A Life in Mission

Amazing! He just made a new years resolution to keep the seventh day Sabbath! He didn’t know many sabbath keepers, but his study of the Bible had led him to this conclusion. I would never have expected to meet him. I prayed for divine appointments, but I didn’t expect this!

It was January of 2013, and I was aboard a plane bound for Seoul, where I had a connecting flight to Bangkok… I was with a group that would number nearly 25 people, all interested in mission work.

When Matthew sat down next to me, I would never have guessed the conversation we would have. We started talking about small things, but then the conversation turned towards spiritual things and he began sharing the things he was studying. We talked about prophecy for a while before he asked me what I believe is the mark of the beast! It was a big question! I knew I would have to lay groundwork before I could even say anything about it specifically. So I started to lay the foundation moving along as quickly as possible to avoid getting bogged down. He listed very intently. Soon I had covered the main points…

All at once I had an idea:

“I have a book that explains much more about this” I said, pulling it out of my backpack. “Have you ever seen this book?” I asked holding out the Great Controversy.

“Yes, actually I have it. Some girl came to my door selling books for her school tuition. She was going to some college in Arkansas. Her name was Lorina Mitchell. I remember it because she wrote it on the receipt.” He said.

“Really? My brother goes to that school!” I responded, so amazed!  Here I am flying to Asia and next to me is someone who bought a book from a canvasser at my brother’s college! It’s not a large university.

“Have you read the book yet?” I asked, interested even more now.

“Well, I started in the first chapter, but I didn’t get any further than that,” the reply came.

“Why don’t you jump ahead a little bit, to say the Reformation. I’m sure you’ll find it more interesting.” I suggested, going on to say that it explains many of the things we had been talking about, in more detail.

“I’ll have to do that!” he sounded more interested now.

I laid my head back in my seat, in wonder at God’s handiwork! Matthew was on his way to Ho Chi Minh city to meet a Vietnamese girl he was interested in… But God decided to put him in the seat next to me to give us an opportunity to talk about spiritual things! What a wonderful God we serve!

He just sold his last earthly possession… He described himself as feeling free… Why? Not many people can identify.

It started 6 years ago when God sent him to Thailand as a missionary. God took him on a journey of learning to depend on Him. It wasn’t easy, but it was rewarding. God led him to marry a Thai woman who was also living a Christian walk. Together they are a team in reaching out to the Thai people with God’s love. Though they are not SDA they live a life that is clearly led by God. They live in daily dependence on God. Complete dependence. Selling the last piece of land he owned in America gave him money to put into the work, and they continue to live by faith daily.

Recently Rodney came to MissionTV and shared on camera some of his experience with God and philosophy of working.

Her quiet simple talk is convincing. Her walk with God contrasts with marked difference to most the Christians I know. She was born in Thailand, a country with a very small minority group of Christians. Yet somehow early in her life she met God, and He changed her life. Later she met her husband when he went as a missionary. Their life together is one of complete surrender and supreme faith in God.

Most Christians I know wouldn’t want to live like Rodney and Phimpa. They sacrifice for God daily. They’ve given everything they have, for His cause. To see more people come to know Him. They have nothing. When God says go somewhere, they go… without hesitation. Even if they don’t know where. Even if they don’t have money to get there. Even if it looks impossible… They go anyway. And God honors their faith time after time.

One time God told Phimpa to go somewhere to rescue someone. She didn’t have money even for the bus ticket, but she went to board the bus anyway. Before she got to the bus, someone came to her and gave her money, saying, “God told me to give this to you.” It was enough for the bus fare. Another time God directed them to another place far away to rescue another child. They didn’t have enough fuel. But they went anyway. They drove on empty for hours. They got there without running out of fuel.

Their ministry is of a special type. They rescue children that are being abused and misused. Some of the stories are heart wrenching. These kids have no other place to go, so they stay with Rodney and Phimpa. They are like parents to them. Rodney and Phimpa don’t have a nice house, they don’t live in comfort by Western standards or even Thai standards. Their kitchen doesn’t have a floor, or walls. The elephants sometimes come and make trouble… and not only them, other people also. But God has given them a work to do, and they have the faith to believe that He will provide for them even though they don’t get paid any salary or monthly wage. Their life is a life of trust. A life of faith. A life of daily dependence. On God. They simply believe that God will do what He has promised… And He does.

What if we took God at His word? What if claimed His promises and made His work first? Would there be a revolution of true Godliness? Would thousands be converted in a day? Would the salvation message go out to the whole world? Would the end then come? If we only claimed His promises as if they were real, seeking first His kingdom, I believe we would quickly have His answers to these questions. Are you willing?  Matthew 6:33

“Should I really go?” I thought to myself for the umpteenth time. I didn’t really want to, yet there was the possibility of a great opportunity. And this was the first of it’s kind.

