I am continually amazed at the Spirit of God, blowing all around me. His grace just has no limits. On January 5, I went to church as usual. There was a guest preacher form Singapore who preached in English, with a translator. He preached on Luke 13, where Jesus talks about entering through the narrow door and the urgency of coming through the door before it's closed forever. It was a powerful message, so I went off to Sunday school encouraged.
The Sunday school class I have joined is mostly folks in their 50s. Each week, we spend an hour or so talking about the sermon before we all have lunch together (a very Biblical thing to do, huh?). Well, there is usually a couple who comes - he is an avowed Buddhist, and she is a devoted Christian who has been praying for his salvation for many years. For the last 3 years, this man (named Surasak) has been attending church and Sunday school to explore the claims of Christianity. For a long time, he was antagonistic and argumentative. But over the last few months, he has been joining in the discussion with a more positive attitude. He has found a place in this Sunday school class where he has been accepted and made many friends.
On this particular Sunday, the class was wandering all over the place in their discussion. At one point, Surasak looked down the table at me and asked if I had anything to add to the discussion. (I like to join in sometimes, with some translation help.) So I brought up the tension in this text about "making every effort" to get into the kingdom, but how do we reconcile that with Paul's ideas about how getting into the kingdom is a gift of God's grace, based only on faith. I talked about how the Christian life is about training daily to run in faith, not "trying" by our own effort to do the right thing...and how even the daily training is a gracious gift from God. We can't earn eternal life. Then I said, "I am concerned, Surasak. Every week, your friends tell you that you must believe and follow Jesus. But I don't want you to think that you can do it by your own effort, by trying hard, or being good enough. You can't make faith happen. You can only receive it as a gift from God. You don't have to work for it. God gives it to you freely." So the discussion about that issue continued on for another half hour or so until the end of class. Suddenly, Surasak announced that he wanted to receive Christ! He wanted to go through that narrow door, and receive faith as a gift of God's grace. He wanted to become a Christian. Amazing! So one of the older men led Surasak in a prayer to give his life to Christ, and he repeated it with a smile on his face. The whole class was in tears by the end of the prayer, men and women alike. As we were leaving, Surasak's wife gave me a hug and said that she was so glad that Surasak had heard my words!
What?! MY words? His wife, and his community of faith had been praying for him and loving him. They had been Christ to him for years. God had been pursuing him and speaking to him. And the sermon was just what he needed to hear. I just pitched a few sentences into a discussion that I largely couldn't understand anyway, because it was all in Thai! God allowed me to be there for this critical moment in one man's life. ...And Surasak's wife thinks I had something to do with it? I was just there to watch the miracle unfold! Praise God for Surasak's new faith.
Also, please pray for my new friend, Solongo Ayush. I met her at an Anglican Church here in Bangkok. She is Mongolian and speaks fluent English. She is here in Thailand working on a PhD in Economics. She is exploring religious faith, and decided that she wants to learn about Christianity. So she just took a bus from the other side of town, and just showed up for the evening worship service at the Anglican Church! I ended up sitting next to her. After worship, we all went upstairs to have dinner together. Solongo spent the whole meal grilling me with questions about Christianity, other religions, heaven and hell, baptism, martyrdom, and how salvation works. At the end of dinner, she asked me how she could learn more. I told her about places she could worship and about some small group studies she could go to. She did not have a Bible, so I had the church give her an NIV. When I offered to meet with her to do Bible study once a week, her eyes lit up. "Would you REALLY have time to do that?" she said. So we exchanged phone, email and address information. Since then, I have met with Solongo a few times. But recently, she has cancelled our last few meetings because she got a new job. She really needed the money; so she agreed to baby-sit for a family. She commutes an hour each way to take their child to school in the morning, then to pick her up in the afternoon and care for her until evening - on top of continuing her economics studies! She still wants to study the Bible, but she is feeling overwhelmed with her schedule right now. I am concerned that the seed of God's Word is being stolen away by the birds before it even has a chance to take root. Please pray that God will continue to pursue Solongo, and that He will take care of her financial and scheduling needs so that we can continue to meet together.
Following up on Thai Tales from last month, I have had an opportunity to get to know the artist Keatisak Plitaporn, who won the "King in the Heart of the Artist" competition. He continues to use his artwork as a vehicle for evangelism. Each painting has deep and well thought out theological import. And he uses his exhibit openings to talk to many people about Jesus. Please pray for this work and for God to continue to provide for his family as they live on a "starving artist budget," although he continues to donate much of his proceeds to local charity and missions. This struggle is summed up in a painting entitled "Faith", which depicts paint tubes on a dinner plate, with fork, spoon and napkin. Also, pray for him as he seeks to teach other Christians how to do evangelism through artwork. He has experienced real opposition from some church folks who feel that his work is not a valid ministry. It seems that the phrase, "we've never done it that way before" continues to plague the church even here in Thailand! A few weeks ago, I was able to visit Mr. Plitaporn's home, meet his family, see his artwork, and do a little painting together. We shared stories of faith and I was able to encourage him in his ministry. Please pray with me for his work.
Right now, I am praising God for some rest I just had. Last weekend was a long weekend, so I went down to an island, just off the coast called Ko Samet. The bus trip was three and a half hours, plus a half hour ferry to the island. I found a lovely little bungalow there for $16 a night. I ate a bunch of seafood, swam in the ocean several times a day, and finished a John Grisham book. I had some good prayer time. And I even reviewed my Thai lessons. I am so thankful for the well-needed rest.
Finally, please continue to pray for my Thai language studies and for patience with Thai teaching methods, which are currently driving me nuts!
Thank you so much for all your prayers and encouragement. I would not have a ministry here in Thailand without your support. The work of the kingdom of God continues worldwide because of faithful believers like you on every continent of the world.
Blessings to you and your church.
Your Sister in Christ,
Kit