Have you ever seen those people with long necks with golden
rings? They’re one of 2 different tribes of Karen (Kaa-ren) in Northern
Thailand: Boh and Sgaw. We had a chance to visit a Sgaw Karen village (not the
long necks) for a Christmas party and their Sunday service. Almost the entire
village of 200-300 was Christians. It was an amazing thing to realize. They’re
living in the most remote part of Thailand in the mountains, many of them
looking like they belong in an article of National Geographic, yet they have
God in their lives.
When we arrived for the Sunday service, we were told that
apart from explaining who we are and why we’re there, one of should give a
message. We circled up and prayed for God to speak to us who that person should
be, and of what. While we prayed I thought about things I could potentially
share. When we were done, no one had gotten a strong conviction. I said, “I’m
not strongly convicted, but if no one else is willing, I am.” And so I was
selected.
While I wasn’t sure I should, I figure, I came half way
across the world, supported by friends and family and other supporters to serve
people, and preach the Gospel. I don’t want to sit on the sidelines to be an
observer. Not that it was the main reason, how many of us could say that you
visited a remote mountain village in Northern Thailand and shared a message to
200+ Karens, a group of people I didn’t even know existed 2 weeks ago?
My message was simple, a bit of my testimony and an
experience topped off with an analogy on sin. Since I had asked God to tell me
what to speak, I wasn’t shocked that my full outline didn’t materialize. My fav
part was from a cheesy analogy I came up with while weeding in Nicaragua, where
sin = weed. It’s easy to pull out a weed when it first starts to grow. But when
you don’t pull out a weed and let it grow, it become harder to pull out since
the roots grow deep and wide. It also become difficult to distinguish what is
weed and what is good crop, especially if you don’t have farming experience. If
you let it grow even longer, it overpowers the good crop so much all you have
left is the weed. To pull out a weed that’s been growing way too long, you have
to dig deep…real deep.
*
I know it’s past, but I hope everyone had an amazing
Christmas, and wish all the best in 2010!! Go Vancouver Olympics!
