20-21 God can do anything, you know—far more than you could ever imagine or guess or request in your wildest dreams! He does it not by pushing us around but by working within us, his Spirit deeply and gently within us.
Another Friday at the cancer hospital
Why does it always feel so hard?
Short of time, energy and motivation, distracted.
But little did we know, the Spirit had plans.
Over oranges on bamboo beds, Phii Aw unloads
Tragedy, grief and cancer have together eaten her hope.
But Hope breaks in, resonates as Truth.
For the poor in spirit the Saviour has come.
Her eyes brighten, her spirit responds
The week before Christmas a new child is born!
The angels rejoiced, and we did on earth
This new child in the kingdom shares with all who would hear.
In the outpatients ward they gossiped the good news -
“We don’t turn on the TV, we hear stories of Jesus”.
Within a week, she had read through Luke
Though poor and unschooled, she lapped up the Truth.
“I want what she’s got” … as hunger sparked hunger -
“Tell me more about Jesus” pleaded her room-mate, Kaap.
Though we of little faith were slow to see,
The Spirit was at work, more than we could have believed.
A Bible study for one was delivered to three –
Thirsty hearts drank it in, “this story is about me.”
“Could there really be a love like this?
If this is really true, then I want in.”
So from one to three new daughters of Christ
Their joy none could fathom, they had found new life.
Open hearted, unashamed, they wear with pride
Love for their Saviour, hunger for His light.
In this short window of relationship, seeds have sprouted
Now back in their homes may fires of faith be ignited.
The King’s kingdom consists of such childlike faith
The Kids Club at our house on Saturdays has probably been as much a cultural education for us, as for the children who attend, and see us doing things probably very differently to what they are used to. Thankfully, they don't laugh at our language mistakes, and strange ways.
Cultural lessons have included the surprise element each week about when the club is going to begin. At times we get children turning up at our door an hour early and wanting to play; other times they are half an hour late, with no explanation. This fluid concept of time and appointments extends to most of our meetings, especially in the villages - Isaan people, like most of the world, don't live by the clock and it's almost impossible for them to schedule things because they simply take each day as it comes. Although this is frustrating for the planner in me, it is definitely teaching me to just chill and take things as they come.
A favourite activity was doing this group painting after learning the story of Creation.
We are aiming to teach the stories using the Discovery method, where they learn the story well so they are able to retell it, then think about what it teaches them about God, themselves and how this applies to their lives. One week, after learning the Bible story of the fall of man, one little girl asked, "Can I tell a story about a scary ghost now?" This is such a prevalent subject here, we are beginning to get used to it but it still saddens us that evil spirits are such a commonly acknowledged presence here and have such a grip of fear over hearts. We were able to ask her in relation to the Creation and Fall of man story, "Who is most powerful?", "Where does fear and evil come from?" for her to discover that as children of an all-powerful God we have no reason to fear, and should not give Satan and his spirits a place in our lives or thoughts.
This is Aunty Uu and her daughter Kaew. They own and run little corner shops down my street. On the day we moved into this house, I ventured into Uu's shop looking for something. We started chatting, and very quickly struck up a great friendship. She and Kaew have become like family to me, sharing laughs, stories, encouragement and prayers over food every Friday. Uu is a very religious folk-Buddhist, incorporating a little of everything she likes into her faith. Both wanted to come to church with me. When Uu visited, God gave someone in the house church a word of knowledge about a pain in her side that she has had for a long time. We prayed, and she was amazed at how God would care to give someone that knowledge. The next week she said the pain was much better, and that now she worships both Jesus and Buddha. Such a response came as such a disappointment to me, but it is natural considering the deeply embedded worldview she has built up over her whole life. Only the Holy Spirit can lift the veil over her heart. Please pray for her, and for Kaew, who also encountered God when she visited.
The apostle Paul wrote, "When I came to you, I did not come with eloquence or human wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God.For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.I came to you in weakness with great fear and trembling.My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power,so that your faith might not rest on human wisdom, but on God’s power." (1 Cor 2:1-5).
This gives me no end of encouragement and fuel for prayer.
Today we saw this Scripture in action. We visited the cancer hospital, feeling quite unmotivated and apprehensive. All the patients we knew had gone home. We never know how well we will be received or what we should do. It is a weekly exercise in trusting the leading of the Spirit. But all we had to be was available, and God arranged the rest. Minutes after we sat down, one patient started to pour out her heart to us. She had been through 3 life-shattering events during this year and her heart was in pieces. She listened intently as we shared the hope of the gospel with her, and testimonies from our own lives. She was ready to receive Jesus, and we led her in prayer. She kept saying she felt better, and felt the peace of the Spirit filling her as we invited His presence into her life. Then we sang worship songs and she was keen to sing along. Her first offering of worship to the Living God - a fulfilment of the purpose that she was created for.
