Flood of Kindness

Kindness: an expression of God's heart spoken into our daily lives. In the midst of the struggle, in the grit of everyday, through the mist of tears...a light shines through.



Kindness takes many forms and can be seen in the shape of...



Little known friends bumped into in a restaurant who send a special dessert to our table for Valentine's Day.



A Thai principal of our school who takes our car in the middle of the day to get our air con fixed so we can survive the heat.



A thoughtful handwritten letter from a friend in the States.



A roommate who picks up french fries as a special treat for us (because she knows how much I love them) even though she's already had a long busy day.



A man from a ministry down the road who gave up at least six hours to figure out and fix my computer.


Friends from Australia who are here working hard for our school, who have continually bought dinner for us even though we agree that next time will be our turn to pay.


My student and his mother and Khruu Ooy who all dropped what they were doing and came to help us after our car accident.

Our boss's wife giving us Honey Bunches of Oats when she got a two pack for a good price. (Cereal is expensive and so we only eat care package cereal).

Weeks like these when kindness floods over my life I'm reminded of the prayer of a young girl in Africa. A girl who prayed that the Lord would send that afternoon a hot water bottle to keep a motherless newborn alive and a doll for his older sister...just so she would know that God really loved her. Even though the missionary (Helen Roseveare) doubted that the prayer would be answered, she arrived home to find a box from her home country (the first in four years) that against all odds contained a hot water bottle and a doll, sent five months before so that God could answer the young girl's faith filled prayer. God cares about answering the prayers of His people no matter how young and has compassion on us and does wonderful things...just so that we know He loves us.

The cool thing is that we as His people are often allowed to share in His outpouring of love. Sometimes He allows us to be the vessels through which He shows His compassion, kindness, and love. The people mentioned above have shown me this week by their kind actions the nail scarred hands of my Savior and His love.

"It doesn't matter whether I travel 6,000 miles or just twenty minutes from home....What matters is whether the people we meet matter to us as much as they matter to God."

Helen Roseveare

Pray for Their Hearts

One of my students who comes from a Buddhist family who is really trying to discover truth.

The school day started off with our normal prayer time. I asked my kiddos what they wanted to pray for and they answered (all in English by the way) mom and dad, everyone, teachers and students, Somo (one of their classmates who was absent), and a little boy in Africa. Several weeks ago I told my kids about a boy in Africa and everyday since then they've reminded me to pray for him. They often call him my little brother and one of my little girls usually reminds me to pray for his house. I haven't ever really understood why she wants to pray for his house...maybe she is worried that he won't have one. Today someone else brought up praying for his house. I was so surprised when my little boy said in English. "No, not pray for house pray for heart!" I stopped in my tracks and told him that he had such a great point. We really should be praying for his heart. I was surprised that this little boy understood something so important.

Pray for his heart.

That reminds me as well to pray for my kid's hearts. To live with their hearts in the forefront of my mind...not the work I need to do or the things my students still need to learn. It was a reminder to me to slow down and focus on the hearts of all those around me. English is just the reason I've been granted the opportunity to speak to their hearts, to tell them that God loves them, it isn't the main reason why I'm here.

Nothing stops my kids in their tracks more quickly than when I teach them about God. They listen because they want to know. Even at such a young age their hearts are crying out for hope and love. They want to know that they are cared for and protected. During a lesson sharing the gospel using a wordless book given to me by a great friend (with the five colors: yellow = heaven, black = sin, red = Jesus' blood, white = forgiveness, and green = growth in Christ) they listened well and comprehended a lot. To help them understand I also used flannel graph pieces depicting the concepts. When they saw the flannel picture of Jesus on the cross everyone of them stared at it and they all had such sadness in their eyes. I don't think that they understand yet what the cross means for them (I'm still learning myself) so please pray with me that they would understand why he died, the fact that He is alive now and offering life, and that they can chose for themselves how to respond.

Things I Never Thought I'd Say/Hear

(Picture from the market next to our muu baan (neighborhood)...if you look closely you can see the whole chickens lying on the table.)

I've found that living in a foreign country your conversations change. They involve new topics and vocabulary that while at first are so unfamiliar but soon are spoken and understood without a second thought. Here are just a couple examples.

Do you eat blood?

A question I asked in all seriousness to our new English speaking students. The answer to that question determines if they get a typical Thai soup with congealed chicken blood or mixed vegetables for lunch (made for those of us who don't eat blood.)

Where is the Hafif?

Hafif happens to be a particular brand of lice shampoo that has had several uses in our house. Now the question of "Where's the Hafif?" is not an unusual question.

What's that familiar smell?


My roommate asked...a split second later our visitor from South Africa answered...burning trash. And my roommate instantly recognized he was right. However, I can't imagine sitting around in my parent's living room in the States smelling our neighbor's burning trash. And the fact that it is a very common smell is a little bit odd.



Here, have some seaweed and caramel goldfish.

I tell you this country does some strange things to a person's taste buds. Because these are actually a pretty good snack.



Let's go to the noodle shop and buy ice cream.

The fact that there is a typical Thai noodle shop on our school grounds (run by our landlady) is quite convienient. And that they now sell ice cream is pretty awesome for those outrageously hot afternoons after long days of teaching.

Do you want ice cream?

The only reason why this question is funny is because we know to ask it when the dogs in our neighborhood all start howling, howling at the same time. It never fails that about two minutes after their howling begins the ice cream motorcycle drives down our street. It varies as to the time of day that he comes and we can't hear the tune he plays until he drives by our house. However, the dogs must be able to hear him and they feel it their duty to announce his coming.

What does the moon not have?

Well the question wasn't as unusual as the answer...During Science class I asked Jabez what the moon did not have thinking that he would answer with something along the lines of water, light, air (you know the things I had just taught). Instead he looks at me and says, "Turkey?" I couldn't help laughing at his correct but oh so incorrect answer.