8 September 2013
Dear Phyllis,
I have nothing to say. Well that is not totally true, but I don't know what to say this week. It is not that there is nothing new, but there is no central theme, and I don't feel in a very spiritual frame of mind. Some of what has happened has been good and some bad. Perhaps the biggest item was a meeting that I did not attend. The limbless man, Nick Vujicic, from Australia was in town for a meeting. That was probably unprecedented. There was a major promotion for that meeting with posters all over town. Unbelievably it cost 300 B ($10) for a ticket to get in. Chiang Mai is a major convention city and they recently built a new International Convention Center. I mean to tell you, it is something else. Like it doesn't get much better. They held the meeting there, and that was the first time a non-government function was held there. The seating capacity was 12,000 and they had to bring in more chairs as the place was packet with people standing clear to the wall. Nick is supposed to be a motivational speaker; having been born with no arms or legs. All he is is a limbless torso with a tiny flapper on the bottom with two toes. But he obviously has a very keen mind and is an amazing phenomenon of a stump who has done unbelievably well in life with his handicap. I have never seen him, but he apparently is very well known having appeared on many TV programs, documentaries, You Tube, and spoken in virtually every country in the world. Because of his handicap, it is impossible to speak against him, and this has given him an audience where no one else could lift their voice.
I didn't go, but several of my friends did. They came away raving. It is doubtful that the promoters had in mind what came out, but you couldn't have orchestrated a more riveting evangelistic meeting. Billy Graham couldn't have preached liked that. The secular media hails him as a motivational speaker, and he certainty is, but he really only has one string on his banjo – JESUS. He told how in his early life when he was born with such a horrible handicap he wanted to commit suicide. Why not? Who wants to go through life locked in a body like that? But then Jesus moved in. The Lord has given him a ministry like very few have ever experienced on this earth. It is estimated that he has spoken to 1/3 of the population of the entire world. His hearers number in the billions. The fellows who were there said Jesus could not be lifted higher than He was that night. They said he held the packed crowd of over 12,000 absolutely spell-bound. Steve said he counted less than ten who got up and walked out, and most of them were Christ-hating westerners. But the Thais sat there glued to their seats. I doubt that there has ever been a meeting like that in Chiang Mai history.
Paul told me that Nick said Thailand was one of the most responsive countries he has been in. Paul believes we are in a revival. I don't know. Maybe the Lord is doing something major here. That meeting certainly was one. Paul is seeing things daily like you only see once in two or three decades. There is no question but what revival is real in his house. He has half a dozen teenage girls and four or five boys living in that house and I have never heard of anything like it. They have prayer meeting every morning at 5:00 AM. Paul says there is nothing but singing, praise the Lord, and laughter all day long. Looking at TV would be like putting a pig in a bird cage. That is unthinkable. The Bible is the only book ever opened and everyone has an insatiable craving for that. Two of the children are reaching over 240 students in a Bible study each week. They asked the teachers for permission to have those meetings, and Paul didn't even know it. One of his boys was the worst kid in school and now is the best. His teacher called Marisa and asked, “What in the world did you do to change that boy?”
Two of his girls come from a small minority village in the mountains north of here. There are about only 300 people living in that village and they had a church of 80. But the devil got in and split the church. Things had gone down hill badly in that village. Paul took the gang up there last weekend for a try to help them. The Lord heard prayer and the building for 80 people was packed out with 130. The pastor wept as he said nothing like that had ever happened before. There had been a drought in that village after the split took place, but since the restoration, the rain has come again and the crops look good. Time will tell, but the work of the Spirit seems to be real.
I don't mean to toot Paul's horn. He would be very grieved if I did. The thing that is so amazing about what is happening there is that Paul is the most unlikely man on this planet for the Lord to use. He has only been saved a very short time and came from as bad a background as is possible. To say he has nothing is not an exaggeration. His mouth was so bad three years ago it would have embarrassed a sailor. He still struggles with four letter vocabulary but is doing much better. Paul is intelligent, but it is well concealed behind a very course exterior. It would not be honoring to the Lord to detail his former life style, but suffice to say it is as big a contrast as if an Islamic terrorist becoming a nursery helper in a Christian school. That is the only explanation I have for the inexplicable hand of the Lord on this unusual man. Maybe he is right that there is a revival going on in Thailand.
In the plus column I am enjoying one of the biggest breaks I have personally seen in Thailand with the director of the kindergarten where I teach. Singha has come more on line than anyone I have seen in years. The only explanation I have for this is that he must be a chosen vessel of the Lord's. Right from the beginning he showed unusual interest in the things of the Lord. Several months ago, he came to a Saturday night Bible study and showed an intense desire to be saved. That night he backed off as he considered the cost of what would happen to his school if he became a Christian. The law requires that they teach Buddhism, and to draw a line might close his school. As he wrestled with this issue I asked him, “Do you want to follow Jesus?” Very firmly he answered, “Yes, I do.” Then I advised him, “The only thing I can tell you is, if you follow Jesus, somehow He will show you what to do with that problem with the school.” At that point he seemed to fade slightly, but recently came forward again. Two weeks ago I was preaching in the church about the king having a wedding for his Son (Mt. 22:1-14). I said there were five responses to that invitation. After the service he told me he was somewhere between 4 and 5. I said, “Hang the 4! Get into 5!” Pastor Kichikun was talking with us and got in the conversation. They got their English grammar mixed up and so I asked Singha straight out, “Have you accepted Jesus as your personal savior?” He answered affirmatively “Yes”. I told you this a couple of weeks ago.
