My team and I are currently in Bangkok, Thailand. We are teaching English in a school. I am teaching high school kids. I’ve been teaching about the Christmas story this week. Why we have Christmas, what happened on Christmas, and what the the gift of Christmas does for us…from a historical perspective 😉 . The majority of my students have never heard it! They did not even know where it came from, or that it is real history. So, as I was teaching the second lesson I gave them an estimate of how Jesus walked the earth about 2,000 years ago…and the A.D. years are talking about Jesus. Thankfully, the regular teacher (a former World Racer) was in the room, and kindly stepped in. You see, in Thailand, It’s the year 2560. No, really, it’s the year 2560. MIND BLOWN. I’m in the future! Kind of… Turns out, the late king decided in 1913 (A.D.) to change the year to be ahead by 543 years to follow “B.E.” Buddhist Era. After the death of Buddha instead of Christ, as Thailand is a Buddhist country and Jesus has about as much credibility as Santa Claus.
Learning this, really got me thinking. We have such a vague concept of time. It’s 2017 in many parts of the world. It’s 2560 here in Bangkok. It’s 11:45am on December 15th as I’m writing this. In America, it’s 11:45pm on December 14th as I write this. How can that be? I never realized that even our concept of time is conditioned. I am SO thankful that our God, Jesus Christ is outside of time. He doesn’t need a date and time to know when we need His grace. He knows just when to comfort us. He knows just when to speak to us. He knows exactly where we are are where we will be next year at this time. The other day I received a picture of an old job application from my file at Liberty University. If you would have told me in 2011 that I would be sitting in a Starbucks in Bangkok, Thailand in December 2017…I probably would have laughed. As a freshman in college, what I’d be doing in 2017 was not even a thought that crossed my mind. But God knew. And He orchestrated each day and moment in time to come to this. Our God is amazing. He doesn’t need time. We pray so often for things to happen in our timing. Something God has been teaching me this Race is that I don’t know what I need. Only he does. And every good thing God gives me, I don’t deserve. It’s grace. James 1:17. “Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.” So I’ve been learning to pray for more grace. It’s all I need, because God knows exactly what I need.
Please pray that the students I’m teaching really hear the gospel through my actions and words. Please pray that God will continue to show me grace! Please pray that I will be able to have a good Christmas, as it’s really hard for me to be away from my family this month. Please pray that my team will continue to grow in love and mission. Thank you all so much for your continued prayers and support!
Love you guys!