Is there any greater joy in life than this? As Christmas approaches, I am filled with inexpressible joy that Jesus came, and keeps coming. All he needs is our invitation.
What does it mean to be children of a God who is, in His very essence, Love?
We are called to be His ambassadors. How he trusts us with this ridiculously awesome privilege baffles me continually. Despite my total inadequacy and frequent failures to represent this God of love, He still chooses to use me.
Too often I come to the realisation that I have been loving people with my own love, and not the Father’s. My love has mixed motives, wants quick returns, seeks the approval of others, wants to be made much of, falls short and runs out. His never does. Father, help me to love them with your love.
What do I know of Calvary love? How deeply have I received it, to be able to give it to others?
This month in Thai class we have been studying social problems. We have talked about the corruption rife at every level of government making bribery commonplace and policing a joke; the ‘madness drug’ Yaba, a dangerous methamphetamine marketed to children and used widely among young people; the lure of prostitution as University students will do anything to get the new iPhone 6; the poverty mentality which subverts charity (eg. slum dwellers are given a house by the government under a ‘rent to buy’ scheme. But they sell their house to rich landowners, and then rent it from them, because present gains always take precedence over future investment). There was much more than this little taster, more than enough to give up hope of things ever changing. Then there are disappointments with the state of the local church, which I know will never be perfect, but does need to be purified.
Here in Isaan, and equally at home where you are, when social problems seem beyond hope and spiritual darkness pervades in the lives all around us, to love is to hope, and keep on hoping.
‘If I cannot catch “the sound of noise of rain” (1Kings 18:41) long before the rain falls, and, going to some hilltop of the spirit, as near to my God as I can, have not faith to wait there with my face between my knees, though six times or sixty times I am told “there is nothing,” till at last “there arises a little cloud out of the sea,” then I know nothing of Calvary love.’
This excerpt comes from Amy Carmichael’s little booklet, ‘If’, which I am reading at the moment. It reminds me to not grow weary of being expectant. I often find that sharing hope is painful; because the One I love the most, Love Himself, who deserves all worship, and is the author of all joy; when encountered by deaf ears and hard hearts, is usually met with apathy and sometimes with opposition. Still Calvary love keeps on loving.
‘If I do not look with eyes of hope on all in whom there is even a faint beginning, as our Lord did, when, just after His disciples had wrangled about which of them should be accounted the greatest, He softened His rebuke with those heart-melting words, “You are those who have stood by me in my trials” then I know nothing of Calvary love.’
As the chorus goes:
“Turn your eyes upon Jesus,
Look full in His wonderful face
And the things of earth will grow strangely dim
In the light of His glory and grace.”
He is the God of Hope. It is only by setting, and resetting, and resetting again my gaze on Him, that the hopelessness, darkness and disappointments of this world grow dim, permeated by His hope. Because He is risen, I have hope. Because I do not serve a god made of stone or gold, of human hands, but the Creator of all things.
Even an eternal optimist like me can sometimes hear a smirking voice saying, "The Kingdom of God in Isaan? You're hoping...!”
Yes, I am. Because of Jesus, I am hope-full.
May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. (Rom 15:13)
PS. I can't recommend it highly enough: Amy Carmichael's booklet, 'If' is a free PDF download at http://steppinginthelight.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/if-amy-carmichael.pdf
1. There are some days when it is humiliating and hilarious in equal measure learning a tonal language.
With all the correct consonants and vowels in the right places, I still managed to tell a class full of 10 year olds to pee on their partner, instead of point at them.
2. I prefer it when insect medley isn't the only choice to go with my sticky rice.
Other times it doesn't even matter if there is a choice of food presented, because all they're interested in is if you will dare to eat the cow placenta, or fried frog, or duck tongue. So really, there is no choice (...and that is how I choked on a duck's tongue).
3. Sometimes I don't try hard enough to convince myself that "it's not wrong, it's just different".
Culture runs deep, and in mine, you don't tell your friend all the things that you observe about them, like commenting on their weight, skin colour, white hairs and imperfections...
Other times you have to suck up your ideas about hygiene and just do your washing up in the bathroom. Thais tend not to have indoor kitchens.
