Tom's haircut

Tom's new haircut, Tuu's was cheap but not as cheap as Tom's seen as he did it himself. The heat called for drastic measures.

Tuu's haircut

Tuu's new haircut. It was mostly to get rid of split ends, but the treatment also brought back her lovely natural waves.

Child of God

3 days ago Tuu and I heard a squeaky little "meow". After following the calls, we saw the head of a little scrawny kitten poking out from under the door of the upstairs storage area (Its like an attic). A little bit later I went up and found it hiding away up there in another room. It was so shaky on its feet, and extremely scared of me.  It was so small maybe a little malnourished, we figured its mum would be back to get it soon though. Later on that night we heard the repetitive squeaking noises again. There were no lights up there so I used my phone light, all I could was its little head peering out to see who these strangers were. We opened the door incase the mum had been trapped out and hoped by morning that its mum would have rescued it. The next morning however it was still there by itself. It looked so hungry we got it some milk, I had to put some milk on my finger to get it to try it. He was still quite scared of us, but eventually hunger got the better of her and she started to lick it up. It  had enough milk to last it till yesterday, but today with no milk left it ventured down the huge steps. So we made her a little place to stay with a comfortable bed. She was so funny though. She looked kind of weak and dirty, and she couldn't go very far from her little spot she stayed. but with no mum we couldn't help but care for her. By the end of today she had grown quite attached of us, as we had of her. Whenever we'd go over to where she was she would wobble towards us to get some attention, then as we walked away she walk give us those sad eyes, as well as whining meows, which made me feel bad about leaving her, I must have checked up on her 15 times today. She was small, she was helpless, she was weak, she was lonely, she was cute.

And then something happened that rocked both Tuu and myself. Tuu's dog which is a rather large dog, crushed this little things head, it wasn't a pretty site, in fact it was really disgusting. But even more than that it was sad was because it was so helpless and hopeless, it had no mother to rescue it, we  were the only ones that could have, had we known. It hit us hard, we felt intense emotions such as sorrow and pain, seems kind of silly for a little kitten we'd known for 3 days. As Tuu and I cried we saw God soften our hard selfish hearts. In the midst of the sorrow we asked God to teach us something. We realized that this kitten was God's little baby, He had created it, it wasn't an accident, even though it had been abandoned and it looked funny, God still loved it. And if this is how special a kitten was to God, then how much more is each individual human life He created. If the death of a kitten made us feel this way, then what huge sorrow God must feel every time someone dies without knowing him. He loves them so much!

God doesn't want to helpless to die. It is not his plan that the weak be crushed, It is His will that they would have a Father. And I realized tonight that unless I wake up from my current state, I might be the reason why one helpless soul dies without having a rescuer. Because He wants to use US to rescue weak, to care for those that have no one to take care of them. We've been too busy doing our own things worrying about our own problems, which I'm too embarrassed to even call problems now. He wants us to intercede on behalf of those that the enemy wants to crush, but I've been too busy conquering the world in a computer game. Lives are too important, in fact all of sudden these lives seem like the only thing that is important.

I believe one way or another God sent that little kitten to us, and this was the wake-up call we needed. To realize how precious the children of God are, to realize that there's no time to waste because the enemy is prowling ready to snatch those that are helpless. For the kitten that was once without a name, we have called her "luuk khong prajaw"  which is Thai for "child of God". We're sorry that this poor defenseless "child of God" had to die, for us to learn these things, but I don't want to see a helpless human "child of God" die without help, before I realize what this life is all about.

LIFE WORK

I've been thinking a bit lately about where God is taking Tuu and I, and the plans that he has for us. When I look at what he has told us so far, I feel like that we're not very missionary like. I mean we don't have a specific ministry, we don't have a specific target group such as orphans or prostitutes, "working" whether paid or unpaid will make-up most of our efforts for the next year or two. I have even been wondering whether we deserve the titles of missionaries ... we might not be doing that much in Korat except for spending time with Tuu's family and teaching English. 

I realized though that YES what we are doing really does make us missionaries, in fact its the type of missionary that God has called us ALL to be. When we hear that we're ALL missionaries we know its true, yet it is something that is hard for us to really believe and live out. The problem is that we've made the equation and qualifications for being a missionary way too complicated.  MINISTRY + TARGET GROUP + MONETARY SUPPORT = MISSIONARY. God's equation though is LIFE = MISSIONARY. The truth is that God's presence and glory are with us wherever we are. That is all we need to be missionaries. 

Rob Bell puts it this way in his book

"This is why it is impossible for a Christian to have a secular job. If you follow Jesus and you are doing what you do in his name, then it is no longer secular work; it's sacred. You are there; God is there. The difference is our awareness"

Tuu and I really believe that God has a specific ministry for us, and one day we will have a target group. We may or may not have a regular support commitment from multiple churches, but these things don't make us missionaries, having God in our lives and being aware of it is what makes us missionaries. It is our hope to live as Paul encourages us "Whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus."

