So I haven't had Internet for the past week or so, so this is a little old… Enjoy!
It's crazy to think about where I am…. I am half way around the world, 12 hours ahead of my east coast counter parts. Last night was the first time I spent the night in the same place more than one night in over two weeks. After our crazy travel days to get to Thailand we jumped in a truck and headed to the closed country of Laos. In Laos we traveled to 4-5 villages a day and did prayer walks through them. Some of these villages we were the first white people to ever step foot there. We were greeted by stares and groups of curious kids walking behind us, who would scatter when we would turn around and address them. I wont lie it was a little difficult to walk into these villages and pray for change for them without even knowing them. From what I could see they were all smiles, they were generous, they were loving, they looked they didn't need anything.
I don't feel like I have the right to tell someone they're wrong especially if I haven't earned that right in their life. It really made me question if I had something better than what these people had. It was then that the Lord reminded me of his love, an unearned and undeserved love. He made the way for my redemption, and he offers it freely! He gives joy and hope, and he gives it abundantly. I don't have to work for our salvation, I am not at the mercy of local spirits, I don't have to work to appease an angry god, I am not working towards an unachievable goal. The truth is that I have a God who loves me, he is the source of my joy, I don't have to question if I did something to make him mad at me, I know that he is the highest power so I don't have to appease spirits with gifts and prayers.
We traveled to one village that had been displaced because the Chinese are building a casino. They needed the land their village was on. They built them a neighborhood with A class houses, B class houses, and C class houses. Depending on how nice your house in the village determined what class house you would be put into. In the village families were all close together, they were close to the river where they fished and to their rice fields. They were where their families had been for generations. They were taken from this and put into houses that, when I first saw them, looked to be an improvement.
When Christ is introduced into a remote village he isn't going to change their entire culture. He's not going to out them into A,B,C class houses depending on how "good" they are. He is going to take them and enhance the things within them. The Bible says that we are the temple of God, he is working within us towards his good and perfect plan. When Christ is introduced to a village he will give them a new joy, a new hope, and a new love that isn't temporary. So instead of feeling like I was going in and stripping everything away from them I felt like I was setting a foundation to bring something better, a new way, a enhancer to the good things that the Lao people already possess. I can't imagine what those villages would look like if they all knew Christ and had his joy and spread it to others.
One thing the bible says about us is that we are the temple of God. When we accept his free gift of salvation he enters our lives. He doesn't make us move to an unfamiliar environment and make us adapt to something unwanted. He works in us, for our own good, towards him. He allows us to be a part of something bigger than ourselves. He gives us the chance to live a life of adventure and learning. I have been moving a lot and learning a lot this month. It's been really hard but I am living an adventure! I've been a part of something bigger than me. I have been humbled by what I have seen the Lord doing in these villages and can't wait to hear what he continues to do here in southeast asia.
