This month for ministry, we are working with Outpour Movement here in Mae Sot, Thailand. These wonderful people run a variety of different ministries including children’s homes, a cafe and restaurant, teaching English and much more. They are truly bringing kingdom and the love of Christ to this little border town.
So far, our ministry has consisted of painting, knocking out a wall, and cleaning the team housing building where we are living this month. One day, I was assigned, along with a couple teammates, the task of taking trash to the dump. We had to load the truck up with things that were old, disgusting, broken, and foul smelling. While carrying the heavy, falling apart bags, I had trash juice run down my leg…EW. GROSS. I had a little freak out inside my head because who wants trash juice anywhere near them? But, I got over it. As we were riding down the road to the dump, one of our friends from Outpour told us what we would see when we arrived. He said that their are villages throughout the dump where people live. They collect the trash that is brought to them and scavenge through it to see if there is anything that they could use, such as a tarp to cover their head at night, scrap food, clothes, or anything else that would make their life easier. They literally live by the saying, “one man’s trash is another man’s treasure.”
Once we got there, and drove up into the dump, my heart immediately shattered. I saw the dirty faces of the people who live there through my clean car window that the smell could not penetrate. I saw mothers wondering around with their babies sifting through the mounds of trash and then laying them down in their make shift tarp homes. This is how they live. This is their life, it’s all they’ve ever known. Heartbreaking. I was disgusted by a little bit of trash juice dripping down my leg yet these people, human beings, literally live in trash.
I have watched documentaries on these types of communities and was taken aback, but to experience it right in front of your eyes is something else. Smiling through your clean car window to a girl who should be in school but she is digging through trash instead is incredibly heart wrenching and convicting. God tells us to keep our eyes centered on Him and to not focus or care about the materials and things of this world. Yet I can’t seem to move this concept from head knowledge to heart, and live my life as God has told us to. I need to be content with God and nothing else. He provides for me so why should I worry about the number in my bank account, it’s just a number. Why should I worry about food or clothes to wear? God has me covered, He has my back so why do I worry? I worry because I am sucked into the ways of this world and how society operates. I am taught an independent ideology from birth because that is how our country works. I am stuck in a perpetual sin of craving the things of this world. Materialism is deadly. It can destroy families, lives, and even countries. God wants us to live simple lives and to not obsess over our earthly possessions. They are just things. You buy them, get tired of them, and then throw them out. Who knows, the things I throw out might make their way into the hands of a little girl at the dump.
