CQ

We are back from Thailand and God has multiplied our passion to include the 24 people that went on this trip. A friend of mine asked me if I was ruined and if we ruined our students as a result of the trip. He meant this in a good way. My answer is, I think He did. When you experience and share in the despair and pain of others at such a deep level and see so clearly that hope is found only in Christ it ruins your ability to be easily distracted from seeking the God solution. The Holy Spirit plants a passion in your heart to be his hands and feet and you are compelled to move out. It was clear as day again on this trip that Christ is the solution.

It is late and I need to try to get some sleep. Our body clock is still operating some place between Asia and the United States. For the next few posts I will share stories and character descriptions from the trip. I think that making the trip personal will allow you to share more deeply in our experience. Maybe God will call you to respond.

Please continue to pray as our team transitions back into our culture and processes all that God did. Pray for our amazing students that are moving out in a courageous way for Christ. Pray for the students at Grace Ministries that are doing the same. We are also praying about how God would call us to respond now that we are back in the states.  Thank you all for the tremendous support. More to come.

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Wow! God is so good. I have been blown away by the work that God has done in the lives and hearts of our team and through the power of Holy Spirit in us toward others. 

The highlight of the trip has been the relationships that we developed with the young people at Grace Ministries in Krasang. The young people on our team have fully given their hearts to the twenty four girls and six boys at Grace Ministries. The Thai and hill tribes girls and boys are about the same age as our young people so the connection was powerful. We played with them, taught english, did church together, and we had the opportunity over four days to interview and hear the stories of each girl and boy at the ministry. They all have incredibly inspiring stories that give evidence of the power of God to bring hope and purpose out of pain and despair.

Our kids are sold on this ministry. Sunday night we had a meeting and almost every person on our team was moved by the power of God to a new level of faith and commitment to Christ. I don’t have time to tell all of the stories, but I will share one interaction with a 13 year old hill tribes girl who has been saved from poverty and an uncertain future by Christ through Grace Ministries.

This young girl was born into extreme poverty in the Aka hill tribe of Northern Thailand. Her parents are farmers, and do not have enough resources to sustain their family. That is why she is at Grace Ministries. When I spoke with her through an interpreter I could see immediately that she is a leader with a passion for others. She told us that her vision is to become trained as a teacher and to go back to her tribe to develop the next generation toward a better life in Christ. She sees Christ as the source of her motivation. This young girl has a deep burden for people and is very focused on God’s calling on her life to change her village for Christ. This young 13 year old girl blew me away with one statement that demonstrated the depth of her passion. She said,”I can’t afford to spend time on leisure, because I have seen and must respond to the hurts of others.” These are amazing girls.

The last night at Grace Ministries in Krasang our girls and the girls from the home had a slumber party. We truly made lasting and life long relationships during our time.

We are now in Chiang Mai. We spent the last few days visiting the extremely poor and desperate people of the hill tribes. I will go more into that later. I have not written as much as I had hoped, but have found my time being utilized in different ways on this trip compared to the last one.

Please be in prayer for a meeting we will have over the next few days. We will be visioning with Grace Ministries, Remember Nhu and our Westside group regarding how God is leading us to partner in the future. God has given me much clarity on this trip regarding this very important link. I have felt incredible confirmation from our students, parents and staff regarding the value and impact of this mutually beneficial relationship. The next step is to flesh out what God is calling us to be and do. Your prayers are critical. You response the last post was very encouraging. Please continue to respond in prayer.

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It is currently Thursday afternoon and our entire team is sitting in two internet cafes writing emails. We have had a great day of rest after a 24 hour stint of travel. It is pretty hot and humid, but overcast. Our team is doing really well. I don’t think I have heard a single complaint even though the travel has been pretty brutal.

Our guides were stuck on a train from Burriram and have not arrived yet. We are doing fine on our own and they should be here in a few hours. We will be heading for the train station in two hours and will travel overnight to the small village of Krasang. Grace ministries is located there. We will then spend the next few days connecting with the young people. This is the ministry of Charles and Yokie.

We have a few minor health issues. You can pray for Kelby who is experiencing a minor “stomach issue.” You can also pray for Carly who has a strange rash that started during the flight over.

I read through Col. 3 this morning again and it really spoke to me regarding what is really important.

Col. 3 MSG

So if you’re serious about living this new resurrection life with Christ, act like it. Pursue the things over which Christ presides. Don’t shuffle along, eyes to the ground, absorbed with the things right in front of you. Look up, and be alert to what is going on around Christ - that’s where the action is. See things from his perspective.

