29 May, 2008 10:24 AM
We are back in Chiangmai now for our 8th year. John and Geoffrey are in school. Christy has gone for her injection with Pat. I?m at the car repair shop replacing a windshield fluid hose that bitten by rats while we were away. Sugar has a fever but seems to be better. Jelly is her usual bouncy self.
As for University work, Gade, Apple and myself are in the midst of huge changes that will be affecting the ministry to its core. We will be updating more in the days ahead.
Probably the biggest praise for us this time has been the issue of our personal support. God has seen fit to provide for this year in a marvelous way. As I see it, clearly the most significant lesson was the fact that God?s Provision was the least of our worries. In Psalm 50:10-15, God retorts to Israel,
?10 For every beast of the forest is mine, and the cattle upon a thousand hills.
11 I know all the fowls of the mountains: and the wild beasts of the field are mine.
12 If I were hungry, I would not tell thee: for the world is mine, and the fulness thereof.
13 Will I eat the flesh of bulls, or drink the blood of goats?
14 Offer unto God thanksgiving; and pay thy vows unto the most High:
15 And call upon me in the day of trouble: I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me.?
Psalms 50:10-15, KJV.
This was the preparation for this new school year as the Lord Jesus leads us to expand in to 2 more campuses, buy land and building for the church & ministry as well as register ourselves as a foundation. This simply means that what we thought was enough is now no longer sufficient. Can God provide? We believe He can and He will. We?ve already learnt that lesson. Do pray with us as to these exciting times ahead.
Thank God we are able to take a short vacation. Pat’s folks have asked us to go with them to Japan. Here are some thoughts along the way…
Saturday, 29 March 2008 6:44 PM
We made it! Onto Shinagawa from a day in Hakone.
[An extended 5 minute walk through blustery boulevards looking for the 100 sushi place ended with a 104 minute wait in line. We settled for Udon [thick wheat noodles] as we were too cold to make it back to the station.]
Sunday, 30 March 2008 1:01 AM
Couldn’t write more as I had to take care of Christy. We made it back to our hotel after a long day. We went from train to bullet train to tram to cable car to pirate ship to bus to bullet train to LRT and back to train. God gave us excellent weather. We could even see Mt. Fuji quite clearly without having to worry about clouds. Geoffrey was first to doze off and John watched as a I typed till he slipped off into dreamland. All our batteries are busy recharging, walkie talkie, camera and mine too…in a moment.
God really has blessed the Japanese! Now and then, we’d see the token Japanese church somewhere. Thailand and Japan, two of the hardest mission fields. After many years of ploughing, we still have yet to see a great harvest. The ultimate goal of Buddhism is eventually nihilistic. To become nothing. Essentially death. That is so opposite to everything we hold to as a Christian. Life is the ultimate goal for us. Eternal Life.
Monday, 31 March 2008 11:35 AM
We are waiting for the 1203 train to Nagoya. A short break in Daimaru for mom to window-shop. I’m sitting with the children. Now everybody’s back. Prices are expensive here in the shoe department.
Tuesday, 01 April 2008 12:35 AM
Thank God for a safe trip to Nagoya. Very windy city. The kids slept in the afternoon. It’s nice and quiet now. The boys are asleep. Had the time to read the papers. Haven’t done so in a long time. Struck me how depressing it can be and how much it shapes the emotions. Much about what is written in blogs are a reaction to what’s already happened around us. Isn’t it strange how our lives tend to be a reaction to our circumstances rather than we set the tone and have things react around us. Isn’t that what it’s supposed to be for us as Christians, true followers of the Lord Jesus Christ?
There are things that happen that can’t be helped but then we can react in a way that brings about a positive spin or change.
We’ve been able to spend time with Karen, our first Galilee YFer that went into full-time missions in decades. We were the first in 17 years of Galilee’s history.
But then, what is a missionary? In the past seven years, we’ve encountered and seen many who call themselves missionaries. Having read missionary history, we can see that Christian missionaries have been change agents or forces for change in many instances.
But then, what is a missionary? Having read a number of Christian missionary biographies. Some of the earlier ones tended to be “larger-than-life.” I’d like to offer a definition. A missionary [in God’s Eyes, as best as I can tell] is “an imperfect vessel in which contains the simplest, yet most profoundly useful message from a Perfect God trying to reach a world fundamentally opposed to its message.” The delivery of this message is obscured or enhanced by the messenger in an environment usually hostile and overwhelmingly complex that the accurate reception of the intended message is nothing short of miraculous, accentuating God’s Grace on the message, the messenger and the recipient.
