Ben's birthday fun
14.9.07
3.9.07
What Went on This Summer (Actually Rainy Season)
A lot has happened over the past couple months. Here are some of quick highlights. Brent has been working more at Rajaphat University and overall that has been good for developing relationships but a little harder on family life. Now that we have figured out some of the expectations and needs at the university, family life is balancing. The university provides a visa, which is crucial for our living in country as well as our strong value of entering the community in a way that Thais respect. Next semester I will be doing final preparations for the 6th grade equivalency exam for Thai language, so I will cut back a bit on teaching hours to do some of the final learning for the test. You can pray that Dean and I do well on this test. Because the test covers speaking, listening, reading and writing at a 6th grade level (any of you who have a sixth grader in the house recognize that they have lots of words!!), our brains always need a little more refining. We are getting there, but we need some final prayers and three months of cramming.
Mama Ann and Papa Jack came to visit for three weeks. Can you believe it? We couldn’t either. They were so kind to bless us with their time. You should see the changes in Jak. He received so much loving during that time and his words and character grew as a result. Ben and Kate also were loved on well. Recently, Kate was talking with me about her friend, Oh (that is her name…not an exclamation). She said, “Dad, why is it that Oh’s grandmother (who lives with her) never does anything fun with her? Mama Ann and Nana come here to do fun stuff with us!” I think Kate has a clear understanding about what grandmothering is all about. Those who know Papa Jack are now wondering what he did the whole time with us (Papa Jack has a…a…a…let’s say a high value for work). Through the blessing of internet he was able to keep going with some of his business affairs while working on our lawn and loving on his kids and grandkids. I am truly amazed at how much he gets done.
Mama Ann and Papa Jack flew into Chiang Mai, so we picked them up there and had a few days enjoying Chiang Mai city. Chiang Mai is the largest city in the north and some conveniences that are many years away for our growing Chiang Rai (like Burger King and Starbucks). We also hiked to a waterfall which was so beautiful that in a few weeks Mama Ann probably won’t even remember the pain caused by her sprained ankle. This is one of the three toughest grandmothers I know, the other two being my mom who still takes her daily walks regardless of snowstorms or below zero temps and that grandmother on Columbia sportswear ads (but who knows if she is really that tuff???)
While we were in Chiang Mai, one of our friends who is also one of Papa Jack’s business partners, Steve Mack, happened to be bringing a youth group from his church to work with Robert Reagan at the Payap Student Center Church in Chiang Mai. It was quite a unique opportunity for all of us to meet up and attend this church thousands of miles from their homes in Abilene and Boerne, Texas. I can’t really explain how fun it is to connect with people over here that have been so kind to us over there. It is really kinda weird to be sitting at a dumpy little Thai restaurant eating incredible Thai food for nothing while Steve Mack and Papa Jack explain to Ben the way to “sort through” girls at ACU (our alma mater) in order to find the right one (Ben had a little trouble recognizing the terminology “sort through” as it applies to looking for girls, so it took some explaining). Great things are happening at Payap Student center with Robert and his team.
On the day Mama Ann and Papa Jack were flying out, our pastor, Jamey Miller and another couple, Yancy and Lanette Smith, came as a visiting team from our home church. So we got a little check-up. Mainly they came to encourage us and pray. It was also very helpful to have someone on the outside come in and give us some critical insights. We had a week of this blessing and came out even more affirmed in our present efforts. One specific evening of prayer left each one of us with thankful hearts and high expectations for what God has done over the past year and will do in this coming year.
The best reminder from the trip was their challenge to continue building relationship one by one. When the teaching or team building or Thai language gets busy, it is critical to remember that we came here to build relationships and share Christ. Don’t we all have this same temptation? Sometimes the structures we create to develop relationships are the exact things that keeps us from the relationships. While my teaching is critical to our being here and developing relationships, at the end of the day it is the relationships that come from teaching that will be the thing Jesus uses to share His life and change this city. Considering this, we are thankful for some recent opportunities for deeper connection with students.
