Home...Office...Life Change occurred.

July 27, 2007

Well, I am back in the office only a few short weeks after I left it. I am changed like I said that I would be a couple weeks ago. We are gearing up for fall programming in Youth Ministry and life becomes crazy again fairly soon. I am excited to see all the God will do in and through the lives of our students, leaders, adults, and staff. He has been working and will continue to work to accomplish his purposes.

Your name and your renown are the desire of our hearts o God. God do the work that you desire to be done in my life so that I can reflect who you are. Do not let me be weak in leadership, rather let me lead in the fold of who you are!

Thailand was incredible. There were times when I didn’t know if I could stand to be away from my beautiful wife but those times were few and it simply made the reunion with my wife all the more sweet. God certainly worked to give me a heart for the people in Thailand. God, break my heart for the people in Wichita. Let me cry out to you daily for the people that I am here to serve. Do not let me become complacent or apathetic in my work here, rather keep me lit for you. Let me burn with passion in all that I am asked to do and all that you ask me to do. Give me wisdom to honor you and abide by your laws and commands.

Lord, give the people that are working for your name in Thailand boldness, courage, and confidence. That you would be very present to them. That you would show them yourself each and every day that they are serving you! Almighty God, let them be a vessel for you. Let them be your hands and your feet and let us be the same right here in Wichita, Kansas!

God's will and change.

July 24, 2007

God, a common theme of this trip has been humility. As I share this morning from Obadiah, grant me the humility that you ask of your people. Let me not be like Edom, who was prideful and walked in the direct distance of you but let me walk by your side and understand you for who you are!

Yesterday was probably the hardest day for me to handle. It was a day that had many fun parts to it. One of those parts was team cohesiveness. Getting to the end of a missions trip and having two days of tourism tends to take the focus off of the people around me and put the focus on me. I don’t know that this is healthy for group cohesiveness or dynamics. God is faithful though. He gave us opportunities to work with each other and work with other people around us. Last night, a father of one of the boys at sports camp was standing in the lobby of the hotel. He said he had spent hours trying to find us and that he really needed to talk to us. Daniel is the student’s name. He is going to go with us today to the zoo. God make us a light unto the world and a light unto each other. You are gracious and compassionate and your name and renown are the desire of our hearts!

I am excited about coming home. I am scared to come home. There will be a flood of materialism that grabs ahold of me when I make it home and so I am worried about how this will affect me. Culture shock may run rampant on the way back into the country worse than it was coming out of the country. I know that God is working in my heart and challenging me with truths from his word and I am excited about that. When he challenges my life with truth, this means that he asks me to change my life in a drastic way. This will be hard and I will struggle to do it but it will be good to. It will be something that I feel I must do. I’m not sure the exact details yet but I know that God has called me to be passionate about his word with people. He wants all of us to be students of him. He wants us to call him “Teacher” which had a very different meaning when he walked the earth! He invites us to “come and see” who he is and why we would follow him. I am so excited to see God work in my life and in my family in the next couple of months.

God grant me peace and wisdom as I head home. Let me be a light in the darkness for you and let me know the power that you have for us in your word! God make me a student of who you are and what you want in our lives. Let me change according to your purposes and plans that you have for me. In your name I pray ALL of these things…

By the way, we get on a plane this afternoon. Crazy…This trip went fast.

Materialism...And Markets.

July 22, 2007
Thank you Jesus for all that you have shown me in the last 30 hours. You have shown me grace, mercy, and a culture that is beyond my comprehension. It is a culture of love, family, and poverty. It is hard to believe that children are happy in the conditions that they are in. It is hard to find the reason that children are smiling. God, take from me my pride. Take from me my materialistic mindset. Make me a man after your own heart. Make me a man that seeks the will that you have set for me in my life! God make me like your son Jesus Christ! Change my life. Mold me and shape me for your kingdom, not my will but your will be done.