Thursday, 03 April 2008 12:53 PM
We are having lunch at Kawaguchiko so we’re taking a short break. Great view of Mt. Fuji. They sell horse meat here.
6/3/08
On the way to the church district meeting… I had scouted the place well in advance, knowing where to go and how to get there and the exact motorway exit to get off. As I was following the various exits and off ramps, I noticed the exit for “Sukhumvit.” I was supposed to get off at “Sukhumvit 62.” My thoughts were filled with doubt as I sped along the motorway. “Do I get off?” Or do I stay on looking for “Sukhumvit 62?” “I’m going to be late for sure!” The further along I drove, I was going farther out of the way…so I thought. Just as I decided to look for an exit, I spotted “Sukhumvit 62″ much to my relief.
5/3/08 2230 hrs
Coming to the right turn on Phaya Thai road, I prepared to turn right. However, a policeman waved me to go straight. Because of that slight detour, a 30-minute journey became almost 90 minutes. I was really upset…at first. As I was waiting in traffic, I noticed this chemical supplier that carried a substance that I’d been looking for. What started out as an inconvenient detour became a “blessing-in-disguise.”
3/3/08 2230 hrs
We got to experience hunger as a family while being stuck in Bangkok traffic. It wasn’t that long but we had left our hotel to go for dinner at MBK. We were just sitting in gridlocked traffic where we didn’t move for about 20-30 minutes. The lights turned green for about 5 seconds and stayed red. Christy began to cry, John was whining but Geoffrey was fairly patient. Finally, I cut across 2 lanes and did a u-turn. A former colleague of mine used to thank God for u-turns in life. Anyway, we finally got to our destination…sort of. The irony was the building was in sight but we couldn’t drive to it. I could have told the family to get out and walk. The situation was so painful that I tried to take a video of the lights changing with no cars moving whatsoever. When I took my camera out, the lights just stayed on red without changing.
This actually made me think about the situation in Burma. This Sunday, 9 March is the worldwide Day of Prayer for Burma. While we were able fairly conveniently to find food, this was not so for our brothers & sisters on the run from the Burma army. A trusted friend shared that these people were “living like rats” with rotting food and no shelter. Bangkok is nothing like the rest of the nation. People can live here insulated from the fact there are poor people within their borders and even poorer ones just across. All this struck me as I ate in comfort with the family at the food court.
12 August 2007
Driving through the mountains is always a pleasure. The weather was cloudy and cool. Going from Lamphun to Lampang, one has to drive through the mountain range. I am reminded of the words of the Psalmist, “I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help. My help comes from the Lord, which created heaven and earth.” Psalm 121:1-2.
King David could see the mountains surrounding Jerusalem. They formed a natural strategic defensive line that protected the city from invaders. Yet he remembered that in spite of this protective ring, ultimately his hope and trust was still in God Almighty. We are traveling at about 100Km/h. All that surrounds us is a box of steel and glass. Yet in the same way, our final protection comes from the creator of Heaven and earth.
We have already passed Lampang and are on our way to Tak. This lovely stretch of road reminds me of the time I drove in America. We have140 km until we reach Tak and 560 km to go till we reach Bangkok. I recall last year when we drove through this same stretch of road, it was drizzling, dark and slippery. The road was under repair in many places. Gravel rattled and struck the underside of the car as we whizzed through the darkness.
“Safety is not the absence of danger but the presence of the Lord!”
After passing Ayuthaya, we looked out for the familiar sign for the road to Pattaya and Chonburi. There was none. Instead there was a sign that said “East-West Ratchadekpisek road” going to Saraburi. Being unfamiliar with that particular sign, we carried on right into the heart of Bangkok, something we were hoping to avoid. God’s Word does not change. His directions are always clear and constant. “But without faith it is impossible to please Him: for he that cometh to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him.” Hebrews 11:6.
Traffic jams in Bangkok are well known worldwide. Our driver told us that the road we were traveling on had no traffic lights when he was a child. One could be stuck there for up to five hours without even moving at all.