4. I still don't know how to answer the ever-present awkward question, "will you marry a Thai?" Say no and I've offended them. Say yes and they'll be making wedding preparations...
5. A thunderstorm when you're cooking doesn't make for a good curry night.
Because when it rains, it pours. And not only did the roof resemble a waterfall all around the kitchen, but the drain also flooded, putting the kitchen under inches of water. Praise God we were able to move house part-way through the rainy season!
6. I do not get on very well with geckos.
Yes, I know they eat mosquitoes, but I don't think they're ever going to be cute and cuddly to me. These little reptiles give me the heeby-jeebies. And they're pretty much everywhere.
7. I am thankful for my brown skin.
Most of my team-mates suffer from the 'farang' syndrome. A simple trip to the market can get frustrating as people all around are saying 'farang farang' (white foreigner). Others don't stop at that, wanting to feel the much coveted white skin for themselves. As for me, I blend in to some extent, but still arouse curiosity with my Indian features, which invite questions and start many conversations which often turn into friendships.
8. I miss mountains and autumn.
Isaan is a flat land, at least around where I live. Spending the last few years in Wales, I hadn't realised how much I had fallen in love with hills and mountains.
A recent trip to mountainous Chiang Mai was much needed soul-food. Not only was I again surrounded by hills, I also saw some orange trees.
9. I love eating rice everyday. As long as it's not for breakfast. Not eating rice 3 times a day is inconceivable for Thais. However I am sticking to my toast breakfast, lunch of varied descriptions (sometimes a carrot and home-made houmous, yum!) and rice in the evening.
A perk of living in Thailand, you are liable to get hugged by an elephant.
10. I wish God would work to my schedule sometimes. Really, I'm not asking for much, just a city to turn from generations of bondage to the kingdom of darkness to be set free and brought into the glorious freedom of Christ, right now. He is at work, more so than this region has ever seen. I am just hungry for so much more.
[I have to credit my friend, Frazer Mayhew for the confessions idea - thanks mate! ;) ]
Everywhere you go in Thailand, people wish you "good luck" when you leave, and as I answer them with "God bless", I am left pondering 'luck'. Christians may be surprised to hear that even my Bible reading has been about lucky people... seriously! What is luck? Do you have it? Do you want it?
In Thai class we are studying a module on Folk Beliefs. It helps to explain much of what I hear around me about luck. Luck in Thai culture includes everything the world chases after - in a nutshell, happiness, fame and fortune. Although Buddhist ideology has no teaching on luck, the search for luck governs all the details of Thai life; a classic example of folk beliefs that have become totally intertwined with formal religion, almost to the point of taking it over - so it becomes Folk Buddhism.
In Folk Buddhism, the year you were born is very important, as is the day, time of day, and lunar cycle. I had to look on Google to find out that I was a Thursday baby. This means my 'lucky colour' is yellow-orange. And so if I buy a house or a car, it should ideally be yellow-orange for it to bring me good luck. Now if I happen to buy a red car (because I have better taste than to buy a yellow car), all I have to do is put a sticker on the back to say 'This car is yellow'... So it seems the spirits that bring the luck are literate but colour-blind!
"What day were you born? What monk image is lucky for
you?" Other types of amulets contain powerful spells making
the wearer bulletproof and immune to slashes on their skin.
The strings this friend at the cancer hospital wears
are bought at temples, to keep the 32 spirits that
inhabit her bodily organs bound in her body. They
have mantras chanted over them, making them 'lucky'
Thai Folk Buddhists believe that a healthy, normal person has 32 spirits residing in the body (not quite a Legion, but getting there...). If anyone is sick it means some of the spirits have left and one must perform ceremonies to bring them back. One of these lives in your nails, and another in your hair, which means that there are very precise rules about when you can cut your nails or hair. For example on Tuesday it brings bad luck, you will lose your possessions. Wednesdays it would be good for the body and gives a happy heart, unless you do it at night, in which case you will have a short life.
And if you think that's involved, I won't even start explaining the rules about naming your child. Just for example, a Monday-born child is not allowed to have any vowels in their name - it will bring evil times upon their life. So even if the consonants in your name bring you luck and prosperity, if you have a vowel, you're stuffed. These examples are not even the tip of the iceberg. Can you imagine a life governed by such fear? One wrong move and you are liable to bring evil on yourself. Not only that, if you kept every rule to the tee and always checked what was the auspicious time to do something, you are still liable to suffer. Of course. This is where we transition seamlessly from Animism to Buddhism - your suffering is probably because of bad karma in a previous life. And so the sufferer is left stranded between two guilt-ridden belief systems, neither helping in the slightest to alleviate their suffering. Realising this, we begin to glimpse the unbearable burden our brothers and sisters carry through life. Utter hopelessness.