The last couple of days we have been in the Lahu village in the mountains. It took about an hour and a half to get to the village. When we got there it was somewhat surreal. We went into this house that was made out of bamboo. There were holes in the wall where there were splits in the bamboo and the floor was open. There was no furniture and so the people simply sat on the floor and enjoyed each other’s company where they were sitting on the floor. There were several of the Lahu and their family in the house that we stayed at. I was again impressed by the community driven aspect of their lives and was challenged by God to think about what it means to live in community with other believers like the church of Acts did. My materialistic, individualistic mindset is so different than what these people experience all the time. And yet they are happy. They are content to work hard and play hard with one another. There is still somewhat of a hopelessness but there is also something that God is doing in several of their hearts and mindsets.
We did a church service this morning where we had the opportunity to give 3 student testimonies, I team preached a message with Scott Hackett, and we sang “choir style” some hymns with Becky playing the guitar. I thought the entire service went quite well. I think that the people enjoyed a different type of service and I believe that God will work through the power of his word in the hearts and the minds of the people there and the people of this trip.

We went back to Chiang Mai tonight and enjoyed being in the hotel once more. It was nice to have a hot bath but we were automatically confronted with materialism as we went to the market tonight. How much stuff should I buy? How much money should I spend? What about when I feel guilty? Hmmmm…..

God, I will deal with these issues beyond tonight. I will deal with individualism and materialism for ages to come as long as your word remains true (which is forever). Grant me wisdom beyond my years to deal with this tough issue. Don’t let me get so wrapped up in this issue that I lose sight of you, rather let me be focused on the cross and what you have done for the people that you love. Your blessings are amazing, God let me glorify you with what you have graciously given me. In your name….

By the way, we had pizza tonight…So good.

Sumo Wrestler...Pete Melgren

July 20, 2007
Well, we finished today. Again, God is faithful in answering our prayers and the prayers of the Lahu people. He gave us strength and energy for a task that seemed fairly daunting. It seemed as though the physical aspect of this trip would be very tough. AND IT WAS! But God was glorified through the work that we did.

Last night, the Lahu people put on a celebration and a “thank you” party for us. It was pretty sweet to see how another culture takes care of guests. They really did do a great job of loving us as brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ. They presented us with gifts, danced for us, sang songs for us, and greeted us in amazing ways. I am connected to this group of Lahu people in some cool ways. God worked through relationships (as he always does) this week and I am excited to think what he will do as we come home in some of our relationships with each other. God is good and he is amazing and I thank him for that.

This afternoon, David and Pete decided to wrestle. They went at it in the lawn. I don’t think that they worked hard enough this week. J Pete ended up winning but not after a tremendous epic battle that took place. It was mildly, okay quite entertaining for me to watch. I think that the Lahu people enjoyed it a little bit too.

Scott Hackett and I are working on our sermons for Sunday. I am going to preach through Genesis 1 and he going to give a gospel presentation during the second service on Genesis 3 and that fall of man. I am excited to see what ways God will use Scott this weekend to bring glory to God. I am excited that Scott is quite passionate about what he speaking about. I am glad that God has given us the opportunity to do this thing together.

Okay, well, I miss my wife, God is good, and we did it! That’s enough for one night….

I love you Jesus. Thank you.

God is great, God is good...

July 19, 2007 P.M.
God is Good. He has blessed this team tremendously for weeks. He has brought us through some stuff that has been rough. He has brought us through some stuff that has been really good. He has been faithful and he has been comforting and loving and merciful in all of the things that we have participated in. As we head into the weekend, my heart is excited about what is to come with the orphans from the orphanage. I am excited to see what God has in store for our students when they meet with students and swim this weekend. I am also excited to drive up the mountainside and meet with the Lahu village. I am excited to preach on Sunday, although I am somewhat nervous. I get to speak through a translator, and that is somewhat nerve wracking. God make me an effective tool for your kingdom. Let me not be focused on me but speak in spite of me.

Today was a hard day. We worked our tails off to get two piles of dirt into the sidewalk and succeeded. We did it! We filled what we needed to fill and used what dirt we were supposed to use. We still need to level so that the crew can begin to put down concrete. We were going to start the concrete but I just don’t think that it is feasible or even a good idea to start pouring concrete tomorrow. Tomorrow is our last day here! Crazy how time flies. We have had a good time here working with the people. Tonight they will share a “cultural dance” with us to show us how they worship and celebrate our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ! I’m excited to see what they will do and how they will sing.

