July 12, 2012
Ooey looked up at me and called out, “Pa,” lifting her arms up so I could hold her. How could I resist the semi-toothless grin of a 4-year old girl? I pulled her into my arms, but my heart sank after being called “Father” in Thai. After all, didn’t I come here to point people to our Father in heaven? I never expected to be called Father! Klue Moay, the nursery’s director and my host mother, explained Ooey didn’t have a dad. I sat with a mixture of sadness and confusion with her the rest of playtime as she struggled with the numbers blocks.
So was my first full day at Baan Chivitmai, the Christian nursery where David, Kathy, Rachel, and I are serving. In my first meeting with Ooey, it wasn’t hard to see some of the brokenness we’d be facing with the children. I came in thinking we’d get a mega crash course in Thai and be sharing the Gospel left and right with slum communities. Yet, here we were, surrounded by ten children ranging from 6 months to 5 years old, many from Christian families. I wondered, “How are we adding to the Kingdom of God?”
One verse I’ve looked to is Luke 18:15-16. "People were bringing babies to Jesus to have him touch them. When the disciples saw this, they rebuked them. But Jesus called the children to him and said, 'Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these.'" The kids love to climb on us and be carried around the room. Sometimes when I crouch down to let one child down, five more run up and cling to me so it can be their turn. This verse comes in handy when I am tired and the kids are begging for more rides. Even when we are sweaty, exhausted, and bitten, we encourage each other to keep receiving the kids because that’s when we see their smiles and hear their laughter the most. It’s our affirmation that we can be a part of the kingdom of God in Bangkok and show them love, even it’s just a tiny aspect.
That’s a big part of our daily vocabulary: the kingdom of God. We try to connect everything we are doing and experiencing back to our Father’s kingdom and encourage each other to both give and receive the kingdom.
Likewise, we are humbled everyday by the community at Baan Chivitmai. They way they love us, even spoil us, really demonstrates giving the whole heart. They have spared no expense to adopt us as their own. They hold nothing back. They try consistently to bridge the language gap to learn our stories and share theirs with us. We are so well fed (I foolishly believed I would lose weight in Bangkok). They invite us to be a part of their devotionals and worship, even though it slows down their services tremendously. We had never met any of the staff, yet they have opened their homes to us, their food, their energy, really—their lives—to us. I’ve seen the kingdom of God with them because I see how they try to love us as Christ has loved them.
Here are some moments where I've seen my teammates bringing and receiving the kingdom:
- Rachel brought the kingdom when she was getting peed on twice by two different children on back-to-back days, without complaint! She received the kingdom by having the staff spend over 4 hours making her favorite Thai dessert, Loti, from scratch.
- Kathy brought the kingdom by loving our community’s six month old, Manna, as if she were her own child. They are inseparable! She received the kingdom by receiving prayer from the whole community for her mother’s illness.
- David brought the kingdom when he was offered a huge fish head…and finished it willingly, eyes and all! He received the kingdom by accepting his host mother’s love as she bandaged the oozing blisters on his foot. By the way, seeing the bottom of someone’s feet in Thailand is extremely insulting, so it was a very tender gesture from her.
There are too many stories for this space, but the five weeks we spend at the site pales in comparison to how the Baan Chivitmai staff has loved and received us. What we give seems so puny in comparison to what we receive. Yet we are still here for a purpose.
So I come back to Ooey, and all I can really ask is, “Have I given her all of myself today? Have I loved her with every bit of my heart that I can and then beg God to give me more?” I feel that’s the kind of love that God wants me to receive and give as we seek to further His kingdom here.
by Nathan, guest blogger
