If you weren't aware, I made it across the ocean!
I'm in Thailand, the "land of smiles" it's called. But behind those smiles are a lot of pain. I'm not speculating; I know it. I know it because I've been living next to these people for two weeks now (sorry for the late blog entry… the transition has been kicking my butt).
And I've been struggling personally. It's been a difficult time for most of my team. There's a heaviness that lingers over the city of Chiang Mai, and I didn't realize until I was talking on the phone with my mom that these people never really see a blue sky. She asked me if it was sunny and I wanted to say yes but when I looked up all that I saw was white. There was a fog over the sky itself; likely smog. And when the sun sets there is a haze around it.
And it's the same kind of haze that is around peoples' hearts. I've spent a lot of time in Buddhist temples since coming here. It's my thing. It's what gets my heart all kinds of excited even when I'm indifferent to all other things. So I've learned that there's an ancient emptiness that fills these rooms. Red carpets, tile floors, ornamental decorations from floor to ceiling. These temples are masterpieces visually, but inside of them-behind the statues and behind the doors is really, well, nothing. Buddhism isn't even a religion; it's a philosophy from a former prince about how we can extinguish suffering in our lives. His suggestion?
Get rid of your desires.
Basically, go comatose. And so the people have been the perfect disciples! The nation is full of people who don't desire a better life for themselves, sex-trafficked girls who think that prostitution is their destiny because of bad karma, and people who don't flinch when they see domestic violence in a public mall.
It's maddening. And the first time I walked into a temple I started yelling at Satan in my mind. But then I realized that that was a horrible idea… he's not much of a negotiator and it would only distract me anyway. So I started praising God in that space. I took the authority of the place I was and started singing sweet praises to Jesus, powerful prayers to God for the Thai people, to welcome the Spirit of the Living God.
And then I met Pa Hem, a 22 year old monk living at one of the most whimsical temples I've seen thus far (statues of baby monks in canoes and with glasses on their pudgy faces… what's not to love). He's going to university and is full of questions about Jesus and makes checkers from leaves and twigs and would love to play football (soccer) but he cannot. For the record he'd also like to participate in the Thai New Year Songkrahn Festival, swim, go to the movies, sing, dance, and have smoothies with us at the coffee shop but he cannot.
So he's become my friend here. And strangely enough I feel most at peace when I'm in a temple; it's where I feel most grateful, most compelled to praise God. It's where I feel like I'm Jesus with skin on.
So I know God is doing something in the hearts of the people and it was a redemptive moment when God broke the smog away from the sky and I saw blue, the bluest blue I've seen in a Thailand sky. The fog is lifting. Keep the Thai people and our ministries in your prayers.
For more information about the organization we're partnered with, check this out!
http://www.lighthouseinaction.org/
