Have you ever had one of those moments where time seems to slow to a steady, constant drip and you just wish you could stand in this expanse of a single moment forever and ever and ever, etc? It’s one of those times where everything else becomes secondary or shadows or plain milk instead of chocolate milk. Your heart beats a little faster and the synapses used in forming words aren’t firing, but you don’t care because silly words would only take away from the beauty of it all. So, you just stand in awe. Silent. Humbled. And you realize, in one single breathe, this is why. This is why God says, “Go.” This is why God spoke life into existence. This is why he knit me together in the womb. This is why he made green green and the sun explode into brilliant colors right before it retires for the night. This is why people give up everything they own to follow a simple man named Jesus. And it all comes together and for one moment, the gap between heaven and earth is ripped open and we have heaven on earth. I’ve been in this place. It gives me the Holy Ghost Goosebumps. The H double G, if I may.
Before we came to Maelenoi, we heard there was a group of Christian students on the campus. When we got here, we had no idea how we were going to find these students since neither of us spoke Thai. So, we had planned on attending Church somewhere near the school with some fellow missionaries. But God decided to flex his muscles. Every night this week, Bobby and I had been visiting dorms to introduce ourselves and play games with the kids. We had been teaching them Hey Jude. Brilliant. Last night we weren’t sure if we were going to visit a dorm because no one invited us and we didn’t have school. Well, 8pm rolls around and we get a knock on the door and it’s the girls from dorm 3 asking us to come. So, we get there and they want to teach us to dance. And we made fools of ourselves for about an hour. We sang songs, played games, and danced like chickens. Wonderful. Then, as we are about to leave, one girl takes off up the stairs and comes back a few minutes later with her Bible. She sits it on the ground by our feet and in broken English she starts telling us of her love for Jesus. Then she says all the girls in her dorm love Jesus. Then she asks if we love Jesus. Yes. So, we prayed together, right there on the spot. They invited us to church for this morning.
Church was simple. We stood in a circle. They sang in Thai. We sang in English. Then they asked us to read the Bible in English. We did. They read the same passage in Thai. And we went back and forth for a while. In this way, God broke the language barrier and allowed us to communicate with our fellow sisters in Christ. You see, friends, the Word of God is living and active. It became flesh this morning. Us. Them. All serving the same God for the same reason.
It was amazing. I’m still baffled as to how they knew. God did it for sure. Maybe it was as simple as this.
The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are good, your whole body will be full of light.
Maybe our eyes were shinning like those who had been with Jesus. Spirit recognizing Spirit.
We made friends today. I’m excited about the next few weeks. God surely is not finished.
-junglejon