The writter continues to challenge me to dress in what Christ has picked for me: Compassion, kindness, humility, quiet strength, and discipline. “Be even tempered, content with second place, and quick to forgive any offense.”

Pray that we would seek to be where the action is.

Andy

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This is a short talk I gave at church this week

We serve a just God, who grieves deeply for the exploited and oppressed. Our God loves children and values them intensely.

Those priorities are vividly clear in scripture and in the example of Christ.

Matthew 18: 5-6 says…
And whoever welcomes a little child like this in my name welcomes me. But if anyone causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a large millstone hung around his neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea.

Isaiah 1:15-17 says…
…Learn to do good; seek justice, rescue the oppressed, defend the orphan, plead for the widow.

I would like to summarize for you our journey over the past year that has led my wife Marta and I into uncharted spiritual territory.

While we were on vacation last summer, Marta and I stumbled upon an episode of The Oprah Winfrey Show. Ricky Martin was her guest and child trafficking was the subject. We were stunned and horrified to hear that over a million children around the world are being enslaved and forced into prostitution. UNICEF reports that worldwide, an estimated 1.2 million children are trafficked each year. As these statistics sank in, our hearts began to break for these children who are being exploited for profit. That night we got on the internet and began researching to find out what Christians were doing about this. We initially found only a few organizations including one ministry called International Justice Mission. They are a human rights organization made up of Christian lawyers, law enforcement, and social workers. They work with local governments in the developing world to rescue slaves, and to protect the weak, oppressed and exploited – including children.

Soon after that trip we talked to our small group about this horrible practice. Come to find out, another couple from the group had seen the same show and had a similar reaction. They also searched the internet and discovered through a Barclay Press article an organization called Remember Nhu, founded by Carl Ralston. Josh called Carl and the next thing we know he’s flying out to meet with us and speak at our church.

At the same time, in my role as the administrator of a Christian High school, I had been working with a team of teachers and staff to find an organization that we could partner with to provide missions opportunities for our students. Partnering with Carl was beginning to seem like it could be a good fit.

A few months passed and in one of our small group meetings Josh told us that he was going to Thailand with Carl in January. I immediately felt moved that I should go as well.
Three months later Josh and I, along with a member of my staff from school (Steve), were headed for a visioning experience in Thailand. We spent time visiting and learning about various ministries that are serving children at risk of exploitation. In the Northern Thailand hill tribes area it was estimated that between twenty to forty percent of the children will be trafficked into exploitive forced labor.

One day on our trip, as we arrived at an orphanage home, the children were singing praise songs. One girl captured my attention as she sang with an incredibly worshipful spirit. Her eyes were closed, and she looked so present with God in that moment. After the singing, while the children began to play some of the games we brought for them, I walked around looking for the opportunity to meet this little girl. I found her and gave her a hug, and she asked to be picked up. Through an interpreter I asked her what her name was and she said it was “Mae”. We walked into the open air dining hall made of grass and bamboo and found some coloring books. We picked a picture and began coloring it together. This is a

I asked the orphanage director Tutu to tell me Mae’s story. She said that Mae’s father was a drug dealer and was killed by police in a raid. Her mother has a birth defect and cannot earn enough to support Mae and her brother. This puts them at risk of being tricked into exploitive labor. Thankfully for Mae, Tutu was able to take her in and will provide her with a high school education and possibly college. This is a very typical situation and reason for a child to move into one of these homes.

After meeting the children I was compelled that I must do something. I was committed, whether my school would be able to commit or not. This kind of intense passion typically finds a way of disappearing from one’s mind as time passes, but this time, that was not the case.

Gary Haugen, president of International Justice Mission addresses why we, as followers of Christ, many times do not act even when we have knowledge of the oppression and poverty of others? Haugen’s response is that it is because of our own poverty. It is because of our own poverty of compassion, poverty of hope, and poverty of purpose.

Compassion:

On this journey I have learned that compassion is about humbly and honestly suffering with others. On the train ride back from Northern Thailand toward Bangkok I felt a tremendous burden for the people I met. People like little Mae and Tutu, the home director. They would be staying while I would be leaving and eventually make my way back to a very comfortable life. But the burden has not left me and I pray that it will not. It is from that burden that I am compelled to act.

Purpose:

God has a plan to demonstrate his goodness to the world. He could send a spiritual vibe from the sky, but his solution is you and me. He is not asking much, but just that we take that first step. One step at a time in obedience and faithfulness toward the things and people God cares about.

Hope:

Our hope is not in what solutions we think we can offer. He is the director of this orchestra and we have a small part to play. Scripture is clear that he cares for children and the oppressed greatly. If we are faithful to our little part he will multiply our efforts as he did when the little boy gave his lunch to feed the 5000. If it were my daughter, I would want someone to do something for her. There is hope in saving just one child from this sort of life.

