Final Words
I am writing this update from chilly Seoul, Korea, airport. I left Chiang Mai and my precious and beloved friends, brothers and sisters, and spiritual daughters to head home shortly before midnight. Things have been hard at home in Abilene with several challenging situations. The most significant has been our daughter, Megan’s appointment with a Rheumatologist. It has been hard to be a “daddio” for several precious ones in Chiang Mai and not be there physically to do that with my daughter. In addition, there have been some other challenges that our church elders have had to handle. They are good men and they have been very busy loving on people with broken hearts, big dreams, and important ministries.
This beautiful, modern, and spacious Inchon airport is great for many reasons, but free Wifi is at the top of my list. I was able to video Skype with Donna and get the latest word on Megan’s appointment. Sitting here with my Mocha Frappacino watching the sun come up over the snowy hills around Seoul, I am thankful for friends and family who loved on Donna on her way out of Abilene yesterday afternoon. She headed to Austin to help Megan with her appointment today. She had so many things on her heart and I wasn’t there to help. Megan had a good first visit to the doc this morning and we will see where all this takes us. Prayers for complete healing would be appreciated!
Inevitably, important visits come to an end. This is hard and everyone begins to feel the urgency of the countdown as hours melt into minutes and minutes escape into hours. Suddenly, you realize that you are down to your final 36 hours. This urgency is good because you are reminded to make each moment count and not leave any stone unturned. I felt this urgency on three fronts:
- Make each moment count with those precious to me who I get to see so infrequently and who I love so dearly. They felt this, too, and we all tried to make every moment count.
- Make sure I helped complete things that Robert wanted to have done and get those things in good shape before I left.
- Visit with people about the most important matters, the faith decisions they are facing, and helping them undersand how important their decision is to them and how precious they are to me.
I had one person I longed to see but never did. He ree-scheduled several appointments and eventually cancelled. This was the ONLY disappointment of the trip. The Lord blessed it in every other way. I’m tired, but filled with joy. I don’t think I could have done much more.
When Robert, the interns, and I arrived back from our trip to Phaoyo on Thursday, I went to meet Melody — someone very precious to me — at the coffee shop. We talked about her life, where she wanted to go with her life, and then came the moment of truth. What was the barrier that kept her from considering faith in Jesus? This special young woman is precious to me. We studied together 2 years ago when I was here. We visit at least once a week on Skype. She introduced me to her sister who also joined us in Chiang Mai for several days. Her sister has become a follower of Jesus, but she has not … yet.
We had great conversation and open sharing of our hearts as she described the barrier holding her back … then she lowered the barrier. There is a journey still to share and there will be strong challenges ahead, but there is also a commitment to journey together. She is part of Daddio and Nonnie’ group of girls from Peru, China, Madagascar, Uganda, and places in between that we would love to tuck into our beds and eat our table and claim as our own, but we probably won’t be able to do that this side of heaven. That’s why leading them to faith is so important to us.
After the conversation, we went to the Zone and visited some more about a few things then had supper and shared in the devo time at cell group meeting. Melody translated to me as the meeting was held in Thai and translated for me when I shared some things on my heart. 
Cell group is a time of singing, praying, and learning from God’s word. It is led by the church members. It follows a dinner. This provides great community, something so often lacking on the university campus or in the lives of the young business professionals that are a part of the Christian Zone.
Long after cell group was over, Sonya walked with us as I walked Melody back to her dorm. The international dorm is way on the far side of the campus. The three of us talked about what to look for in boys they dated, how did I know Donna was the right one for me, how could they know they were in love, and several other very important questions. Then they asked some very good, very straightforward questions of me. In many ways, these young woman are so innocent about all of this despite having grown up with significant challenges. Learning about dating from a Christian point of view was fascinating and also exciting for them. It was sweetly touch for me that they would share their hearts and concerns so freely and ask such spot on questions about what is important. I was reminded again of two very important truths that I so often take for granted:
- Often, our best opportunities to teach God’s truth about life’s most important things occur because we are present at the moment they surface. To put it more simply, we don’t get those strategic moments of quality time without a commitment to be present with quantity time.
- How important a father’s love, even a surrogate father’s love, is to young men and young women as they begin to make their life decisions and seek to find their own moral compass.
