OceanicThai

Weeping, questions, and movement of the Holy Spirit in the hearts of teenagers...this is such an answer to so many prayers at our Peace Music & Art Center. Valentine's day, last Sunday, our partner John Arcenas showed Christ's passion at the center for our "cell group" (kind of like a seeker-service.) Southern Thai teenagers watched this excerpt from Gibson's Passion as John explained the cost of reconciliation between a holy God and fallen man. Although the gospel message has been related to them before, this day's response was dramatically different than the usual fidgeting, cell-phone calling, running off to buy snacks Sunday meeting antics. In a world where one worships the governing spirits of the area, ancestors, the Buddha and some Hindu gods thrown in there as well, the idea of one God is a radical one. That this God is interested in our lives personally and desires not only reconciliation but relationship is also a strange concept for Theravada Bu...

Hospice and enough morphine have been huge blessings in the life of Rosie, Kennedy's mom, as she battles the cancer that has ravaged her body. Upon our arrival in America a little over a month ago, we found Rosie in intense and unrelenting pain that was tormenting her both day and night. Sometime last year the cancer that was in her lungs spread to her bones and took up residence in her ribs, skull and neck, femur and spine. This kind of bone cancer is known to cause excruciating pain, and the medications that she was on were not enough to keep the pain in check. It is a terrible experience to see someone you love in so much pain and distress and not know what to do about it or how to help. Our first few visits with Rosie were heartbreaking and difficult to deal with. When Rosie chose to do chemotherapy it caused mouth sores, gastrointestinal distress and other symptoms that made it impossible for her to continue the chemo treatment, even though it would mean adding months to...

Tonight driving home the driving beat of Switchfoot and Creed soothed the pain I felt and was like some kind of therapy for the numbness I was experiencing. The visits with Rosie have been very difficult and it is hard for me not to simply "shut down." The sky turned into a brilliant collection of fiery sunset colors as we drove, then dimmed to dull smokey oranges and charcoals, the clouds collected in towering swatches across the sky, dully lit and torn in places. The leafless winter trees were grotesque lacy black cutouts in a bizarre landscape. Oncoming cars swept by like dull and dirty stars, and the tension in me eased as the miles unwound themselves on the asphalt. I know it's probably better to talk through one's emotions, but I haven't been good at that lately. I feel too numb, I don't want to talk about what I'm feeling or thinking. But I love these long drives where I don't have to say a word, and these long runs where I can be silent ...

Fog stills and isolates, sound is hushed, muted, the landscape becomes veiled and mysterious. My 10 mile, 2-hour run yesterday morning was a gift to quiet my overwhelmed heart and mind. Periodically I would cross bridges over deep fresh-water channels filled with calling birds among the reeds. Behind my back the dawning sun was burning a gold and blue fissure in the grey, quiet world. Winter's leafless trees were heavily laden with sparkling dew and red-winged blackbirds. The incredible beauty of Your creation sings to my soul, O Lord.