God is good. Thank you almighty father for all of the things that you have blessed us with. Thank you for the trip that you have allowed each of us to be on and for the devotions that you have allowed me to study and to have with you. You are an awesome God, one that cannot be shaken! In all of these things, I praise YOUR name…Alpha and Omega, beginning and the end.

Ankle Sprains and Frisbee..

July 18th, 2007 A.M.
Yesterday, we worked our tails off again. We are moving dirt and have a ways to go still. God is good and allowed us to work injury free. After we worked we had the opportunity to go play soccer with the Lahu students. We took it and it was a great time. I think we actually ended up winning although every time we would score, they would give us another player and every time they scored they would give us another player so we ended up with a lot of kids. David Abel sprained his ankle. I would like to say that he was trying to bicycle the ball into the goal or do an amazing flykick, but actually, he was stepping into a rice patty to retrieve the ball. He was taken to the local hospital and told that he was okay. What a relief, thank you Lord!

Yesterday morning, we went to worship with the Lahu people. It was all in Lahu so it was impossible to understand but we could catch little pieces of what they were saying to us. The devotion was led by a man that wants to be a church planter to Burma. Oh, that I would have the faith that this man has. Burma is being devastated by civil unrest and government coups and takeover and so many people have been driven from Burma and have take refuge in Thailand.

Last night, we brought out the Frisbees. The students had never thrown a Frisbee. It was a blast to watch as they smiled, tried to throw it and finally succeeded. How I take things for granted. We engaged them in a game of ultimate Frisbee, which is much like soccer in principle so they loved it, and we beat them 7-4. Then we mixed between Lahu and America and one of the teams one but I don’t remember which.

God is faithful. He has provided energy for me daily and for the team in an incredible way. My prayer is that no one gets dehydrated in the HOT sun and humidity and that we bond as a team closer and closer every day. God is good and able to make these things happen well. God you are the provider of everything that we are, everything that we do, and everything that we need. I pray that you would provide for us in the next couple days, health, unity, and strength as we attempt to finish the project and connect with people. In your name…

Soreness and Futbol (Soccer)!

July 17th, 2007 A.M.

Community is pretty cool. Whatever context, whatever culture. We are here at the Lahu training center and it is so interesting to see the community that is here. It is a simple life. One that requires some farming to be done, one that requires everyone’s help in building projects and one that requires all hands on deck when doing the dishes. I know that we have a lot of different things that we use at home to take care of all kinds of projects. The sense of community here is pretty cool. God created us to be in relationship with one another and it is a good thing to experience that relationship.

Yesterday we moved about 2.5 tons of dirt from out front of a building to the back to raise up a spot where concrete will be laid. We got about a quarter of the way across the back of the building. Thank the Lord no one got hurt (although soreness could be an issue) and thank God for allowing us to be here.

Our students, Scott, and I played soccer with some Lahu students after we got done moving 2.5 tons of dirt. It was pretty intense. We ended up tying 2-2 but I think that they played fairly easy. We just simply aren’t that good at soccer. When someone plays soccer daily, they tend to get really good at what they are doing. I was impressed with their ability. We also had a gathering last night where we got to share about our families. Our students did a great job of explaining who was in their family and then explaining what they did and what grade they were in. They had to speak through a translator and that was different for our kids.

God, thank you for the opportunity to serve and learn from a people that love you and want to serve you. God, grant us strength and wisdom for today, that we might do your will and walk with you closely.

Not to us, but to YOUR NAME be the glory!

July 16th, 2007 5 A.M.
Almighty infinite God above the universe…You are the God that brings relationships. You make, mend, and nurture the ones that you give. God I pray that this team would be made, that they would mend, and that the relationship that we have developed would continue to be nurtured. Make us a people that show your love! Make us a people that reflect your grace and truth.

Yesterday was a day about relationships. One of the students said it well when he said, “It was hard to speak to them but it was easy to communicate with them.” He was speaking in reference to the students at the sports camp. As we debriefed last night, I was so excited to hear the students talk about the kids that they connected with. We were loved on by the students at the sports camp. For me, that seems backwards, but the kids saw something in us that drew them to us. I have often wondered what the love of God looks like as it is played out in everyday lives and relationships and yesterday, I saw that love. Amazing.

