We’ve often said over the last few weeks that this time in Thailand is a time of harvest. As Scripture says, “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few.” I could write for hours but hardly could I even give a fog of an outline of God’s glory these last few days. I sense what John was feeling when he wrote Revelation; a frustration, for what words could possibly create a full picture of God’s glory? Tonite, though, I would like to share one specific moment in time.
The TREK team, pastor, Karen, and a couple from the church were embarking on what I feel is one of the hardest ministries available. Praying for people in their homes stretches every part of me. It isn’t the difficulty of initial conversation or what to even pray for, but it is through and in prayer that the spiritual battle is revealed. As people come to know Christ for the first time, the Enemy is also there. But even so, we are asked to pray in faith for many things that won’t be answered. We pray for the healing of diseases or the cleansing of bad dreams, but God’s will doesn’t always align to our will. A better way to say that would be our will doesn’t always align with God’s will.
As we crowded into a concrete room I knew that sickness was all around me. We knelt on the floor with three generations of women represented: a grandmother, her daughter, and her granddaughter. A young man sat far in the back with his hand on a medical bed. On the bed was the grandfather. His frailty is hardly describable. His skeleton reminded me of the photos from famines in Africa that I always see on television. His shorts hung loose and his shirt was no more than a young boy’s shirt. He wasn’t strong enough to sit up for more than a few seconds where he was then reduced to curling up in a fetal position. His mind was gone months or years ago, leaving me with a staunch feeling that he was near death.
But God must be given glory for the moment, for at the same time my gaze was captured by this old man, the Thai Christians were leading the grandmother to Christ. One of the young women from the church possesses the softest heart I’ve ever witnessed. I know that the Holy Spirit rests on ever word that leaves her mouth and is in every finger that lovingly brushes the grandma’s hand. The grandma, who is in her 70’s, accepted Christ tonite.
But, as joyful as that moment was for me, I was gripped with sadness at the same time. In my midst was the strongest sense I have ever gotten; for at that single moment I could have reached out and held her husband’s hand and gripped death. With my other hand, I could have held her hand, clinging to life. It is that moment that I realized the true power we possess. If God was truly going to reach this lady he wouldn’t need us. We could have never walked into that house and God would have asked someone else instead. But the fact remains, that in our words, in our hands, and ultimately in our hearts, we hold the key to life. We hold eternity, the ability to pass it on and the ability to withhold it. If we are honest with ourselves we will accept the truth, that every time we don’t share Life with someone we meet, we truly are withholding Life from them.
Whatever we loose in heaven will be loosed on earth, and whatever we bind in heaven will be bound on earth. We hold the Gospel in our hearts and in our testimonies. We must share it with the lost in this world. I found myself agreeing with a fellow TREKer who said, “I found myself pleading with God. Please reach through this old man’s delusional mind.” We must, as another team member said, “Have the faith that God’s love is deeper than the insanity within this man’s broken mind.” God’s love is deeper than
God has chosen to use his creation to reach out to his creation. Life in one hand and death in another. Daily we face the decision to cling to the Life we can give, or grip the death that surrounds us. We prayed and prayed in that home, and yet the grandpa wasn’t within the capacity to truly respond. Continue to pray for him. We serve a gracious God; but we also serve a merciful God. Pray for both.
–Thomas
ps. Golf (from my last note) accepted Christ yesterday. Help us celebrate! Pray for tomorrow, where I will be intentionally sharing with Gaan, another fisherman buddy on the pier. Salvation is the Lord’s, his blessing is on his people. (altogether, the last two days of outreach in Angsila has the Kingdom filled with 14 new people!).
pps. this is a late post. Gaan accepted Christ that night. That story will come later. 
