there was an innocence
preserved in them that had been denied many of their parents. After that,
though, came something even more beautiful and redemptive. First, the current
disciples (all former prostitutes or bar girls) performed a “dance” (or a sign
language interpretation) to accompany a worship song. It was so awesome to see these ladies express
their love for God in such a beautiful form – ladies who had previously danced
only for the pleasure of others now able to dance solely for their own pleasure
and for God’s. That isn’t to say that those watching don’t get pleasure out of
it anymore; on the contrary, the purity and goodness of their dancing draw out
a deep spiritual pleasure for everyone looking on. There’s still pleasure, but
it is of a very different kind than before and it is shared by both dancer and
audience. That’s redemption!
 |
| The disciples interpreting a worship song |
The dancing continued as another young woman visually interpreted “My
Redeemer Lives.” The dancer was the daughter of one of the base’s staff members
(and herself staff at a different base), so to me her performance was a picture
of a new generation of women growing up with true dignity and confidence in God
and who He made them to be.
 |
| Queeny performing "My Redeemer Lives" |
Finally, one more group of ladies performed a dance to a version of
“Lean on Me.” This further emphasized the joy of the Lord and His redemptive
work in this base and these women’s lives. Although the discipleship process is
a long and difficult one, the ladies here have such a loving, sisterly attitude
toward one another, and God’s healing touch is so powerful. Watching them
dance, you could tell they were just having a great time – I think Cathy (one
of our leaders) was smiling the entire time. What made it even better was my
Swiss friend Joshua, who from the beginning of the song sang and danced along
so enthusiastically that one of the ladies came and pulled him into the group,
where he picked up the moves there were doing amazingly well. It was hilarious,
but also yet another redemptive picture: a man dancing with the ladies,
complementing them, totally respecting them, and sharing the joy with them. Another thought struck me: this is what real fun is – everyone sharing joy
together in fellowship. And not just an elusive, short-lived “joy,” but a joy
founded solidly upon the everlasting hope we have in Christ. It’s so much better than Satan’s cheap
imitation of fun – taking pleasure at another person’s (or even your own) expense
– which we had seen in the bars all week long.
The party continued with everyone singing “Happy Birthday” to those
with May birthdays. Then Virgie, the base director, and the staff that had been
leading us gave us an awesome thank-you, and then we took more photos and had
cake. But that wasn’t all! We kept on dancing together, now led by a very
capable band made up of three of the young guys at the base. We sang and danced
until they stopped playing, but then a CD picked up where they left off. When
that was over, we thought we were done, but they assured us they had one more
thing for us to do.
What was it? Of course, it was eating balut! For those who don't know, balut is a fertilized duck embryo that has developed for 16-25 days before being boiled and eaten - essentially a delicacy in the Philippines. Nearly all of us ended up
eating it, but I’m not sure any of us would do it again willingly. To be
honest, it wasn’t too awful – it tastes generally like a hard-boiled egg, just
with a rather awful texture and appearance. Fortunately, it was pretty dark
outside where we ate it, so I pretty much just put it in my mouth without
looking and it was OK. Others were not so fortunate (see photo).
Anyway, this party was a pretty incredible way to end the week. After
of walking straight into some of the darker corners of the world, God lifted
our eyes back up and showed us how powerful his Light really is.
Redeemed,
Dan
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