The gospel message was shared with over 250 kids yesterday. It was all done in Thai, so I simply couldn’t understand what was being said. I wanted to understand, but couldn’t. At the end, most of the kids around the room prayed the prayer of salvation with the pastor. I am not God and so I do not judge the hearts of the kids that prayed this prayer. The exciting thing about this process was certainly salvation occurred yesterday but also the fact that the kids were asked to turn in information cards stating whether they had received Christ and if they wanted to do something like this again. Grace International will be intentional about follow up with these students. How amazing to have something so close and so intentional in a neighborhood full of unreached families. Those students saw and heard the gospel played out this weekend. They experienced what it looks like to give your life to Christ. They have seen love in the lives of Christ followers and seeds have been planted, not just with them, but with families and neighbors for years to come! God be glorified. It isn’t about us or this team or us coming to Thailand. God is doing bigger things that we can point to! Again, to God be the glory. Cool stuff.

There are things that I miss about the United States. I miss my wife…Bigtime. J It is an incredible experience being here and I know that she would love to be here with me. God, be with her as I am not.

Today, we travel to the Lahu Training Center where we were scheduled to build a wall. We have been told that that project might have been changed to helping with another structure on campus. I am excited about whatever we do. Father, give our team patience to understand the changes in schedule and grace as Larry makes tough decisions in the choices that we have! I am excited to get to know a different group of people that are being trained to bring the good news to the people of the hilltribes of Chiang Mai. We start at 6:30 this morning with a devotional. And then off to the training center for orientation.

Jesus, give us strength. Show your power today in the things that we experience. Help us to throw ourselves at whatever we encounter and give you the glory in the outcome no matter what it is. God grant us peace, grant us opportunity, help us to work hard and to glorify your name doing it. Be with our families back at home that they might see what you are doing by the communication that they do have. Bless them for their support. I pray all of these things in the name of my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Done for Today...Tired...But excited!

July 15th, 2007 P.M.
I am going to go to bed and write some more about today in the morning! Good night all!

Boasting...in the Lord?

July 15th, 2007 A.M.

But let him who boasts, boast in this. That he understands and knows me declares the Lord. That I am the Lord who exercises KINDNESS, JUSTICE, and RIGHTEOUSNESS! For in these I delight… - God (Jeremiah 9:23-ff)

God is all about our heart condition. Even as followers of Jesus Christ, God asks that our hearts are bent towards Jesus Christ and who he is. If it isn’t bent this way, we fail to recognize who God is. We fail to recognize the attributes of God and how we are to respond and live out those attributes. If we truly believe that we are “created in the image of the invisible God” wouldn’t we want to know who he is? Wouldn’t we want to understand him? Not so that we can be him, but so that we can respond to the God that would send his Son to take our sin in his own body on a tree!

In the verses following this short passage on pride, God indicts his people by saying that all of Israel is circumcised but there are still those that are uncircumcised in their heart condition. If we are not fully devoted to our Lord and Savior, we are “uncircumcised” in our hearts. We have broken a covenant with God. We are taking the death of Jesus Christ and making a mockery of it. Am I? Have I? Is there apathy and complacency? Sometimes. Should there be?

When we find that we are apathetic and complacent, we must remember the lack of complacency that Jesus had on the Christ. We must remember his passion as he cries out “Forgive them for they don’t know what they are doing!” or “Father DO NOT FORSAKE ME!” Those are passionate statements from a passionate God. If Jesus would have been apathetic or complacent or would have struggled with those things, we would have been in deep with our sin and guilt and death.

I am not arguing for a false passion. If there isn’t passion in my life, I must examine it. I cannot create that passion when it does not exist. It starts with my crying out to God to change my heart condition and sometimes that can be a painful process.

That God would change the heart condition of these students on this trip. God that you would take and break each of these students. Give them a burning passion for people. Give them a burning passion for your word and for each other and for your church and for those that are lost!!! God make me a leader that wouldn’t step around or in complacency or apathy but let me jump all in and be not lukewarm, but extreme! Show us today what it means to be passionate with kids. Challenge us to do so.