Mama Ann and Papa Jack came to visit for three weeks. Can you believe it? We couldn’t either. They were so kind to bless us with their time. You should see the changes in Jak. He received so much loving during that time and his words and character grew as a result. Ben and Kate also were loved on well. Recently, Kate was talking with me about her friend, Oh (that is her name…not an exclamation). She said, “Dad, why is it that Oh’s grandmother (who lives with her) never does anything fun with her? Mama Ann and Nana come here to do fun stuff with us!” I think Kate has a clear understanding about what grandmothering is all about. Those who know Papa Jack are now wondering what he did the whole time with us (Papa Jack has a…a…a…let’s say a high value for work). Through the blessing of internet he was able to keep going with some of his business affairs while working on our lawn and loving on his kids and grandkids. I am truly amazed at how much he gets done.
Mama Ann and Papa Jack flew into Chiang Mai, so we picked them up there and had a few days enjoying Chiang Mai city. Chiang Mai is the largest city in the north and some conveniences that are many years away for our growing Chiang Rai (like Burger King and Starbucks). We also hiked to a waterfall which was so beautiful that in a few weeks Mama Ann probably won’t even remember the pain caused by her sprained ankle. This is one of the three toughest grandmothers I know, the other two being my mom who still takes her daily walks regardless of snowstorms or below zero temps and that grandmother on Columbia sportswear ads (but who knows if she is really that tuff???)
While we were in Chiang Mai, one of our friends who is also one of Papa Jack’s business partners, Steve Mack, happened to be bringing a youth group from his church to work with Robert Reagan at the Payap Student Center Church in Chiang Mai. It was quite a unique opportunity for all of us to meet up and attend this church thousands of miles from their homes in Abilene and Boerne, Texas. I can’t really explain how fun it is to connect with people over here that have been so kind to us over there. It is really kinda weird to be sitting at a dumpy little Thai restaurant eating incredible Thai food for nothing while Steve Mack and Papa Jack explain to Ben the way to “sort through” girls at ACU (our alma mater) in order to find the right one (Ben had a little trouble recognizing the terminology “sort through” as it applies to looking for girls, so it took some explaining). Great things are happening at Payap Student center with Robert and his team.
On the day Mama Ann and Papa Jack were flying out, our pastor, Jamey Miller and another couple, Yancy and Lanette Smith, came as a visiting team from our home church. So we got a little check-up. Mainly they came to encourage us and pray. It was also very helpful to have someone on the outside come in and give us some critical insights. We had a week of this blessing and came out even more affirmed in our present efforts. One specific evening of prayer left each one of us with thankful hearts and high expectations for what God has done over the past year and will do in this coming year.
The best reminder from the trip was their challenge to continue building relationship one by one. When the teaching or team building or Thai language gets busy, it is critical to remember that we came here to build relationships and share Christ. Don’t we all have this same temptation? Sometimes the structures we create to develop relationships are the exact things that keeps us from the relationships. While my teaching is critical to our being here and developing relationships, at the end of the day it is the relationships that come from teaching that will be the thing Jesus uses to share His life and change this city. Considering this, we are thankful for some recent opportunities for deeper connection with students.
He is Pleased With You
During our pastoral visit, Yancy and Jamey prayed for Jesus to give me a greater clarity of God the Father’s heart for me and for the fatherless of Thailand. One need look no further than our dinner table to recognize the significance of this prayer. By God’s sovereign providence Jak sits (at least, sitting is the goal) at a table where he is loved, included and supported by a mother, two siblings and a father. Explicating just cause concerning the merits of our family and our rightful enjoyment of this tan ball of energy is futile. Efforts at logic detailing Jak’s fortunate grafting in to our family tree come up empty. By grace Jak was providentially and sovereignly placed into our family. There is no other good explanation. How else might I say it? God’s sovereign desire was that Jak would have a father who would reflect the heart of his true Father in Heaven. I am almost embarrassed to say it. When Jak is loved, with great joy, by his earthly father, this is exactly what God the Eternally Great Father meant for Jak. And that is God’s desire for each Thai person who has never experienced a father who loves him or her.