Jesus speaks into it with piercing clarity. Like a rainbow shining into darkness, Jesus re-defines Luck.
He said (in Matthew 5):
3 “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
4 Blessed are those who mourn,for they will be comforted.
5 Blessed are the meek,for they will inherit the earth.
6 Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,for they will be filled.
7 Blessed are the merciful,for they will be shown mercy.
8 Blessed are the pure in heart,for they will see God.
9 Blessed are the peacemakers,for they will be called children of God.
10 Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness,for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
He turns the vain and empty ideas of luck right on their head. The way up is down.
The word 'blessed' comes from the Greek makarios - to be happy, or approved by God... believe it or not, this word comes from a word that means 'lucky'! It can be summed up in the word 'Congratulations!' So, Jesus is saying, you who are hopeless, helpless, in despair and totally empty, devoid of value and worth... you are the lucky ones! Why? Because these attributes fly in the face of your nature and craving. You know your true condition, your eyes have been opened by spiritual surgery, you are under the anointing of the Holy Spirit, and you now qualify to live the life you were created for - you inherit God's Kingdom itself! R.T. Kendall (whose book 'The Sermon on the Mount' I credit for most of this) refers to the Kingdom as the realm of the unhindered, ungrieved Spirit - the most sublime level of living on the planet.
So I ask myself - am I lucky? Certainly I am, to the degree I allow the ungrieved Spirit to reign in me. And what do I have to do to earn such outrageous luck? No amulets, spells or nail clippings on Wednesday needed. To the degree I take my eyes off the glitter of the world that leaves my heart cold, and allow Jesus' light to fill me, I will experience the kingdom!
If you have a couple of minutes, spend some time in the Father's arms as you listen to the words of this song... No one knows you better than Him.
"The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field." Matthew 13:44
This month I have seen more baptisms in Isaan than the preceding 11 put together. God is calling people to Himself, and they are responding like they should - they have found a treasure better than they ever could have imagined existed!
The pictures here were taken at a nearby waterfall where we joined a local church that we partner with, to celebrate a total of 21 Isaan people taking the plunge to declare their belief in Jesus, leave their old life of making merit behind, and start a new life as a child of a gracious God. The man in the white shirt used to be a witchdoctor. His whole family have now decided to follow Jesus.
This lady, previously heavily into idol worship and animism, decided as she saw others taking the step, that after years of not responding to the gospel, it was her time to receive Jesus. Then she was baptised immediately. We rejoiced with the angels :)
For an Isaan person, receiving baptism is a bold step and not an easy thing to do. Public confession of Christ may not cost them their lives as in other parts of the world, but it does have a high price. Mae Luan and Lung Yaa are 2 people I wrote about before who I have seen accept the Lord with joy at first, recognising Him for who He is, only to become disinterested weeks later. Another couple I met received healing from Jesus, and were very close to believing, but people in their village stopped buying from their shop, they were cut off, treated as outcasts. They are now no longer interested in following Jesus. For so many, the cost is too high.
The incantations contained in amulets are
believed to protect one from all kinds of
dangers, and Thais pay thousands to buy one.
Telling your neigbours that you no longer need to appease the territorial spirits, or make merit for your ancestors is usually the best way to lose friends and alienate people in Isaan. Why? Because the village community serves the local spirits with fear. If you don't appease them, you incur their wrath, and bad things happen. Demonic attacks are not storybook material here, they are commonplace, marketplace gossip. (They are so prevalent in fact, that Thai movies will often involve ghosts and spirits in every genre!)
One gruesome spirit, widely feared in Isaan villages, is called Phii Popp. This spirit causes death by eating the victim's internal organs. After biopsy, the internal organs really are found to be missing. No medical explanations are available. If this happened in your village, a witch-hunt would begin. Who is hosting this evil spirit in the village? The Christian is an easy scape-goat.
Christians don't appease the spirits or wear amulets to ward off evil spirits, worship their ancestors, make any merit, or give offerings to any idols. It was for this reason that Mae Ying and Po Som were kicked out of their village and forced to live in a shack in the middle of their rice fields. They are 2 of the most loving, kind hearted disciples of Jesus I have met, I would never have guessed that they could be accused of hosting a murderous spirit.