13 August 2007
I was just driving back from Central Chidlom when we heard urgent sirens ahead of us. We were just in front of Siam Square. Five lanes headed west and one headed east. A police BMW and an ambulance were desperately trying to get past a public bus but traffic was gridlocked. Finally the ambulance passed us and we saw the medic in the ambulance feverishly bobbing up and down trying to revive the patient. His/her heart had stopped beating.
We had just enjoyed the day in the Capital city of Siam. We spent the morning at Siam Ocean World, had a sumptuous dim sum lunch. We rested and recuperated from an absolutely busy Revival week at Payap University. We would be celebrating eight years of marriage together with our three children the next day. But yet in this progressively modern city with the finest medical facilities in the land, someone would be fighting for his/her life against traffic.
“Safety is not the absence of danger but the presence of the Lord!”
25 Jan 2008
Just last week, 4 cars and 8 motorcycles were involved in a huge accident near the bridge over the Ping river on the Superhighway. At least 10 people died. The clutch on the car one of our volunteers was driving failed and he crashed into a house fence. Minor property damage of 100 baht. Car repair at 4500 baht. One of Nathaniel’s students was reaching for food and missed the on ramp on the highway. The car he was driving crossed two lanes, two ditches and overturned. The police who came commented that he should be dead. The driver’s father told his son, “God has kept you alive for a reason.”
“Safety is not the absence of danger but the presence of the Lord!”
Wednesday, 15 August 2007 2:08 PM
“Fixing Problems” before they become “Problems.
Having the time to sit down and reflect becomes a luxury nowadays. There are so many things that demand personal attention. If it isn’t the family, it’s the students and university-related activities, if it isn’t that, it’s church and ministry. There are always meetings and planning. if it isn’t that, then it’s things that I’d like to do if I had some spare time. None of these things are wrong nor superfluous but necessary parts of the life that I’ve chosen to lead. This is what God has called me to do. For my wife, the kids and I, student ministry, church and close friends are what surround her world. In the back of her mind are the worries of home, aging parents. For me, God has allowed my family to care for others. A week ago, my folks were in Vietnam, a sister is ministering in Kenya, another is busy with school in Singapore and we are trying to keep above water in Thailand. Thank God I don’t have to worry about my family as much.
I let loose the kite for John to fly at the seaside in Chaam. What a blessing to be able to take them to the seaside almost a thousand kilometers from home in Chiangmai. Just like stretched out rubber bands, we needed to loosen up from a hectic two months having 2 teams from Singapore and America helping with the ministry. We just had our first baptism and transfer of members for the baby church. Topping it all off was the Revival week at Payap University.
John flew the kite into some trees and the string became entangled. I was quite upset with him for not being more careful. As I slowly began to untangle the strings, the Lord began to speak to me:
”The lives that you are working with are just like this kite string. Some require careful unpicking–slowly, delicately. Sometimes in order to unpick one knot, another knot has to be worked through first. Sometimes if the string is so mangled, snapping the string, clearing the mess and joining the two strands together again is the most obvious solution.“
Arguably, sometimes more time is required to pick it apart. Sometimes time is of the essence.
The question is ”could we prevent these problems before they become problems?“ Having a computer-science background, when problems become to much to bear, it’s often easier to reformat than to troubleshoot. However, can we do that with real lives?
The Recycling Business.
“16 All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:”
2 Timothy 3:16, KJV.
We are here to correct wrong thinking and provide right thinking. Behaviour that is deviant from the Word of God, we are to correct. So here we are as servants of the King of Kings in the recycling business.
There is a strata of people that eke out a living, sometimes actually make it big. In our neighbourhood, these are those people that come on 3-wheeled motorcycles going through the rubbish looking for things of value to recycle. Perhaps in society, they are looked down upon as an underclass.
Possibly in God’s eyes, we are reaching out to the unloved, unlovely and unloving of this world trying to point them to Light of the world. Perhaps that’s a bit relative because we’re ministering in a university setting. However, in the eyes of God, we who were once outside the Love of Christ were just as unlovely in the eyes of God.
John and Geoff went to kindergarten today. They were eager to go to school. This is our first break since October. Christy was very lucid as she met many people for the first time as she was only one month old last year. It was good to renew ties with many who were great supporters during our time of need. Praise God!