But you say, “What about the Jaks out there who remain orphans? What about the Jaks out there with a father who will not or cannot show concern or affection toward their sons or daughters? What about the Jaks who only receive abuse from their fathers?” Just as I do not understand the grace that provided Jak with a physical manifestation of the Father God’s heart, I, painfully at times, do not understand the brokenness that causes so many to experience the lack of a loving father in their home. But this I call to mind… the Father runs to greet the wayward younger son. He also goes out to talk patiently with the indignant older brother. The Father is “always working,” and He comes down to make it clear to the crowd that His son is beloved and a pleasure to his Father. And yes, the Father turns His face from His beloved “first born” so that all His children might experience His merciful, affectionate heart. When Jesus reveals to me His Father, I become overwhelmingly confident in the Father’s plan that all His children might receive His love. And not just through redemption as children of God, but also through the warmth in a home from a physical father.
I often ask kids in the neighborhood about their dads. Some are in Bangkok working, many are dead, and some have just left their families permanently. Probably about 1 in 4 has a Dad that they live with. At first I was just staggered by this statistic. I mean what can you do about this besides weep? Now I am looking at Jak and taking great faith and confidence in the heart of his Father. I am believing that God is graciously working on behalf of these kids and all people in Thailand who feel empty when they think of their father or lack of father. I believe that He is going to use a physical person to come into their lives and show them their Heavenly Father by loving them like their father couldn’t. This is the scariest part…I believe that physical person is going to look a lot like you and maybe something like me! This is plan A; there is no plan B.
Jesus came into a Roman dominated world where major population groups were taken from their homes and divided up into Roman homes as slaves. Children born in these homes were not children but slaves. As slaves, they were treated as property and sent wherever necessary. For this and other reasons, a great portion of the populace in Jesus’ time was fatherless. Enter Jesus. He won’t shut up about His father. Stranger still, he is saying His father is their father too. He makes the audacious statement, get this, “If you have seen me you have seen your Father,” and then reaches out, with a “human flesh” hand, and touches them. He touched them! He reaches out with the Father’s love, and they were never the same. Who could help but sharing the love of their Father?
So I look at Jak, and I see our mandate. Whoever you are and whomever you are with, Jesus wants to use you to be the hand of the loving Father in this fatherless world. “This is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased.”
But you say, “What about the Jaks out there who remain orphans? What about the Jaks out there with a father who will not or cannot show concern or affection toward their sons or daughters? What about the Jaks who only receive abuse from their fathers?” Just as I do not understand the grace that provided Jak with a physical manifestation of the Father God’s heart, I, painfully at times, do not understand the brokenness that causes so many to experience the lack of a loving father in their home. But this I call to mind… the Father runs to greet the wayward younger son. He also goes out to talk patiently with the indignant older brother. The Father is “always working,” and He comes down to make it clear to the crowd that His son is beloved and a pleasure to his Father. And yes, the Father turns His face from His beloved “first born” so that all His children might experience His merciful, affectionate heart. When Jesus reveals to me His Father, I become overwhelmingly confident in the Father’s plan that all His children might receive His love. And not just through redemption as children of God, but also through the warmth in a home from a physical father.
I often ask kids in the neighborhood about their dads. Some are in Bangkok working, many are dead, and some have just left their families permanently. Probably about 1 in 4 has a Dad that they live with. At first I was just staggered by this statistic. I mean what can you do about this besides weep? Now I am looking at Jak and taking great faith and confidence in the heart of his Father. I am believing that God is graciously working on behalf of these kids and all people in Thailand who feel empty when they think of their father or lack of father. I believe that He is going to use a physical person to come into their lives and show them their Heavenly Father by loving them like their father couldn’t. This is the scariest part…I believe that physical person is going to look a lot like you and maybe something like me! This is plan A; there is no plan B.
Jesus came into a Roman dominated world where major population groups were taken from their homes and divided up into Roman homes as slaves. Children born in these homes were not children but slaves. As slaves, they were treated as property and sent wherever necessary. For this and other reasons, a great portion of the populace in Jesus’ time was fatherless. Enter Jesus. He won’t shut up about His father. Stranger still, he is saying His father is their father too. He makes the audacious statement, get this, “If you have seen me you have seen your Father,” and then reaches out, with a “human flesh” hand, and touches them. He touched them! He reaches out with the Father’s love, and they were never the same. Who could help but sharing the love of their Father?
So I look at Jak, and I see our mandate. Whoever you are and whomever you are with, Jesus wants to use you to be the hand of the loving Father in this fatherless world. “This is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased.”
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