your life is perfect
That's what a Thai friend told me this morning. "I look at you and your life is perfect. The only thing you lack is a home." She sees we don't have to worry about getting enough food. We have enough money for all our needs and more. We can buy airplane tickets. It is true, I told her, my life is good. We live in a shophouse, my kids don't have any furniture and sleep on the floor. We have a simple lifestyle with mostly ugly and worn out furniture, but everything is relative. To the poor Thai we have nice furniture. To the poor Thai we are rich and privileged, they have never flown on an airplane and probably never will.
If I compare my life to the life of my friends at home in America I can feel sorry for myself easily enough. But when I compare my life with most of the folks here in Thailand, and then in China, India, and most of the rest of the world, I can be thankful. I can rejoice. I try to keep it all in perspective. I am not from a poor family. I like nice things, I am not oblivious to my surroundings. But if I am to minister to the poor Thai, it would be better to keep my house simple. Sometimes I go to visit my missionary friends living in the city and they live in a lovely home with lovely things, though not like Americans of course, just lovely for here. I feel jealous. I have to pray about it. That isn't where God wants us right now. Maybe not ever while we live in Thailand. I trust there are good things He longs to teach me about. Like contentment, being satisfied, not being overcome by my own longings for beautiful things. Perhaps there will be a time when we have a lovely home with lovely things, but not now.
There are some missionaries here, or who used to live here, who had practically nothing. Certainly no luxuries like a hot water heater for their shower, or a coffee machine, air-conditioner, computer, a bike instead of a car..ect. We would go in their house and find nothing worth keeping, but their lives are very precious and they are very beloved in this country. There are some that live in-between. There are some who live very well, there are some of every kind, really. I know of one couple from California that are buying a big plot of beachfront property on some of the most beautiful beach areas in the entire country. They are going to build a gorgeous house and live a rich fantasy life teaching Muay Thai Kickboxing. They are coming as missionaries from their church. When I first saw them and talked to them I wondered how on earth they were going to be missionaries, they were so culturally clueless and didn't seem to have any plan to learn language. Anyhow, how does one be a missionary and live in a fabulous house living a fabulous life? Yet, thinking about it, they will probably be effective where they are going, to the beach, where all the Thai working there have been so exposed to western tourists that they have changed into their own sub-culture. They don't live by the rules of their own culture anymore. They can speak English and they are used to the aggressive western culture. There are also a lot of prostitutes and half-white children. There are many different types there that will not be found anywhere else in Thailand. I wish that couple going there well.
Here is a house we saw for sale near where we will be working. We wanted to buy it so much, but it is over $50,000 and about $75,000 if we want a big yard. It is also fancy, for Thai standards, (not by American standards, by any stretch of the imagination, there is no kitchen and the quality is far inferior.) So we weren't sure if it would be the best place for us to live since we will be working with the poor. The neighborhood is mostly mixed families, which would be heaven for our kids since some of them would know English. Yet perhaps it would be better for us to live in a fully Thai community, since it would help their language and culture skills. It is a 5 minute bike ride to the beach where the most lives were lost in the tsunami, Khao Lak.
If I compare my life to the life of my friends at home in America I can feel sorry for myself easily enough. But when I compare my life with most of the folks here in Thailand, and then in China, India, and most of the rest of the world, I can be thankful. I can rejoice. I try to keep it all in perspective. I am not from a poor family. I like nice things, I am not oblivious to my surroundings. But if I am to minister to the poor Thai, it would be better to keep my house simple. Sometimes I go to visit my missionary friends living in the city and they live in a lovely home with lovely things, though not like Americans of course, just lovely for here. I feel jealous. I have to pray about it. That isn't where God wants us right now. Maybe not ever while we live in Thailand. I trust there are good things He longs to teach me about. Like contentment, being satisfied, not being overcome by my own longings for beautiful things. Perhaps there will be a time when we have a lovely home with lovely things, but not now.
There are some missionaries here, or who used to live here, who had practically nothing. Certainly no luxuries like a hot water heater for their shower, or a coffee machine, air-conditioner, computer, a bike instead of a car..ect. We would go in their house and find nothing worth keeping, but their lives are very precious and they are very beloved in this country. There are some that live in-between. There are some who live very well, there are some of every kind, really. I know of one couple from California that are buying a big plot of beachfront property on some of the most beautiful beach areas in the entire country. They are going to build a gorgeous house and live a rich fantasy life teaching Muay Thai Kickboxing. They are coming as missionaries from their church. When I first saw them and talked to them I wondered how on earth they were going to be missionaries, they were so culturally clueless and didn't seem to have any plan to learn language. Anyhow, how does one be a missionary and live in a fabulous house living a fabulous life? Yet, thinking about it, they will probably be effective where they are going, to the beach, where all the Thai working there have been so exposed to western tourists that they have changed into their own sub-culture. They don't live by the rules of their own culture anymore. They can speak English and they are used to the aggressive western culture. There are also a lot of prostitutes and half-white children. There are many different types there that will not be found anywhere else in Thailand. I wish that couple going there well.
Here is a house we saw for sale near where we will be working. We wanted to buy it so much, but it is over $50,000 and about $75,000 if we want a big yard. It is also fancy, for Thai standards, (not by American standards, by any stretch of the imagination, there is no kitchen and the quality is far inferior.) So we weren't sure if it would be the best place for us to live since we will be working with the poor. The neighborhood is mostly mixed families, which would be heaven for our kids since some of them would know English. Yet perhaps it would be better for us to live in a fully Thai community, since it would help their language and culture skills. It is a 5 minute bike ride to the beach where the most lives were lost in the tsunami, Khao Lak.
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