I know this is a little late, but this blog is about events which took
place in Thailand. However, I was counseling God to see when and how to
bring this message to the people (that's you). So hold on, this could be a
fun ride.
Setting: In the bed of a truck on a two and a half hour ride from Chiang
Mai to Chaiprakarn through the northern mountain jungles of Thailand. Some
of you may not know this, but if you go far enough away from ambient light
at night and look at the stars, if it is clear enough, you can see the haze
of the asteroid belt and the Milky Way galaxy rift. Thanks be to God
because I was able to experience this in the mountain jungles of Thailand.
Background story: My team and I took the early morning bus and went to
Chiang Mai on Friday for our day off. We had fun and experience some really
awesome parts of Thailand. By the way, Chiang Mai Zoo, highly recommend it!
Friday night we stayed at an amazing and cheap hostel called Thailandwow.
No they are not paying me to advertise for them, I do it willingly. The
next day we were in a state of hiatus because we were meeting with another
group of people at an undetermined time. Some children from the orphanage
we lived at were competing in a bible contest in Chiang Mai on Saturday.
Conveniently they have a truck and a van with enough room to transport all
of us back to the orphanage. The van was full, Phillip and Mike took the
cab of the truck which left Justin and I to ride in the bed of the truck
with 8 high school age girls.
Of course being high school girls, they were really giggly and high on
life, but Justin and I played along. One of the young woman is a music
lover and had her music going all the time, especially after a day in the
city. We rocked out in the bed of the truck for about an hour until the
sugar rush wore off and they all crashed. The girls turned off their music,
as did Justin and soon there were 8 sleeping girls somehow laid out in the
bed of the truck. Justin and I discovered if we hang our heads out the back
of the truck bed, because it was covered, we had a perfect view of the
stars. Justin grew tired and drifted off into a coma like sleep, but I
could not get over the beauty of Gods creation. All I can do is stare and
worship and praise my God. I get into it and the road noise disappears, the
headlights disappear, everything is gone except for me, Gods creation and
Him. After about an hour of jungle switchbacks and ups and downs, I start
hearing music again. This breaks my focus so I sit up expecting Noona to be
playing her music again. But to my surprise, everyone is still asleep. I
thought maybe it was the music in the cab, but again no because the radio
was off.
While trying to figure out this mystery I can still hear the music even
with the road noise and diesel engine. Not even a minute later I give up
like most men would and lay back down with my head out the back. The song
gets louder and louder but there isn't any words just tones harmonizing as
they flow beautifully up and down. It took me a few more minutes, but as it
faded, I came to the realization of this being Gods song. His choir of
angels singing His praises and worshiping Him. Craziness!! But this story
has a part two.
Two weeks later our whole squad meets in Phuket Thailand, home of one of
the top 20 beaches in the world. Truly a magnificent sight! The ocean was
clean and clear, the beach was soft and clean and you have jungle mountains
all around you. On the second night in Phuket, our squad comes together on
the beach for worship and to be honest, worship as a squad is terrible. No
one knows what is going on ever, we don't worship together; we all end up
worshiping by ourselves in the same place as the rest of the squad. But
this night, one of our squad mates gives an encouraging word about easing
into this experience with God or diving in to the deep end. At which point
she walks out into the ocean which I take as permission to worship in the
water. I put my things down and take off for the ocean in the middle of the
night. Most people take it easy and stop at about knee level, but those of
you who know me, know I can't stop there. I go out far enough to where the
waves coming in are tall enough to pick me up and throw me.
Once again, I find myself alone, all noise disappears and I am left to
worship and praise God in the midst of His amazing creation. As the
disenchanted worship continues on the beach, I find myself having the best
worship I have yet. Every wave which picks me up and throws me has so much
power it could destroy me, but every time the wave passed, I would come
down on my feet and never be knocked over or pulled under. If nothing else,
I considerate it a miracle the ocean didn't sweep me away while out there.
But as this is all happening, I hear this singing again. At first I think
it is just the 40 something people on the beach, but I quickly realize it
cannot be because I am so far out in the ocean and the waves are crashing
so loudly there is no possible way I could hear them on the beach. Then the
revelation comes once again; the choir of angels. Now I'm freaking out
because this is the second time in two weeks God has revealed this to me.
INSANITY!!
Some people will call me crazy because I have this spirit living me which
is not my own, I hear voices talking to me and every once in a while, I
hear a choir singing without words. But God asks us to be crazy, in the
bible it talks about the Holy Spirit being radical and crazy. If me being
"crazy" gives someone hope of a better relationship with our God, then let
me be absolutely bonkers!
As He leads me,
Jason
