Our contact here in Thailand is a married couple, Peng and
Aroon. They live with Aroons mother and father. Today as I was riding around in
the truck hauling cassava back to the house, I found myself asking Aroon all
sorts of questions. Aroon and Peng came out to this village some 8 hours from
Bangkok where they went to school in order to spread the gospel to their family
here, and the villagers around them.
I asked Aroon what he would be doing had God not called him
into ministry in this place. He explained to me that he would be in Bangkok
working a higher paying job or he would have left the country in search of
better work. Here is city boy, and a city girl who have heard the voice of God
and responded by total abandon of all that they had. They left the city to
start a small goat and cassava farm in a small farm town of ~1000 people. They
have heard and responded to the call, I admire them for that.
I also asked Aroon who he says God is. Some call him
provider, others call him king. Some call him teacher, who does Aroon call Him?
To help you understand this man, let me just say a few words
about him.
Aroon is a married man in his 30’s. He owns about 100 goats,
he buys and sells them regularly. He also is head of the village goat
organization and helps others sell their goats. He owns about 100 acres of
field in which he plants and harvest cassava. He helps other villagers plant
and harvest their cassava fields as well. He is a man that leads counseling,
and helps families grow together. He leads a church at his house once a week,
and still has time to love his own family.
So I asked him who he says that God is.. His answer, “He is
my shepherd.”
At first I didn’t get it… But I looked at what a shepherd
is,
A leader of the flock,
A provider,
A protector
A doctor
A shelter
He is everything to his sheep, just as Aroon is everything
to his goats. For this man, God is everything that he needs, and his shepherd
has led him to the waters of this land. I am amazed by his faithfulness.
