FRIENDS, IT’S 2020!!!!
but…
My greatest thrill of 2019 was the month of July and getting to step alongside young adults (really strangers at first but now the best community I have. The World Race does that to you) and be enlightened by how the God of the Universe functions, even through the side of the world that contains less than 1% of Christianity.
It’s been 5 months since I’ve back from Thailand… and the last time I typed about Thailand, it was
unedited
unprocessed
just raw.
–Well, I’m back and I have some processed thoughts and have a favor to ask–
The majority of my time in Thailand was spent in the humble and inviting walls of Place of Grace. A place built in the slums of Bangkok, and open for the children, teenagers and families who are under-resourced, but immensely cared for by the founders of POG—John and Gillian Robinson and their children. The slum community in Bangkok that I got to spend my days in Place of Grace was located amongst the Mahathai community. POG is a space for the overwhelmed, unseen, tired and hopeless to come and rest through children’s clubs, youth groups, a food bank, and groups for children and teenagers interested in learning about Jesus.
Their mission is to see lives transformed through the grace of God.–
Place of Grace is where I grasped what reality truly is for the people in Bangkok, Thailand that inhabit the low casted and under resourced areas.
The reality is…
These people are born into the low cast system…which means the government leaves them landless, unsupported and have no where to go. So with their perseverance and strength, they build shacks out of old tin surrounded by sewage water up to their ankles. This is their option of living.
These people don’t even have the chance of having a dry floor and we complain when we get something sticky on the bottom of our shoes or if our AC is out…
Think about it.
HERE’S AN INTRO TO MY FAVOR I ASK
About 10 years ago, John and Gillian received a message from God through a dream telling them to move from their home (United Kingdom) to Bangkok, Thailand. With the great oceans of love for God in their hearts, they obeyed His voice. They left their life behind in the UK and started a new one with only their faith in Jesus to sustain and guide them. Their feet were planted on the grounds of the Mahathai community. After they saw how unwanted and unpursued the Mahathai community was treated, they quickly adapted their lives to the needs in the slums. They visibly saw this side of Bangkok for what it was and instantly was affirmed why they had been sent with the mission of reaching Thai people for the Kingdom of God. They had the drive in their hearts to continue to step into the call God had on their lives and started Place of Grace. At the beginning, the process of acquiring a people’s interest/regular attendance required patience, relationship building and more faith. After about two years of a deliberate pursuit in loving the people in the Mahathai communities, John and Gillian gained the trust of the people and they began to see attendance at Place of Grace. The fruit of their prayers, efforts and extended love began to produce and multiply.
Today, Place of Grace is a source, a shelter, a pantry of supplies, a well of living water used as a mediator to get the people to Jesus. John, Gillian and their family have created a space that will meet the physical need of the Mahathai communities with the main goal of connecting them to the ultimate source of life, the Healer of sorrows, the Reliever of shame, the Maker of the Universe—Jesus Christ.
Resources given with the hopeful intentions that these Mahathai people would gain a transformed life through God’s grace.
HERE’S A BIT MORE ABOUT MY FAVOR I ASK
Place of Grace is in deep need of consistent support…prayerfully and financially. These real life bible heroes have joined God in the great work He wanted to do through them and everyday is a day closer to God bringing it to completion. This bringing to completion will require some help.
I asked my golden Thailand World Race Team to give me their own feedback of Place of Grace for you guys reading. This is the love that they witnessed at POG:
“POG’s doors are always open, just like the Fathers arms are always open. no matter who you are or where you came from. you are welcome at the table.”
-Madison Stowe
“It’s always the big things that you’d think you would look back on and reminisce but since I’ve been back all I can think about are the small things that were done so well and it just reminds me of Luke 16:10 “If you are faithful in little things, you will be faithful in large ones. But if you are dishonest in little things, you won’t be honest with greater responsibilities”. Something like how Joel (John and Gillian’s son) would interact with the kids and whether he knew it or not he was a sign of the joy of the Lord to the children there. He radiates happiness while he plays with them and then 5 minutes later they all would come in and sit down and listen to John preach on the Gospel. There were so many examples of God’s goodness there but in ways that I had never even stopped to think about. John would pull me aside and would give me leadership advice and it meant the world to me to have someone like him, that is living the Gospel out, take time out of his day and consider it important enough to pour into me with a one on one basis like he did, but it wasn’t just me. He did that with all the children and volunteers at Place of Grace, he gives everyone there own special words of encouragement and prayer. John and his family and everyone involved with the Place of Grace are truly Biblical heroes. They are modern day disciples. They changed my life forever.”
-Michael Brandon
“I think about POG every single day! I am so encouraged by John and Gillian and how they have been radically obedient to what the Lord has called them to. They made us feel like family and welcomed us in. John and Gillian are so intentional in how they love each child at Place of Grace ~ they know every name and every story, making each child feel known and seen and loved! I will never forget the night when the 2 girls came back to the POG for the first time in months and John gave them the biggest hug and was beaming with joy that they were back! What a picture of the Father’s love for us! Oh man I could go on and on about the POG and I’m praying for the day I get to go back!”
-Maddie Volding
John and Gillian knew that only love could make a way to break chains and it’s a love that is unconditionally sacrificial. Jesus saw it to be so happy to love us—trading His breathe in Heaven for a journey of sorrow and suffering on Earth for us to have a new name and walk upon the High Places with Him.
Place of Grace is a physical representation of the beautiful exchange Christ gave for us. The happiness to love these Thai people covers John, Gillian, their children and all of their staff from head to toe. Thailand, as a whole, is a country that has so much room for the Lord to show Himself faithful and you could be apart of what God is planning to do by joining Place of Grace.
HERE’S MY FAVOR I ASK
— give in someway to Place of Grace —
pray for them
hit the share button for them
have conversations about them
learn about them on their website
donate money to them through their website:
http://placeofgracebangkok.org/en.html