Language Barriers.

July 14, 2007 P.M.
SawadeeKop! Which means, “Hello” in Thai. I’m not good at it but I know it! J

Students are really amazing. This morning, we left for Grace International School after getting up at 5 A.M. eating breakfast and having a devotion. We managed to leave at 6:45. They did it all! I did it too but I also couldn’t sleep. The facelessness of injustice had faces today. We went to Grace and began the sports camp with 250 children between the ages of 9-13. It was amazing to see how the entire camp functioned and how our Wichita students interacted with the Thai children. They loved on them. They wanted to know them. They wanted to know their names. They had a blast with the students.

One of the most frustrating aspects of the day (and I won’t spend long on this because of other crazy good things) is the lack of knowledge that I have for language. I desperately wanted to communicate with the students but found that the only information that I could gather was their name, age, and whether they liked “futbol”, not American. J It was frustrating but also was good because it forced me to use other means of communication, the communication of love. Smiles, friendly touches, joking, these types of gestures were amazing for the kids to experience.

The camp was divided into 8 groups of kids and leaders, representing a color for each group. My group (And Collin’s) is the Orange Group. So for a lack of a better cheer, we shouted ORANGE three times, put our hands above our heads and said “OOOOOO”! The kids loved it. It was a lot of fun. This was just one of the ways that we found we could communicate with the children that were with us. To see their faces light up at being part of a team was incredibly satisfying.

Surprisingly, badmittin, which I don’t usually enjoy, was a blast. The kids loved it too. We didn’t really play an organized game, rather we smacked the birdie around and laughed incredibly hard. To say that I wasn’t touched by these kids would be untrue.

God what did you teach me today? Each day, he has taught me different things. He has taught me about my pride. He has taught me that I respond to him because of who he is, and that to respond, I must find out who he is. Today, he reissued the pride statement. Repeatedly, God has asked me point blank whether I am taking pride in myself or in him…Repeatedly, I must respond with “myself.” When I walked into a room of 200 something kids and was asked to simply hang out with them, I said, “I can do this.” When I said that, I realized a pang of pride. I can’t do it. Not without you almighty God! Not without your strength and your power and your majesty. This isn’t about me. It is about your kingdom and those that can be a part of that kingdom. It is about the love that you have given to me and offer so many more.

Almighty God, continue to challenge my selfishness. Allow me to be a man that is after your heart. That your name and your renown would be the desire of my heart and that I would say that your faithfulness stretches to the sky in good times and bad. Allow me to be open, moldable, and pliable to what you say, what you ask. Do immeasurably more than all that I can ask or imagine, according to your purposes!

Amazing day…Lack of knowledge for me on languages…Very tired…Resting in Christ…Ready to do this again tomorrow!!!! I’m PUMPED!!!!!

Injustice and the face of God!

July 14, 2007 A.M.
God, thank you for your faithfulness as we sleep. You are a God that brings blessing and grace and mercy. You are also a God of justice. It is in the injustice that we sin our state of sin and fallen selves. Help us to see you for who you are in the midst of injustice. Help us to be your servants even when it seems that darkness surrounds us. Be with us today. Let us be a spotlight for your love!

As we woke up today, I was reminded of the injustice that surrounds us here in Thailand, around Thailand, in the states, in India, and in the world and I was reminded that this is not a characteristic of God. His character is that of justice, of mercy, and of grace. To see the injustice is to remember a God of justice. There is a Tomlin song that says, “Remember your people Oh God!” That we would remember God, that his name and renown would be the desire of our hearts, that his word would guide our feet and light our path, those things are important in the scheme of the big picture.

As we go through today, my prayer for students and for the adults is that we would see poverty and injustice but that we would not reduce this to facelessness but that we would add faces…People are beyond all of the numbers of injustice. God loves people, not causes…His cause was to draw people to himself. Oh that we would see others how Jesus saw them! What would the effectiveness of a servant be then!

God grant us power today. Grant us the ability to give a face to injustice and to be able to love the people that are involved. Let us see people the way that you see them and not wholesale the cause. Give us wisdom from you beyond the years that have. I give you today. Show us your power, show us your glory, show the world your glory…

Fried Chicken and Cats...