Since then several most encouraging things have happened. Last Monday he told me he had a terrible sore shoulder. It was causing him a great deal of pain, and he had a pact on it. I said, “Let me pray for you.” And I laid hands on him asking the lord to heal him. The next day he brought up the subject again, and reminded me how I had prayed for him. Then he beat on his shoulder joyously saying, “It is healed! The pain is all gone!” I would have been happy to hear that, but then he showed me his arms that were covered with goose bumps. He said, “It is a miracle!” That is one of the few times I have seen someone so excited their arms were covered with goose bumps. He told me that he is reading three chapters of scripture every night and praying. That is good news. Then two days later he said he had read John 14, 15, and 16 the night before. I asked, “Did you enjoy it?” “Very much.” Then he added, “John 16 talks about the Holy Spirit”, holding out his arms again to show me the goose bumps. I am about to call him “Goose bumps Singha”. He went on to say that he is reading the Bible together with his son every night. That is extremely good news.
Two major negatives happened last week. For many years we have had an excellent Wednesday early morning prayer meeting. For the past several months everybody was busy and the meeting got canceled. But last week we got it going again. Paul had been praying for two days that the Lord would give us an unusual time of unity and blessing. One very dear brother shared a letter that he received from some folks in the states. I said something unnecessary that was contradictory to what he had just said. Karl exploded and emotionally exclaimed how badly my remark had hurt him. At that I uncorked and roared, “What I said is true! I stand by every word!” That helped a lot. The prayer meeting was a disaster. Karl was less than a happy camper when he left, and I wonder if we will ever see him again. I felt so embarrassed that I swore I would never go to that prayer after that.
Then Saturday I had an exceptional disastrous day. Several months ago a close friend had asked me if I would work with him in teaching minority boys cabinet making to give them a good trade in life. A Thai doctor where he lives had built an exceptionally large shed for this purpose, and we were just getting a first class shop set up. George had purchased some top-of-the-line tools and we made several benches. But then the devil joined us. I couldn't believe it. George and I have been very close friends for two years. We have never had a problem together, but the story about the shed got changed. First this very large area was all ours. Then some people making glass windows got inserted. George said, “No problem. When we get ready to use this place they will be gone.” But last week a new word got injected in the conversation – rent. It turned out they were paying rent to use part of this shed. I said, “That changes the picture radically.” But George assured me that we could still have all the space we needed. The place was filled with junk, and I had a vision of setting up a very spacious shop. To get started we had cleared out a small space about the size of a kitchen to make our benches. When we got ready to expand I suggested that we clear out half the shed and get set up. George replied, “We can't. If we do that I will have to pay 10,000 baht rent. This spot is good enough.” Things started to go side ways – big time. George is a lovely brother, but has never done this work. He is a fine Christian, but is the type of person that has his own concepts, and has difficulty accepting anything that is at variance with what he has in mind. The table saw was setting 8 feet from the wall and he asked, “What is wrong with that?” I replied, “I must have a minimum of 25 feet of run in order to cut a 12 foot board.” I got angry and he got angry. We had a beautiful slide saw set up 6 feet from the wall. I said, “Cut that 4 meter board in two.” In a pretty warm temper he grabbed the board and slammed it down on the bench demanding, “Where do you want it cut?” I drew a line in the middle at 2 meters. That was impossible as the saw was two feet too close to the wall. The temperature in the room began to raise considerably. He was getting increasingly angry and I was doing my best to hold my temper, but the devil took center stage. George asked me to cut a sheet of plywood; I said I needed a straight edge. We got into an infuriating discussion about a stick of angle iron for a straight edge. I was doing my best to keep my cool but suddenly something snapped inside me. At that point I erupted, that would have made St. Helens look like a 4th of July firecracker. In a rage I took off. My guts were boiling so hot that, if I had drunk a glass of ice tea, steam would have belched from my mouth. That is not the Spirit of Christ. I don't know where we go from here, but it is amazing that the devil can cause such a fierce conflict over nothing.
I told you I had nothing to say. Not much happened last week. The Lord did a couple of good things and I close-out the week thoroughly ashamed at myself for my un-Christlike behavior. I don't know how I will recover from that.
Tonikaku, praise the Lord,
bill
PS: After I finished this letter, George just showed up with his hat in hand and a pack of potato chips for me. I was going to put my head down and go apologize to him but he got to me first. PTL
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