My Bangla Road Dilemma

"Ok, Lord, but I'm still her father.  Can't I just take care of her a little bit?" 
By the time Chelsea was 13 years old, I had figured out that she was too much for me to handle on my own.  Even with my awesome parenting skills :0) and my super-hero wife, Chelsea had already proven that she was going to be an exceptional child and an exceptional challenge.  It was somewhere in her seventh grade year that I threw up my hands and said, "God, you are going to have to take over with this one."  And as is often the case, God said, "What took you so long?"  I can say without a doubt that the last twelve years have been an adventure, one that I wouldn't have missed for the world.  And Chelsea's strong will and determination have resulted in some mountaintop experiences for all of us.  When, after coming home from China in 2009, Chelsea shared with us that God had led her to surrender her life as a missionary, it was one of the greatest days of my life. 
This past June, when Chelsea was accepted to participate in the World Race, I wrote a blog entitled Dangerous Milestones, where I shared the peace that God had given me concerning her taking part in this exciting, but potentially dangerous adventure.  Over the past seven months, that peace has never waned.  I knew that God was going to do great things in Chelsea's heart and life and that He was going to teach her some amazing lessons through this process, but the one thing that I didn't expect, was that He was going to do the same things for me as well. 

Less than two weeks into her adventure and already, God has hit me with a 2X4. "He touched me, oh, He touched me..."  Chelsea's first ministry assignment is to reach out to the prostitutes in the 200 bars along Bangla Road in Phu-ket, Thailand.  She and her team are trying to build relationships with these women so that they can share the Gospel of Christ with them and see them set free from both their spiritual bondage and their physical nightmare.  Her facebook status "worship with the teams before heading out for another night in the bars...please pray for divine appointments and protection."  "Protection"??? One of my preacher friends said, "Bars? Do they have protection? Will they be safe?"  My only answer is that she is in God's hands.
I spoke with her briefly the morning after her first night of ministry and asked if they would be going back that evening.  She said, No, because the transportation costs to take the teams to the bars was too great to allow them to go everyday.  Their funds would only allow them to make two or three trips a week.
Suddenly, my fatherly instincts kicked in.  I can't let her travel to the other side of the world and then not be able to minister because she doesn't have the 900 baht that it takes to get her team to where the need is.

But even in that moment of passionate reaction, God spoke to my heart. "I am in control.  I know what I'm doing.  Don't interfere."
There is a reason that they have only so much budgeted for their time in Phu-ket.  It may be that God, or their ministry leaders, want them to find a way to provide the need without outside help.  It may be that they know that ministry that is this intense and heart-wrenching cannot be taken in large doses. It may be that a constant presence would arouse the suspicions of the bar owners or the girls' handlers.  I don't know.  But God does.  And so I wait.  I wait and watch to see what God will do.  I have had to release my little girl once again into God's hands.  I never thought I would be proud to say that my daughter spent last night in the bar, but these were the kind of people that Jesus spent His time with while He was here, so I guess there is no better way for her to be His hands and feet than to extend His love to the ones who need it most.