200 people. 200 out of 500,000 is how many people know The Lord in Chanthaburi Thailand. That’s less than the number of Starbucks Coffee shops in the city of Manhattan.
It’s not the weather or lack of snow, I mean I’m from California, I’m use to 80degree Christmases. It’s not the lack of Christmas decorations or lights,there are plenty here and a beautifully lit tree stands in our living room. It’s not that I’m away from home, although I do miss it! It’s not the lack of tradition, at any given moment someone on my team is playing Christmas music and we have made an effort to watch a Christmas movie or two. So why doesn’t it look like Christmas?
While I know that many people in America celebrate Christmas, even though they aren’t Christian, I find comfort in telling myself they at least know the true reason we celebrate this special day. And even though we have twisted Christmas and put our own warped meanings to this day, it’s still treated as a very important day, if not the most important day of the year. So much so that schools shut down for weeks, and businesses and stores shut their doors in observance of this special day. What other holiday can you say is payed this much respect. And although we can say its about presents, and trees, Santa Claus, and the warm fuzzy feeling you get in your heart, I believe that deep down everyone is aware that there is something very different and special about this day. But in Thailand, they truly don’t have a clue why we celebrate Christmas. To them it’s Santa Claus’s birthday, they even go to school on this day. It’s not a holiday, after all they are 98% Buddhist, so it truly doesn’t make sense for them to celebrate the day that Jesus was born!
But the truth is, Christmas is not an American holiday. It’s not a feeling, or a tradition, God didn’t send his only son into the world so that we could have a vacation from school or work, or bake cookies, and drink cocoa around the fire. He didn’t come just for Americans, or even just for those who believe in him, he came for everybody. Christmas is God’s greatest gift to each and everyone of us. Jesus is the very best gift you have ever been given. And you can say you don’t believe, but I believe there is a reason why you choose to celebrate on this day. After all, you have every right to, it’s literally your God given gift.
And that is why there is so much hope in where God has me this Christmas. In a place where the present is still sitting wrapped under the tree. In a country where they truly don’t know the gift that God has for them. They don’t know the story of Christmas. It has been the biggest privilege getting to share the story of Christmas with someone who has never heard it before. Growing up in church, I have heard the story countless times, seen it acted out every year, and it’s the one bible story I could say with most certainty I had memorized. And although I am very thankful for that, I’ve come to realize how much I took it for granted. That a virgin birth, wise men, and angels had become normal to me! And every time I tell the story to someone who has never heard, I am reminded at just how amazing and crazy this story is. But what amazes me even more is that this is not just a story, it’s history. That this day 2013 years ago, this day that we keep time around, has changed the course of the entire world, including my own life. And when I look into their faces as I tell it, I can’t help but think they must think I’m crazy! But that’s okay, because it is crazy, that God the creator of the universe would come to Earth in the form of a baby, to save us from our sins. Nothing about God is normal!
And as I told the story of Christmas to 300 students and teachers seated before me,I was reminded how crazy our God is! That I would be telling the story of Christmas at an all Buddhist school!
So although I may not have that warm fuzzy feeling, or can’t drink cocoa, decorate a Christmas tree, and lay on my couch cuddling with my dachshund. And although this Christmas won’t be spent at home with those I love, but instead at a school where I will be teaching English,after all it’s just another day here in Thailand, I get the privilege of sharing the true reason, uninterrupted from Santa, presents, or lights, why we celebrate this very special day! And maybe, just maybe, I will be able to change this normal day here in Thailand into what it truly is, the most amazing and crazy day of the year, the day that Jesus was born!
In all honesty Christmas on the Race has been hard at times. I have gotten homesick to the point of tears and there are times where I have to remind myself of the bigger picture. But when I think about how I’ve gotten to be the first to share the story of Christmas to over hundreds of men, women, and children I realize that what I’m doing truly isn’t a sacrifice at all but an honor. Whatever your Christmas looks like this year, whatever season in life you may be in, I wish that you have a very Merry and blessed Christmas and take time to think about the wonder and beauty of the story of Christmas. Merry Christmas!
