You have probably heard about the flooding in Thailand. The flood has taken a toll on the people here and it effects all parts of the country. In the stores where I buy my food some of the shelves are empty. A lot of the factories in Bangkok are closed down and there are certain items that are very hard to come by. Prices are going up and the people who were already poor are getting hit the hardest. My request is that you would pray for the floods to recede and that this would be an opportunity for people to turn back to God. According to most statistics less than 1% of the population in Thailand knows Jesus as their Lord and savior. The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few, so pray that God will send more harvesters to come and gather Gods children.
My time in Mae Sai has been a tremendous blessing and God has taught me so much from the experience. I am so thankful that I came to Thailand despite my fears. I would never have grown so much if I stayed back in America. My family in Mae Sai will be missed dearly and I hope I will see them again before I leave.
A few days ago I was able to experience the wonders of something that I had not experienced in close to two months...that is...a warm shower. Oh how I cherished it. Finally I could take my time and enjoy a shower instead of rushing through it as if it was a race. Before this glorious moment, every morning I would wake up and shuffle to the shower with literal dread in my heart. At first the cold showers were kind of a fun new adventure, I would wake up and scream out loud as I was bombarded by the freezing pellets and then laugh it off saying to myself, “i'll get used to this”. Then day after day, the cold showers didn’t get any less cold, in fact they felt like they were getting worse. There came a point where each time I would literally have to count to myself in my head to prepare myself for the shower before I turned the knob. Or I might turn on the shower and then jump into it, kind of like that first jump into a freezing cold stream. Every time I took a shower when I woke up I thought of the quote from Braveheart when the old man says, “That'll wake you up in the mornin!”. Then the day came, the day I got to have a warm shower. Even this simple little pleasure was a blessing from God. But soon enough i'll be heading to a village in the mountains again. I'll be back to cold showers, washing clothes by hand, and sleeping under a mosquito netting. In the village I will be teaching the Bible, English and enjoying the time with the people. I'll be at a school of about 500 students from the various villages around the area. I had to buy a months supply of dry foods and such so that I can survive while i'm up there. They don't have Wal-marts or quick stops in the mountain villages. As followers of Jesus we have to be ready to give up anything and everything, even our very life for the cause of Christ. Sometimes I complain about my circumstances and whine to God in my head: “Why does my internet have to be so slow!!”, “Not another cold shower”, “Rice again!!”, “Why does nobody have AC!”, “WHERE IS A CHEESBURGER PLEASE GOD!”, But in all circumstances I must learn to be content (Phil 4:11).
Most Americans have it easy, we are spoiled and we don't even realize it. So I've got to get over my spoiled habits and press on and do the kingdom work. While more than half the world lives on less than 2 dollars a day barely scraping by, we in America live in luxury. Don't get me wrong I'm not trying to make you feel bad, I just want to open your eyes and help you see the impact we can have on a poor and suffering world if only we would be willing to sacrifice some of our comforts. America is full of the healthiest, wealthiest most prosperous Christ followers to ever walk the earth and yet it is also full of the emptiest…why is that? You go into Barnes and noble and you’ll find hundreds of books on finding satisfaction in life, step by step books on how to have a more fulfilling life. A lot of those books are Christian books. Emptiness and dissatisfaction is a big problem in our culture. We have everything we need, we have all of our nice stuff, we live like kings and queens compared to many people in the world and yet people are always wanting more more more, more money, more power, more women, more fame…never satisfied, full of greed. So my prayer for all of you as my supporters is that you would not be caught up in the rat race. That you would find your satisfaction in God and let him be your provider. The people I've been with lately are poor and live on very little and yet they find so much satisfaction and joy in Jesus. Remember how precious Jesus is. Don't let the things of this world that will pass away make you miss opportunities to live a full life in Jesus. What will you say to the father when you face him on judgment day? Will you say “I lived a comfortable easy life,” or will you say, “I gave it my all God and lived like a person on fire for you, I suffered for your name sake”. Have you suffered lately for Christ?
God may not be calling you to come live in some mud hut in Africa, but he is calling you to live for him and be willing to give up everything for him, if it comes to that.
Much love to you all. Keep me in your prayers that God would give me strength to do the things I am to weak to do on my own, that God would keep me healthy and continue to teach me. Pray that God will give me favor with the people I come in contact with, so that I may represent Christ to them. As usual, thank you all so much for your support. Peace out from Thailand.