July 13th, 2007
I am an unworthy vessel God. Use me for to show your GLORY to anyone who you are calling to yourself.

As I think about today, I think about so many things that we experienced, learned, understood, and wondered about. We started the day with a great breakfast in the hotel and then we had our community devotions which were great. David led us to the throne of God by discussing Isaiah 6 and asking us to get into groups and let God speak through his holy spirit to us. I am so impressed by the students that have come on this trip with us. There is a longing to follow after who God is. There is a longing to know him and his word. That is exciting. We went to Grace International and met with the team that will be doing the sports camp. It was worth it to meet the team that we will be working tomorrow with. God is good and allowed us to form a quick team in a short amount of time. There are people from California, Thailand, and other countries that are part of that team. We start early tomorrow morning at the sports camp. We are working with over 280 kids. I’m excited to see what God will do in and through our students and in the Thai students.

After we trained for our sports camp, we ate lunch. We had a soup of some sort over rice. Very good. Pete didn’t like it because it had potatoes in it, but I thought it was very tasty. Overall, I have eaten very well. Thai food is good.

After the food we had a man that was experienced in Buddhism evangelism give us some facts and challenge us to simply love and reduce the variables of culture and life back down to who Jesus is and was and is to come. This was good for me to hear and I believe that the principle can be brought to my own context and area of ministry. Jesus really is the deciding factor and his name and his renown are the desire of my heart.

Sivy came in next. Dear Lord, make me like this 14 year old girl! Challenge my faith that it would grow beyond my years as Sivy’s is. Make me your servant, give me boldness, give me humility. Show your power.

Sivy was a girl from a different country. She was an orphan with a skin disease. (This would have been much better in person if you are reading this. J) She was healed by the power of prayer and put her faith in Jesus Christ. I broke down. I lost it when she said, “I wish I could be like you and go to a different country, my own country.” Wow. Do I have the heart and the passion for the people in my own country that Sivy does for hers? Does my heart break for my neighbors? Do I truly want to reach the people in Wichita for Jesus or is it simply a mechanical response to God’s word? I want the passion to drive me. I have experienced it…God let me experience it over and over again to be effective in building your kingdom.

We took a tour of Grace, went back to the hotel debriefed, and had dinner. Our debrief was good discussion and there is a ton of processing that is going on with students. God is faithful in his teaching and challenging. Thank you God.
I ordered “Fried Chicken” and right after I saw a cat with no tail run out of the kitchen, I got my food. Yum. No really, it was pretty good. I enjoyed it. There was some mystery sauce that Pete enjoyed too.

I miss my wife but she is amazing and is supportive and loving. I love YOU Cassandra! I am enjoying my God. His faithfulness reaches to the heavens. His love reaches to the skies.

GOD, thank you for your love. Thank you for your gifts that are abundant and life changing. Change our group. Give us an experience tomorrow that pushes us beyond where we are at. Push us out of our comfort zone and allow us to be incredibly challenged in the things that we are learning. Grant us peace tonight as we sleep and be with our families in the states as they support and love us from afar. Be with Larry. Give him wisdom and decision making ability that is God honoring and God following. ! Amazing!

So...God is pretty faithful...I'm enjoying Jesus!

Again, God is faithful. He is with us every step of the way and as I sit in an internet hotspot and write these words, I am reminded of his faithfulness again. Thank you Oh Lord for who you are and how you ask us to respond to that. I am ever grateful for your leading in our lives and your leading of this team.

The team has done well today. It started with a flight to Chang mai from Bangkok where we were only on the plane for one hour. When we got to Chang Mai we met with Dave and Gloria Callahan as well as Chris Cole. Chris introduced us to a young man named Dennis. Dennis has a crazy story. Mom and Dad are not doing well in their marriage but Dennis was saved in middle school. God has been good to him and he is going to be able to finish his senior year and graduate from Grace International school. It is exciting to see what God is doing in a man so full of promise and vigor for Jesus Christ! My heart yearns for his situation and yet I know that God is preparing him for something incredible. After we met with the Callahan’s, Chris, and Dennis, we headed to Dinner. We walked forty minutes downtown to a local Thai restaurant where we had Thai food. We ate community style and everyone was full when we left. Again, God is amazing and we connected well at dinner. As a team, we had a blast. Scott Hackett danced. That was fun.

