family status

is a phrase that has become how i, along with a few others, describe the bond between the group of people i got to spend life with while doing my ywam dts in san francisco. i have found God's humor when i look at the motley crew i spent the past six months of my life with. to say that i miss them would be an understatement. i am baffled to think that six months ago i began living life with total strangers. these total strangers however, were walking into a journey with the same expectations as me. we wanted to experience God and understand His truth more than ever.

i love that i can say those total strangers are now the exact opposite of strangers. they are family to me. we have grown to love each other through all of our flaws, we have wept with one another and laughed hysterically together. we've traveled the world and experienced pieces of God that have left me awestruck. i walked into 357 ellis street expecting to fall more in love with the Lord; i left 357 ellis street having fallen in love with God but also with the hearts of thirteen amazing human beings. man oh man do i miss them but its comforting to know that saying goodbye really only meant, see ya later.

oh and just a little bit of why they make me laugh hysterically

fall 2010, ya'll hold a really special place in my heart

Sawadee Kah, Baan Jai Daow

House of One Heart is exactly that. This community is so wonderful. My team and I were lucky enough to spend four weeks in this community while we were in Bangkok, Thailand. Baan Jai Daow [BJD for short] is a ministry dedicated to the discipleship of university students living in and around Bangkok. They provide students with low cost housing within a Christian community. Seriously, one of the most ingenious ideas EVER! They teach English twice a week, cook large family meals all of the time, provide bible studies multiple times a week and are staffed with self-less people who desire to see the heart of Thailand change. They also have an in-house coffee shop. This is where YWAM SF steps in J.

Every day we would go onto the campus and look for students who looked lonely, or looked like they were on a break from studying and we would strike up a conversation with them. After talking with them [usually laughing and desperately trying to figure out what the other person was saying] we would invite them to lunch with us or to grab a drink at the coffee shop. Once we would get back to BJD we would play endless rounds of UNO, Phase10, or Sequence. I don’t quite know how but these games opened up the door for several relationships to begin. Bringing students back to BJD with us also allowed for the staff to get involved and then pursue longer term relationships with the students.

I believe in all of my heart that the young [15-25] generation of Thailand have been called a generation of righteousness. While praying over the nearby university God placed Psalm 14 on my heart and more specifically verses 2, 5 and 7. This young generation is the generation in verse 2, they are the people who want to understand, who are tired of tradition and of saving face and are desperate for something they have never had.

Thailand,

You took me by storm. Your people are full of smiles and warmth; they were created to worship something/someone great and mighty. They have such a quiet nature about them but once a little bit of trust is formed their impact becomes loud. Thai people are a force to be reckoned with. Your food, well, it is epic. Who would have known that sticky rice and chicken on a stick could become a desired necessity in life? Your weather, the hot and the hotter, was a welcomed escape from frosty, foggy frisco. Your language is one of the most beautiful things I have ever heard. The moments I experienced your people worshiping God in your language are moments I do not want to forget; there is such abandonment of self within their worship.

You broke me heart sweet country of smiles. Your intricate temples and devotion to an infinite number of gods stole my breath. Yes, those temples are so beautiful and I know they are your history and your identity but Thailand, “the God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man, nor is he served by human hands…being then God’s offspring, we ought not to think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by the art and imagination of man”. You will be freed of the fear of man, the fear of being different. This God is different, He is life; He is joy in your heart and not just a smile on your face. This God loves every single piece of you.

Thailand, thank you for your simplicity. Thank you for desiring relationship over entertainment and for not being satisfied with the minimum given by the heart.