After much prayer and discernment, my school has committed to partner with Remember Nhu. Our desire is to have an ongoing relationship with the children and staff of a new orphanage home and to take ownership of the responsibility and blessing that comes from funding and support its work. We plan to take a group of students, staff and parents there at least annually. Our first trip back is this summer. Our team is going to develop relationships, capture vision, and begin making plans to implement the orphanage home. We expect to be stretched, challenged, and changed by God during this trip, and we are committed to pass on the vision to our community when we come back.

I have recently been challenged to closely examine the things that Christ cares about. I have asked myself if I care about the same things. It is hard to wrap my mind around the fact that Christ is aware of all the suffering in the world. He knows of every child in forced prostitution, every lonely widow, and every hopeless soul. In fact, he not only knows about them, but also is suffering along with them. He is seeking redemption for every last one of them. If only my heart were able to feel that kind of compassion for just a few.

Gary Haugen writes, “Perhaps a next step in our development as children of God is a capacity for compassion permanence- a courage and generous capacity to remember the needs of an unjust world even when they are out of our immediate sight.”
This is the kind of compassion and courage I humbly pray for.

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The last two weeks have been extremely busy and draining. I have not had the margin in my life to adequately refill what I have been required to give out. This weekend I am shell shocked after the week I just had. It does not seem to be ending. Yesterday was my daughters birthday party. I am speaking at Church tonight with Josh regarding Thailand. Marta and I are leaving for D.C. on Thursday night for the prayer gathering at IJM. I have a site 25 team meeting on Monday night, a Thailand Team meeting on Tuesday, and I am trying to schedule a meeting on Wednesday after school. That has been the consistent pattern since I got back from NYC.

Margin is required to function at a deep level. I need space alone to think, write, pray, and listen. I want to live my life with deep purpose and not dictated by deep pressure. I want to spend time doing what is important and not only dealing with the urgent. I want to be where my God is, not where I have wandered to because I have not looked up for weeks.

This morning I am sitting at my comfort place… Starbucks. If I can get a couple of hours alone to renew my perspective my battery is quickly charged. I find that when I take this kind of time my focus changes and I quickly remember that I am not operating on my own strength or for my own purposes.

Philipians 4:13 MSG

Whatever I have, wherever I am, I can make it through anything in the One who makes me who I am.

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This past week we had a few students over to our house who will be traveling to Thailand on a vision trip. The adults who came filmed the students’ reactions to the following questions. It will be fascinating to see how the answers to these questions may change after the trip. I decided to give the questions a shot. This is a long post so you may want to bite it off in chunks.  How would you answer the questions?

1. There is an obvious need for us, who have so much, to help the lost, hungry and oppressed. What makes it so easy for me to let these needs pass by without responding?

2. Put yourself in the place of a parent of children born in the hill tribes of Northern Thailand. Your family has experienced severe illness and without money your entire family will be at risk of hunger, disease, and exploitation. You are approached by a “business man” from Chiang Mai (the big city) who offers to take one of your young girls to work in his “laundry mat.” He is prepared to give you a year’s wages upfront. How will you respond?

3. Imagine your own elementary school experience growing up. What different types of safety surrounded you on a daily basis?

4. What do I have that is of importance to the people in the hill tribes who experience oppression, injustice, poverty and sometimes a lack of hope?

5. What could the people in the hill tribes have that could be of importance to you?

6. What could be considered blessings or accomplishments in our society?

7. What do you think could be considered blessings or accomplishments for those in the hill tribes? 

8. Knowing that today hill tribe children and their parents are facing danger and impossible moral dilemmas, what could be your immediate responsibility? 

9. How does God feel about the oppressed, the hungry and lost? What is his plan to demonstrate his goodness to the world?

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I have really come to appreciate blogging. It has provided a way for me to express myself in writing at a time when I am doing a whole lot of processing. It has provided a healthy outlet for my thoughts and is documenting the work God is doing in me.

Marta and I find ourselves nearly every night sitting at our kitchen table with laptops glowing and keyboards clicking. Our conversations are frequently about our latest idea for a post. This is providing a springboard for deep and meaningful interaction. We have not watched a television show in over a month; it would take away from our blogging time.

I find the rest of my day is more meaningful as well. As I move about I am looking for inspiration. I seek meaning and substance in nearly every pondering, prayer, interaction, and word I read. Before these things would just flow over me with little reflection, but now everything is a potential journal entry. 