We have much to learn from their example. The cost of the field was nothing to them, they had found the treasure; they counted Him worthy. Not only did they patiently endure false accusations, ostracism and slander, but they have continued to pray for and lovingly witness to that village.
Yesterday, I visited the little house church that they now lead, in the village where some still believe they have the evil spirit. We took communion together, and remembered the One who went through it all for us first, and remembered that we are not alone. That Christ will build his church, and is is even now calling all people to Himself. We heard Mae Ying tell the Bible story (Isaan is an oral culture, so telling is more effective than reading), retold it as a group, discussed it and prayed for one another.
This simple house church model is what has resulted in all the baptisms recently. Servants of God from different backgrounds, both Thai and foreign missionaries, are re-discovering the meaning of Church - the Church is not a building but a group of people, whose existence is for the purpose of loving and blessing those not yet in it. The house church is indigenous, low on expensive resources, high on participation, and self replicating. Are we seeing the beginnings of a church planting movement? It is what Isaan has been waiting for, for so many generations.
Flooded rice fields - you can only see the leaves of trees, which look like bushes, because the trunks are under water.
It took us two and a half hours driving - on good tarmac roads, followed by good dirt roads, then potholed dirt roads, and finally heart-in-mouth-dirt-roads that looked impossibly narrow for our 4x4, to get to this little house church in the middle of endless rice and tapioca fields.
The believers had brought goat meat along on ice - two goats with bad tempers had meant that God provided a goat feast for us all that day... so while we heard about the amazing stories of some of these believers, one man got busy butchering the goat meat while others got on with barbecuing.
Of course when I say goat meat, it was mostly internal organs. If you click on the photos to enlarge them, you'll spot the heart, kidneys, stomach and intestines. Of course no good BBQ goat meal is complete without home-made bile sauce.
And so pretty soon the mat was laid under the lychee tree, and we sat down to a meal of goat, fish, sticky rice... and something strange looking that our hosts wouldn't tell us the ingredients of, except to call it 'bravery soup'.
Eventually my team leader Phil tried it and we were told what it was. With the 3-day-old suckling calf watching, we all tried a spoonful of... cow placenta soup!!
Yes, I hear your cries of disgust, but it really is all in the head... if you didn't think about it, it actually just tasted like a very flavourful, herby soup. And so I earned my bravery badge, much to the amusement of the Isaan people around us, to whom this special soup was a healthy and rare delicacy.
After the meal we all sat down for church, Isaan style - in a circle under the tree, singing together, praying together, sharing testimonies and the amazing news of the gospel for those there who hadn't yet heard.
Finally, we wanted to experience what all the rice farmers are busy with in this rainy season:
re-planting rice. Rice seed is first scattered in the fields until it has sprouted to about a foot high. Then the seedlings are uprooted and re-planted in an organised, evenly spaced way when the field is flooded by rain, so that they will produce a better crop. This is the stage they are at now. So we had the joy of joining our Isaan brothers and sisters in planting their rice field, wading in mud, wonderful chocolate-milkshake-mud!
We finished the field in under an hour with so many mucking in. Rice farmers are usually toiling at this all day, for days on end, bent over double for long hours in the sun. Our prayer for them and for Isaan is a bountiful harvest, the glorious provision of God described in Psalm 65 below, both physically and spiritually.
We look forward to accepting our invitation to harvest the field in December, and to seeing a spiritual harvest of the work God is doing in this region in due time!
Psalm 65
1 Praise is due to you, O God, in Zion, and to you shall vows be performed. 2 O you who hear prayer, to you shall all flesh come. 3 When iniquities prevail against me, you atone for our transgressions. 4 Blessed is the one you choose and bring near, to dwell in your courts! We shall be satisfied with the goodness of your house, the holiness of your temple!
5 By awesome deeds you answer us with righteousness, O God of our salvation, the hope of all the ends of the earth and of the farthest seas; 6 the one who by his strength established the mountains, being girded with might; 7 who stills the roaring of the seas, the roaring of their waves, the tumult of the peoples, 8 so that those who dwell at the ends of the earth are in awe at your signs. You make the going out of the morning and the evening to shout for joy.
9 You visit the earth and water it; you greatly enrich it; the river of God is full of water; you provide their grain, for so you have prepared it. 10 You water its furrows abundantly, settling its ridges, softening it with showers, and blessing its growth. 11 You crown the year with your bounty; your wagon tracks overflow with abundance. 12 The pastures of the wilderness overflow, the hills gird themselves with joy, 13 the meadows clothe themselves with flocks, the valleys deck themselves with grain, they shout and sing together for joy.
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