A few days later I knew I had made the right decision. The companionship of others with the same vision from all around the world strengthened us all. 25 of us. From nearly every continent of the world. Leaders and technicians working for God. Pioneers in their field. Experiences were shared back and forth, and God’s spirit was clearly present. This is my experience of the past week. And yet…

We are in the middle of a city of the enemy. Papers with sin on the front page at nearly every paper stand. One simply has to guard their eyes. Slot machines everywhere at which nearly every visitor at least tries their luck. Except us. We refuse to be drawn in. But why did we come here of all places?

The answer is NAB. Media people from all around the world come for it. Technicians from well known TV channels are here. Canon is here. Panasonic. Sony. Intelsat. BlackMagic Designs. BH PhotoVideo. As well as nearly every other manufacturer and vendor or anything related to video or production or broadcasting. The exhibits halls are huge! and there’s like 4 of them! The amount of equipment being shown is massive. New equipment is released, new trends in the media industry are revealed here. But why is something like this in Sin City? I may have my suspicions, but I can’t be sure.

We are here to search for equipment solutions that we need. Each one in our group is representing a media project somewhere in the world. In collaboration and fellowship we find strength. In sharing our technical difficulties we find help and assistance. In association with each other on a spiritual level we find the courage to press on. In short we become a large network of like minded laborers instead of small individual projects. And yet we find a problem. This one doesn’t have anything to do with Las Vegas, or with the NAB Convention. It’s a dilemma that even the other main secular TV stations are grappling with.

“How do you find the right workers and technicians for the job?” It’s a question we asked someone we met at the convention. It’s a valid question. How to find these people? And for us it’s an even more difficult dilemma. It’s more difficult for us because we are not only looking for the qualities of reliability, dependability, competence and efficiency that all the other stations are looking for. We are looking for more than that. Dedication and a commitment to God are necessary qualities that make laborers for our projects even more difficult to find. If only there were hundreds where there is now one. But there aren’t. So how do we move  forward? Prayer is the key that unlocks heavens storehouse. But God can’t force people to be dedicated to Him! He can’t force them to go to the mission field. It’s against the rules of the Great Controversy, and against His nature. Instead He leaves the choice to us. Will we be dedicated to His cause? Will we be committed? Will we work with unbending determination to see the work done? We can only choose for ourselves. What is your choice?

I slip on my backpack, grab my 2 small suitcases and after a last check around the hotel room I lock and close the door. Down the stairs I check out handing the key to the Thai lady at the desk. I wave goodbye to a number of the wonderful Thai people who I’ve gotten to know. They want to know where I’m going. I tell them. They wave.

On the streetside I find a taxi and tell him I want to go to the airport.

“500 Baht.” He offers.

“No, too much. By meter?” I counter.

He calls one of his friends who is willing to take me charging by meter. All the taxis have meters on the dash which calculates a price based on time and distance. It really helps to make sure you are getting a good price. Unfortunately many times the drivers want to give a price, which may or may not be too expensive. Some will agree to go by meter.

After loading the luggage we are off down the road speeding through the streets. The sun has gone down and the street lights cast light on the road. A periodical red light stops us.

I think back to earlier in the afternoon. The Thai man I was standing next to in the river taxi. He understood English. He was telling me the name of one of the boat stops. He said it was like the word Satan. He said it differently that I do but after several times I understood. “like in the Bible” He explained. The Bible! What does this guy know about the Bible?!!  I picked up on it right away and asked him what he knew about the Bible. He didn’t know much. It didn’t sound like he had ever actually read it. But someone had told him about the word Satan. When he said he could read some in English I snatched a couple of GLOW tracks out of my waist pack and gave them to him explaining that they talked about the Bible.

In the BTS train station I was standing in the line in front of the counter to get change for the ticket when the family in front of me didn’t seem to understand how to get the tickets. They finally got the right change that they needed. Then over in front of the machines I realized the must have never taken the BTS sky train before. After getting my ticket I showed them how to operate the machine to get the tickets for all of them. Then showing them how to get through the gate we were off up to the train stop area. When I asked where they were from they told me they were from Israel. Interesting meeting them in Bangkok!

At the MBK Center I got a few Tshirts and looked around through the many shops. So many shops and stores you can get lost inside! 5 different stories with small shops can make for quite an experience! After finding the other item I needed to find and looking at some camera gear I headed back to the BTS station to get back to the hotel. Outside on the network of walkways suspended over top of the street I saw the spot where 2 years before the TAM (Thai Adventist Mission) did a Health Expo to reach out to the people of Bangkok with health. Hundreds of people go by there every hour and the event was met with great success with people requesting Bible studies and lessons. Today a weekly boxing show has setup on the area.

The taxi car flies along the tollway above Bangkok. I’m on my way to the airport to fly back the the States. As we go I realize that I’m going to miss Thailand. Even though I know I’ll be coming back, I still have a hard time leaving. There’s so much need here. The people are open. Yet there is hardly a few families working for the Thai! It’s essentially an untouched field, yet there are nearly 70 million people in Thailand! Eighty nine percent of this population are ethnic Thai or Thai-Chinese. That’s over 60 million precious Thai people that live without knowledge of the true God. How will these people hear? God wants to use humanity to reach out to humanity. That means us. Who will He use to reach the Thai people with a knowledge of Him? Who is willing?