Writing is a powerful tool. My memory stinks; I know that if I can just get my thoughts in writing I can refer back. I also find that writing helps me remember. Right now there is a lot I want to remember. I want to remember to seek humility. I want to remember how God feels about the oppressed and hurting. I want to remember that we are God’s plan to demonstrate his goodness to the world. I want to remember that my responsibility is to offer him the gifts I have, and he will do the rest.

If you’re not blogging, you may want to consider it.  

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I have never received a thumbs up from my daughter before, but it happened tonight at Safari Sam’s. This is a pizza place with all kinds of play equipment, noise and craziness for kids and kid-like adults.This may seem like a strange topic for a post, but give me the benefit of the doubt and read on.

After a long, emotional, and tiring day Marta called me on my cell to say we were meeting some friends and their children at Safari Sam’s for dinner and play. This sounded like a great way to end our week.

As you walk into the place they stamp you and your children with matching serial numbers. As you leave they make sure each child is matched with the right adult. They always check Marta for this, dads don’t seem to be as credible when it comes to keeping track of their children, I guess. This process gives parents a sense of security and children some independence.

So, my daughter and her friend were running around the place like free spirits, having a merry time. They were checking in periodically, but were enjoying their freedom. After we finished dinner and they had been playing for awhile my daughter came up to me and did something she has never done before.

She asked me for money.

I guess this is something Marta and I need to get use to, but this was a first for me. I asked what it was for, and she acted like I should just trust her.  She said she wanted to buy some ice cream for her friend and herself, so I gave her the two dollars and was intrigued along with the other adults to see what would happen next.

They walked up to the counter. Many times I have tried to encourage her to have the courage to purchase things on her own. It is in moments like this in the past that I have seen her freeze and just stare at the person on the other side with a sad weepy face. This time was different. She handed the man the two dollars and requested a sherbet ice cream and two spoons. It was at this moment that my world spun for a split second.

My daughter turned and looked at me with a proud smile and gave me a thumbs up. It was as though she was saying to me, “I can do this Dad, I’m okay.” It was very cute, but at the same time made my heart skip. At that moment a scene from the future played in my mind of us walking down the aisle at her wedding. I turn to my seat looking back and my daughter turns toward me with a proud and loving smile, flashing the thumbs up. “I can do this Dad, I’m okay.”

It is a great thing to experience growth. It can be hard and scary, yet exhilarating. It brings me joy to see my daughter developing. I look forward to flashing my heavenly Father the thumbs up as I begin to understand more the workings of his kingdom. 

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A few weeks back I was in invited to a two-day training in Seattle sponsored by International Justice Mission. It was a test of my courage to respond to this opportunity because I knew I was going to be out of my league. As a result of the training I have committed to becoming a “Justice Advocate” representing IJM in our community.  (If you would like to learn more I would love to talk to you about IJM - They are freeing slaves around the world!)

At the training I was given all kinds of materials including the book Good News About Injustice. In the opening page of this book Gary Haugen states that if he were only able to give his children one gift it would be that they become men and women of courage.

He then goes on to quote C.S. Lewis saying:

Courage seems like an attribute we must have in order to effectively move out and express our faith in action. If I were to add courage to compassion the result would be an active expression of Christ’s love.

Like Gary, I have prayed for my children since they were born that they would have a heart of compassion. I am not so concerned about intelligence, athletic ability or good looks. Instead I have prayed that they would have a tenderness for other people. I think I will add to that prayer, courage. 

Undeveloped Thoughts: 

Compassion + Courage = Active expressions of Christ’s love

Westside Outside - I am wondering if this label could describe a movement within our school to respond outside of the world we are comfortable in. I am also challenged to move outside of a purely self-focused expression of faith. This is not a judgment of our current state as much as a challenge to examine where we are and where we feel called to be. I want to continue to explore this.

Gary Haugen is speaking at Sunset Presbyterian this Sunday at 9am, 11am and 5pm.

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Last night I was very encouraged by a meeting at Westside for parents of students who are interested in the Thailand trip this summer. The more I talk to people the more passionate I get about what God is doing in me and our school. We are being challenged to move outside of our building and ourselves toward meeting the needs of others. There is no doubt something special is happening and people are catching the vision. I can’t wait to see what will happen when we actually go.

Before the meeting Don and I were talking about names for this movement in our school. A few weeks ago in another conversation Rob (our development director) called the movement “Westside Outside.” I will just leave it at that for now. This could mean a lot of things especially if we realize that we can compliment outside with “Westside Inside.” I believe the combination of these two phrases could be used very powerfully to communicate what God is doing in our school on multiple levels. Before I give you my thoughts I would love to know what Westsiders and others think?

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