One Person's Experience on an Intl Church Mission Excursion

View of Sangklaburi's famous bridge

Sangklaburi is a quiet town perched on a long, narrow lake amongst steep, jungle-covered mountains. The cool mountain air was a welcome surprise from the oppressive heat of Bangkok. From the moment we started our journey together, our expectations grew as we shared our experiences and bonded with anticipation and excitement.

We settled into our ‘home away from home’, where floating house-boats congregate at the lake's edge, long-tail boats zip back and forth and mist rises out of the trees shrouding golden temples in fog one moment, then parts and a shaft of light shines on a gilded roof.

Slowing down to the pace of Sangklaburi won’t take too long as we gathered at the local Thai market for a late lunch. Thunder clouds rolled in and a quick but heavy downpour interrupted the sleeping animals around our feet as water began trickling around our table and dripping from the many holes in our makeshift shelter.

Kwai River Christian Hospital entrance

The natural beauty of the area is not limited to geography. A new mother smiled weakly as we peeked into a bassinet and crooned at her tiny baby at the Kwai River hospital. Another mother was laying in the bed beside the baby, mourning the loss of her own stillborn child and in a room Just across the hall, dengue fever patients were being cared for by their family members and a few staff. It was a slow Saturday at the clinic with no admissions to the 25 bed hospital although Dr Scott Murray was still busy seeing outpatients and ordering blood tests with authority and gentleness all at the same time. He greeted us briefly and mentioned that he would be able to spend more time with us later.

Then there was Leah. What an amazing woman. Leah has been living on the grounds of the Kwai River Christian Hospital for more years than she cares to remember. I think she mentioned 30 years! She has seen many changes over her time here and embraces many of the volunteers who come to assist in any way they can.

Leah is a qualified nurse who runs the TB clinic at the hospital and is currently overseeing the Candlelight Project... which we are going to tell you about Sunday 27 May.

Or to read the whole account, go here.

The Problem with Organized Religion... from a religion organizer

 
In Matthew chapter 14 we read "Lord, if it’s you,” Peter replied, “tell me to come to you on the water.” “Come,” he said.

Peter sank. Have you ever noticed how often Scripture records incidents where Jesus invites someone to do something they eventually fail at? Why?

Because failure is one of the most important experiences in learning. Failure can, of course, be bad. It can result in fear, damage, hurt and ultimately giving up. But it can also result in character formation, trying again and eventual success.

I think one of the purposes of the modern church ought to be to make it easy and natural and expected for people to risk failing. We want people to 'get out of the boat and try to walk on water'. What we tend to do instead is teach people to swim (which is a good thing). Then help them put on a lifejacket (not a terrible thing). And then create rules to ensure all the swimmers are wearing lifejackets.

It is (as Seth Godin says) "institutionalize[d], organized cowardice."

The problem with organized religion is the same with most any organization - organizations tend to be conservative. They tend to be risk averse. The mere act of organizing something is an act of control... which is counter to faith.

This works its way out in so many ways. In church, for example, we distort "spiritual gifts". They are no longer a call to take risks for the kingdom of God in ministry. They become an excuse to do nothing. "It’s not my job.” "That's not my gift." "That's not my calling."

One of my goals as a pastor is to create dis-organized religion. A dis-organized church. I want to give people cover to try new things. I want to give people cover to be brave. I want to encourage dreams that require faith.

I don't want to be reckless. But I do want to take calculated, faith stretching and faith growing risks.

What dreams would you pursue if you had a bit of cover?

How is life with God like investing in the stock market

 
I often use an analogy to help people understand how to grow in faith. Life with God is a lot like investing in the stock market. People who try to time their investments generally loose.

There was a study done about 10 years ago on the S&P 500. (You didn’t realize you’d get investing tips, did you?) From 1983 to 2003 (over 20 years) the annualized return was 10%. What’s amazing is that during that 20 year period - if you take out the 20 best days (1 day per year) the annualized return dropped to 5%. If you missed the best 40 days (the best 2 days per year!) the annualized return dropped to 1.5%.

So the goal is to try to jump in at the strategic time, right? Wrong. That almost never works. The key is to always be in.

If you are always ‘in’ you’ll get those 2 days. In fact, the ONLY way to definitely get the two days is to always be in. And, yet, lots of people still try to ‘time’ the market.

Lots of people try to ‘time’ God too.

We pray or read our Bibles - when we feel the need. We serve a few times a year - when the mood is right, when it’s convenient. We seek out our brothers and sisters for fellowship - when we are feeling lonely. That’s trying to ‘time’ God. Showing up only when you think you need Him.

Does it work? No.

This ‘method’ almost always leads to frustration. And no one wants a frustrated relationship with God. Right? So what do you do? Establish good spiritual discipline. Do the right things over and over again, whether you feel like it or not. It might seem like drudgery sometimes (many times) but over time, it is the most reliable way to develop a full, joyful, hope-filled life with God.

Top 10 Most Read Books in the Last 50 Years

 
Did you see this? It is incredibly interesting.

I wonder why Muslims aren't pushing the Koran up the list. Are they reading less than Christians? Or did the survey slant toward countries more likely to have large Christian populations? It's good to see the Bible up there.

Some of the others are scary.

*Quotes from Mao, really? Does this mean they surveyed properly in China?
*Harry Potter? Okay.
*Lord of the Rings? Yes.
*The Alchemist? Is this because the self-help genre is so popular?
*The DaVinci Code? The Bible is almost 80 times more popular, but we are talking the last 50 years! The DaVinci Code has only been around a few of those. Does this tell us something about what people are reading to feed their spirits? Or destroy them? I find it hard to believe the DaVinci code is here because it's great literature.
*The Twilight Saga? I know little about this one.
*Gone With The Wind? Okay.
*Think and Grow Rich? Really? Top 10? Sad.
*The Diary of Anne Frank? Great book.

Is it just me or is it kind of weird to think that so many of the books on this list have very little value either for what you can learn or as literature? Thank God the Bible and the Diary of Anne Frank made the list.