We went through the marketplace after Dinner where we could buy anything known to mankind. Amazing. There were lots of vendors willing to sell you anything that they had on their stands. I didn’t buy anything, but Pete was fairly focused on three things. He got them, and he got to barter for them. He was excited.

We road in a “Songton” (not sure how to spell it) which is a truck where lots of people can ride on benches in the back. I wasn’t sure where in the world it was taking us, but we eventually made it back to the old hotel. Thank you Lord!

When we got back, we debriefed, prayed together and then Larry, Milloy, and I updated website stuff. Larry is fairly happy with the amount of traffic that our website is getting. I think it’s probably parents that are worried about their kids.

Larry and Scott have been great leaders with great charisma. I’m so excited to see what God does through them and in them this week. He is working.

Tomorrow, we start training for sports camp. That’ll be sweet…You know what? I’m out! I’m going to bed. Good night!

God thank you for your faithfulness, your love which defines who I am in you, and your life that you gave on the cross. Grant me wisdom, peace, love, and power on this trip and beyond this trip. It’s in your name that I pray ALL of these things…

July 11th, 2007

We are here. In Bangkok that is. We arrived at Midnight on Wednesday evening and then fly to Changmai in the morning. Flying was good. I met 3 people that I had significant conversations with.

I met a marine on the Wichita to Chicago flight named Gabriel. He is from Wichita but is oversees in Okanawa. He was back on leave. He is searching for who God is and why. I had the opportunity to ask him about his experience in the army. He was a “pseudo-team member” until our flight left so that he didn’t fall asleep waiting for the flight.

I met John on our next flight. This was the biggie. 13 hours on a plane is a long time. John and I hit it off well. He just graduated from a college in Chicago with a degree in marketing. He decided, after a short stint in marketing, that it wasn’t for him. He is now going to South Korea to work with kids and teenagers teaching them English. He doesn’t really know what he wants to do with what he is doing, but he is fairly excited. We got to talk about spiritual things very briefly.

We had a 6 hour flight from Tokyo to Bangkok. I got on this flight and immediately met Nick. Nick is a public health official in Chaingmi but is originally from Australia. He works with Thai people educating them on health standards and other type things. Immediately after introductions, Nick wanted to talk comparative theology. We got to talk about who God is and why and I had the opportunity to share with him what it meant to follow Christ. Nick is a self proclaimed agnostic.

I had the opportunity to be a lover of people and care about who they are and what they are doing. It is exciting to see God working in our lives and in our team.
Tomorrow we meet at 9:30 for a debriefing on today. I expect that there will be some tired students, but I also expect there to be an eagerness about going to Chaingmi that will set in tomorrow.

God, you are good. Your faithfulness endures through all generations. In the midst of the unknown, you are known. You reveal yourself and today you have done that to me. God bring me to who you are on this trip and allow me to see you clearly and be able to communicate that knowledge to others!

Leaving and Such

Well, I am leaving this morning. God is faithful and good and allowed me to do some sleeping last night. He allowed me to work through the trial and the emotion that I felt last night. I managed to lean on him and his strength. I am ready to hit it hard today. I'm excited. I'm excited to see where God will take this team, these students, and myself. God is faithful, God is good...I have had the opportunity to remember this truth that I have been taught for years! Thanks God! See you all from Thailand!

Thailand Trip

As I sit here in my office, I realize that I will be changed the next time I sit in this chair. We head to Thailand tomorrow. I will be posting in Thailand my thoughts and reflections as we go along. As I head into this trip, I have some apprehension simply because of the unknown. I'm not sure of everything and I have had to give some of that apprehension to a God that I believe will protect and not harm, love and not hate, be with us in times of trouble, and a God that promises his faithfulness. I believe that we will impact Thai people for Jesus Christ in Thailand but I believe that we will be even more affected by what happens in the next two weeks. What on earth am I here for? I am here to glorify and serve my God and Savior Jesus Christ. For the next two weeks, I will remember that statement over and over again.