Jack is a man unlike any I have ever met. He is a true example of what it means to count everything joy. He loves God with his whole heart and loves people in a way that challenges me to do the same. The way he views God is admirable and his hunger to share Jesus to those around Him is amazing. His soul is beautiful and unique and He has loved me and my friends so well.
But let me not get ahead of myself, let me explain who Jack is and how we met him.
The markets in Thailand are crazyyy. They overload your senses and your experience in each one is never truly the same. Each Sunday in Chiang Mai, there is a market that is bigger than any other. Streets and streets are filled with vendors. Selling anything from food, to belts, to clothes, to toys, to beautiful paintings. They have it all. As you walk into the market you are immediately hit with the smell of the food. Not long after you begin to hear the music you feel yourself being lightly pushed by the crowed in the general direction of forward. The way I would describe the Sunday market would be organized chaos.
A few weeks ago, me and couple of my teammates Logan and Austin were at the Sunday night market. We were just walking to each vendor looking at the different things. Me and Austin were eating noodles because the Sunday night market noodles are so so so good.
As we were walking, we passed a man playing the violin. We heard the violin as we were walking up and it was absolutely beautiful. There is something about the sound of a violin that captures your attention in the middle of all the surrounding chaos. As we walked by, this man caught our attention for a couple of reasons. One, like I just said. The way he was playing the violin was beautiful. Two, he had his violin case open for donations. In front of the Violin case was a sign that read “in need of money for cancer treatment.” As we walked by we dropped some money in his violin case. He smiled at us, thanked us, and continued to play.
About an hour later, after exploring the market a bit more, we found ourselves passing the same section of the market. In the distance we could hear the sound of a violin. As we got closer Austin told us that he thought the man was playing a christian song. We followed the sound of the violin and found the man in the same spot still playing. As we approached, he recognized us and smiled again. We asked him to stop playing for just a second so that we could talk to him.
We asked him his name and He told us it was Jack. Austin asked him about the music he was playing and he told us it was Christian music. He had been playing for years and years before this. As we praised him for how good he was, he began to tell us that he had five tumors in his face. He told us that he lost his job because he was always having to do radiation therapy for his tumors. He told us that is why he plays in the market. He explained that this money helps him and his wife and gets him more money to continue treatment. He told us that one of the tumors is close to his eye and prevents him from closing one of his eyes all the way. Making it impossible to blink and really hard to move that side of his face.
After he told us this we asked if we could pray for him. We told him that we are also Christians, and that we believe that God has the power to heal. That God is so much bigger than we can even put into words. That God loves Him and sees Him where He is. We layed our hands on His head and began to pray. We prayed a couple times for Him. As we finished He looked up and just continued to say “Such good boys, such good Christian men.” He was shocked that we were willing to pray for Him. He kept telling us that God was so good. And He praised us for following God at our age. He couldn’t believe it. His smile was unlike any other. Pure joy. Jack told us that He is the pastor of a very small church. And that He would love for us to come to his church to listen to him preach. He told us the people his church would love to see us. We got his contact information and gave him a biggg hug and left.
What impacted me the most about Jack was his joy. He carried a joy that only God could give him. He told us about his tumors with joy. He exclaimed that God was good with joy. When we prayed for him his immediate reaction was to praise God for young men who believe. He said Hallelujah with a smile and declared amen with delight. Jack’s smile was a true representation of God. What a blessing from God it was to meet him the way we did. Jack would consider himself blessed to have met us, little does he know we were impacted by him in a way we can’t even put into words. Even when he has every reason not to be, Jack counted everything joy. Man I hope to be like that one day!
A couple weeks later we went to his church. It was an amazing experience. But that is a story for another time! Thanks for reading!
