Reflections

Well I haven't written in a very long time, but this entry was actually supposed to be written shortly after I got back from Thailand. Ah, apathy. I just wanted to mention a few things that came to me as I reflected on my time in Thailand....
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When we got down south, Ricky Sanchez gave us a tour of some of the hardest hit areas of Southern Thailand. He took us to the Wat where they had brought hundreds of dead bodies, to be identified. (A Wat is a Buddhist place of worship). It was there I thought, wow, they brought the dead to the Wat. The place that housed death spiritually, was now a place that housed death physically.
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Team life was really cool. We were from all over North America, brought together by a common purpose and a common faith (and a common denomination). What made it especially unique is that we came as individuals. And because of that, we got to know each other far better than if we were within the context of our families. For myself, I could approach people on the team without feeling like I was infringing on a family unit or "couple time". I think we got to know each other far better than if we had been there with our families. Don't get me wrong, family is a good thing, I just wanted to point out the uniqueness of the experience.
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I was really struck by Ricky's persistance in prayer. He knows prayer works because he's seen it happen over and over again (praying for people until they come to Christ). That is really cool, and it encouraged me to pray for my unsaved friends.
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When I was in Bankok, checking in for my flight home, the passport reader wasn't reading my passport. It read everyone else's passport, and my passport is good condition but it wouldn't read mine. I thought to myself, "I know if I pray it will work". Normally I always have some skepticism about the prayer working, but this time I just knew God would answer. Sure enough, I prayed "Lord please let it read my passport", and right away it read my passport successfully. I said to myself "Wow, that's so cool. Thanks God!" Prayer does work.

Jon