In whatever we do here in Korat or Ratchaburri or wherever we are, our mission is to LIVE LIFE in the name of Jesus, so that all may see His glory.
It's all about His GLORY

wonderous mysteries

God is awesomely mysterious ... and mysteriously awesome.

The things I thought as going forwards really were going nowhere, and the things I thought of as going backwards really are going forwards.

I'm realizing that being safe in my faith is actually a very dangerous place to be.

Its been a long while since I've desired to be challenged in the way I think, to have my world shaken up a little bit.

Normally I really enjoy hearing a sermon that fits my ideas and doctrines, it makes me feel good ... well I can't be that far off the mark if other people think the same way I do. Its been nice to read books where I feel like "they're right on the money". Mysteriously being comfortable has lost its appeal again. Just knodding my head and "Amen'ing" everything a pastor says without having my boat rocked doesn't get me anywhere except maybe build my pride.

What good will it be if I keep reading books that are "safe and easy"
I had forgotten what it felt like to be hungry for understanding, but I'm getting a glimpse of that again. Its strange but I actually desire to find out that some things I accepted as correct are in fact not. Its better to find out than to be ignorant and wrong all my life.

I long for more mysterious, so I can wrestle with them and be stretched as I attempt to grasp the ungraspable. Its like for a while I've been trying to flex my faith muscles and then I see just a fingerprint of the Almighty One and I'm put back in my place. But its the scare I needed to realize there is an infinity amount of mysteries that I'm yet to grasp about God, about his greatness, about his love.

Velvet Elvis by Rob Bell is the book that God has used to bump me out of my rut a little, and to give me a passion to wrestle again, even to lose in order that I might win.
God's mysteries are worth the chasing even if my uderstandings of Him get battered and bruised.

The rabbis even say a specific blessing when they don't understand a portion of the text. When it eludes them, when it makes no sense, they say a word of thanks to God because of the blessing that will be theirs someday. "Thank you, God that at some point in the future, the lights are going to come on for me"

The rabbis have a metaphor for this wrestling with the test: The story of Jacob wrestling the angel in Genesis 32. He struggles, and it is exhausting and tiring, and in the end his hip is injured. It hurts. And he walks away limping.

Because when you wrestle with the text, you walk away limping.

And some people have no limp, because they haven't wrestled. But the ones limping have an experience with the living God.

pp. 68-69 Velvet Elvis

I don't need the instructions...

Tonight in our discussion at small group, our focus was on faith, which also led to talking about controlling our lives. Derek made an interesting point that for Aussie blokes it is quite tough for them to give up control of their lives to another, because we love to be in control and to be right.

At first I thought he might of made a bit of a generalisation, but actually it is very true... us guys, especially us Aussie guys just love to think we can do everything ourselves, we don't need any help. When it comes to building something we don't need to read the instructions, we know how it goes together. When it comes to directions we don't need the map, we've got it all sorted out. When it comes to how we should live our lives, we don't want to be told by anyone that we're doing something wrong, whether it be by our wives or by somebody else...
Our pride says that we can do it...

I pray that we don't let that pride stopping us from letting God control our lives,
I pray that we don't neglect to seek God for instruction, because we think we know best how our lives should be put together.
I pray that we don't forget to consult God for directions, because we already know where we should be going and the way to get there.
I pray that God turns our Aussie male stubborness into determination, grit, and stickability that he will use for his Kingdom when give him the reigns to our lives.

Full of Excuses

Sermon preached on 30 March 2008

FULL OF EXCUSES


Like the guy in the commercial, we're all full of excuses. When God calls us we have excuses why we can't, why we shouldn't, why we won't do what he's called us to do. Jonah ran away, his excuse being God would ruin his reputation. When Jesus called a couple men to follow him their excuses were, they had stuff to do, family commitments etc. There's 1000's of excuses and God's heard them all. However, when Jesus was called by God to do the biggest, toughest, greatest thing in all of history, he did not make an excuse. His response was "not my will but yours be done" Surely we can learn from him. When will we stop making excuses?

INSPIRATION
Leeland - Opposite Way Click to Listen

TEXTS
Jonah, Luke 9:57-62, Luke 14:15-20, Mat 26:36-44

LISTEN
Online
Download

Trash or Treasure

Sermon preached on March 3, 2008

TRASH OR TREASURE


We all are after treasure, all you need to do is look at Antiques Roadshow to see that - the joy and excitement of those that are told by the evaluator that they own treasure. However there are many pieces that dont make it to air on TV, because they're trash. There will be a day when we too meet an evaluator, and we will be told whether we have trash or treasure. Thankfully Jesus is pretty clear about where real treasure is. Why would be have trash we can have real treasure?

MAIN TEXT
Matthew 6:19-33

ADDITIONAL TEXTS
Hebrews 12:1, Philippians 3:13-14, James 5:3, Ezekiel 7:19, Matthew 13:45

LISTEN
Online
Download

THE WEDDING VIDEO (Part 2)

THE WESTERN CEREMONY

THE WEDDING VIDEO (Part 1)

THE THAI CEREMONY