I told them both that I was honored they would share their concerns so readily! After we dropped Melody at the dorm, Sonya and I walked Chinese pace back to the Zone where we read Scripture together with another intern.
It was a late night already when I got back to my room, but as I checked my international txt messages, there were several things in email and txt that broke my heart — things from back home and people I love and those who are seeking to minister to them.. I prayed. To be honest, I cried as I prayed. Worried about Megan’s visit and Donna’s travel and friends heartbreak and longing to see some of these precious young men and young women fully come to Jesus made for a deeply emotional time of prayer with the Father. This made for a very short night!
My last day began with equipping time and the reminder that just because something is God’s will doesn’t mean it will be easy or bring immediate and favorable results. There are fewer calls of God more clear than Paul’s call to go into Macedonia and share the good news of Jesus. However, Paul’s obedience to this call led to his beating and imprisonment in Philippi before he was asked to leave, being run out of Thessalonica and Jason having to post bond money assuring he wouldn’t return, being run out of the dumpy little town of Berea, being laughed out of town in Athens for preaching the Cross and Resurrection so that when he came to Corinth, he came in weakness and in fear (Read Acts 16-17 and 1 Corinthians 2:1-4 for the story). In other words, three years after Paul’s vision, he had faced beating, imprisonment, rejection, hardship, difficulty, ridicule, and planted the mess of a church we see in 1 Corinthians. Yet it was God’s will, and years later, the importance of this work is immediately clear. The reality, however, is that obeying the call of God can lead to challenging difficulties, hardships, and persecutions. Our job is to be faithful!
We shared some things we have seen this in our own lives. After working through these concepts, Sean Todd — another part of the mission team in Chiang Mai — shared his time and his life with the interns. Sean is animated, friendly, and sharp. (He is also a great translator and had graciously and powerfully translated for me on Sunday morning!) His honest sharing was a blessing to them. He talked about strategy and planning, yet reminded them of the importance of discerning what God was doing and hopping on board God’s work rather than trying to manufacture it ourselves.
After equipping time, Robert took the interns to lunch and I met Melody for a quick lunch. Then at 1:00 we all got back together and worked on the first lesson of Robert’s Friendship Bible Study to make it more suitable. This was the very first thing Robert and I spent time on when I arrived and it would be one of the last things we worked on before I left. These studies are a great follow up to LST or reading the Bible in English with others.
When we finished our study, Robert and I continued to visit and talk through several things and then I ran over to my room, packed my bags and it was time to go. Sonya joined us and we picked up Melody to share our last night together. We went to Sizzler for their vegetable buffet and then on to Robert and Jan’s house. We peaked in at a basketball game, but Melody and Sonya and I went across the street to have our final chat about their goals in life, the kind of men that could help them along the way, and the pressures and challenges of dating for them in their culture.
A quick trip by Robert and Jan’s house allowed me to call Karen and tell her goodbye — she had left Chiang Mai several days ago. I showered, visited with Jan a few minutes, talked about plans for the future with Melody, and then it was off to the airport to say goodbye.
My heart yearns to be home. I want to be a daddy to my own “little girl” who is hurting right now. At the same time, part of my heart will be with these precious ones whom I yearn to be part of our forever family. I am convinced that day is closer for them now than ever before. It has been a great trip filled with many things — preaching, teaching, counseling, conversation, prayer, planning, dreaming, editing, brainstorming, and most importantly, loving. The world is much smaller than we often realize and the differences between us as people are real, but often much smaller than we often imagine. Most importantly, we all have a shared need for Jesus and his love and his family.
Two years ago, God opened the door for five of us to come to Chiang Mai to teach English using the Bible to Thai students with Let’s Start Talking. What began there has turned into something much bigger — circles of influence and relationship are spreading all over Asia and China. There are followers of Jesus where once there were people who had never really known anything about him. God has changed us and caught us up into something much bigger and grander and certainly much deeper emotionally, than any of us could have imagined. Along the way, love has deepened, hearts have changed, the Kingdom has grown, and we’ve even launched Verse of the Day in Chinese (as well as Korean, Russian, German, Portuguese, & Spanish) and soon will have it available in Thai.
To God be the glory!
My continuing prayer is that He continue to use us to make a difference in the lives of people we dearly love so that we can share in his grace with them … forever.