Prayer walking has become a normal day of life here in Thailand. Everyday from 8 to 10 in the morning or 2 to 3 in the afternoon, we are encouraged to take prayer walks around the city of Chiang Mai. This includes praying over certain regions, streets, buildings, restaurants, bars, temples, statues, etc. so that we can bring the Lord's spirit and love into that place.
On one particular day, Mary Smith and I took a prayer walk where I felt a calling to go into Buddhist temples. We walked to over 4 or 5 different temples that were located within 5 miles of where we are staying. To my surprise, in the city of Chiang Mai alone, there are over 200 + temples! They are all lavishly decorated usually with huge Chinese dragons greeting you at the entrances.
As we came to the 5th temple, we were greeted by a heavily tattooed monk, wearing nothing but an orange toga. (Side note: monks are not allowed to talk to women.) Before we knew it, we were sitting on the ground listening to this man spill story after story of the heart he had for the people of Chiang Mai.
The first story he explained were his tattoos. I was extremely surprised to find a monk with a tattoo to begin with, let alone his entire body covered. He explained that before he was a monk, a gang lived near him who were alcoholics, drunkards, heavily tattooed bikers, etc. They were constantly beating each other up and getting in bar fights, so he decided to join the party in a different fashion. To show that people who look "rough" can embody love, he got his entire body covered in Buddhist tattoos about love!! Haha! He joined their culture, their "genre" of people, but displayed completely different character attributes when around them. Eventually, he led some of them to the Buddhist faith. The bar fights dwindled off, and these "tough guys" showed far less aggressiveness just by having an example of love before them.
Surprised by his extreme boldness, we asked him how he became a monk. He preceded to explain that when he heard of 9/11 he wanted to help the American people. He did not like seeing people suffer, but he had no way of getting to America to help. Therefore, in his logic, he became a monk so that he could love on the people of Thailand.
We continued to ask about his daily life at the monastery, which included cleaning the gardens, keeping the temple clean, doing chores, going to a coffee shop across the street to get internet, and the most surprising thing of all— FACEBOOK. Haha this monk had a smart phone and would use it to train other monks via facebook a couple days of the week! How funny.
And still even MORE surprising…. we lastly asked him how he learned english. He opened his phone and began to play a song entitled, "Beat It," by the infamous Michael Jackson. Mary and I looked at each other with squinty eyes, confused. "You mean to say, you listen to Michael Jackson and you learn English??" "Yes. That is how I teach myself."
We left in utter disbelief.
I have no doubt in my heart Jesus' loved latched onto that monk that day. He is a man after God's own heart, and he didn't even know it. We didn't have to shout Jesus' name down his throat and tell him that if he didn't know Christ, his love was useless. NO. Christ is too much of a gentleman for that. We walked into that temple that day knowing our identity: We were His daughters, his beloved children, walking in love. I believe love never fails. Therefore, I believe that monk is and has been experiencing the love and power of the Holy Spirit rushing into his heart since the very moment we laid eyes on him.
His love is deep, His love is wide
And it covers us
His love is fierce, His love is strong
It is furious
His love is sweet, His love is wild
And it's waking hearts to life!!
