August 2015
by Mi Yun
It's now been over a month since I returned to Bangkok. After a few days of rest, I remember walking into the local market near my house and looking around in shock and awe at the bright colors and sounds. The contrast is sometimes jaw-dropping. Thailand, in so many ways, is still so foreign to my heart-sensibilities. I find myself going through waves of soft culture-shock. Nothing too drastic, but enough to trigger slight stress reactions. Things that remind me that I am still new here. Immersing myself in Thai culture and language is a decision I make every day - one that is necessary in order to live and serve well. Sometimes great. Sometimes harder.
I went through a few weeks of fairly bad jetlag and my headaches have come back to a certain degree. I've begun to monitor my cycles and symptoms more closely again. Last year, my neurologist recommended that I keep an oxygen tank at home for emergency cases as cluster headaches can come on very quickly without warning. My cluster attacks typically last six hours at a time, so anything to help mitigate the length of the attacks is helpful. High-flow oxygen therapy is one of the quickest ways to relieve severe cluster headaches, short of injecting oneself with medication. I'm not ready to start injections, but I think getting an oxygen tank is a wise choice. If you have any knowledge or experience with personal oxygen tanks, please feel free to share with me. I have yet to get one.
Home assignment is just around the corner. I have a few work engagements and need to travel some, but I should be headed home in time for Thanksgiving! Although I'm wrapping up my first term, I'll be restarting Thai language studies and getting a head start with work at Grace City Bangkok. It's difficult to start anything when you're leaving for 6 months, but it's an exciting time as well.
Here are a few things you can pray for:
Currently, I am in talks with an American couple who would like to donate a significant financial gift to our church plant. We are praying that God would show us an area or areas of ministry that would benefit most from financial backing. We are so thankful for them and are encouraged that people we have never met want to partner with us generously and sacrificially for gospel work in Bangkok. We praise God for His provision through them and ask that God would bless them with joy in giving to His work in our city.
The church leadership and several of our core members just returned from a retreat at Hua Hin where we talked for hours about the ins and outs, ups and downs of Grace City Bangkok. We are committed to one another and we are thankful that God has planted us in the city. More than ever, we seek God's heart and will for the good and welfare of the people of Bangkok, not just the good of our church. With church plants, resources - human, financial, and almost every other kind, are fewer than usual. And in a city where most people aren't familiar with Jesus or the gospel, it's expected that growth comes more slowly and arduously, but it is still fruitful work! People are interested in hearing the gospel and so we aim to be faithful in proclaiming His Word. The majority of our staff are full-time ministry workers, mostly married couples with young children. Please pray that we do not grow weary in doing good and lean upon God's grace to guide us and His strength to sustain us.
We are also dreaming and casting vision at Grace City. We are praying for more Thai believers as well as potential leaders and pastors to come into our community. A few years down the road, we hope to plant a reformed, English language, international church. We are also praying for wisdom about how to grow our outreach ministries in the workplace, at local universities, and in our city. We would love to see more passionate and skilled musicians join our worship team and for our community to be gospel-active by engaging and loving our city, and meeting the physical needs and more of the poor and needy. And most importantly, we want to see our members grow and mature in love for Jesus and the gospel. Please pray for vision and faith to do great, and hard, things for the glory of God, and that we would remain faithful, humble, and steadfast as our church family navigates these first few years together.
The recent bombing in Bangkok was a frightening and tragic attack. There is no certainty as to who was responsible or why the bombing was carried out. There are very few answers. Please pray for authorities to find those who are responsible. Pray also for the continual healing of those who were injured and for the families of those who were killed. One family lost four members.
Lastly..
A few days after coming back to Bangkok, I was invited by a few friends for a last minute get together. And shortly after we arrived at the venue, we witnessed an explosive domestic violence incident. It's hard to describe the feeling you get in the pit of your stomach when you see something horrifying happening but you're at a loss of what to do. I was completely shocked and overcome with fear, and for days regretted that I had not stepped in to protect the woman from her husband, or said something to distract him and snap him out of his anger. The whole incident lasted about 90 seconds. Ninety seconds is a relatively short amount of time, except when your husband is screaming in your face and is threatening you with his hand on the back of your neck. That can be the scariest 90 seconds of your life.
My inaction in that moment is the thing that I regret the most in recent memory. And as a Christian, I repent for standing still. I've wrestled with what my response ought to have been, and I pray for God's love and strength to be the answer to my fear and weakness whenever faced with situations of evil.
Somewhat differently from other issues, domestic violence and abuse are realities that disturb me deeply. Violence at the hands of strangers is horrifying enough, but to be a victim at the hands of those we trust and know is something that is hard to fathom. I was shaken up the rest of the night and went home with a heavy heart. As I hear of more and more cases of violence and abuse in the media and in my own circles, I realize that the gospel demands a strong reaction from me. And to stay silent when others are suffering and are being abused is an anti-gospel response. The gospel equips us to answer the problem of evil in the world and in our own hearts. And it isn't by our own righteousness or power, but by the righteousness and power of Christ in us that compels and equips us to confront evil.
If you are a follower of Jesus, the gospel demands much of you. It actually demands everything of you. Just as it demanded everything of Jesus. But at times, our response falls short because we haven't allowed the gospel to demand of us what it has the right to demand. For some, it's simply too much of a hassle to get involved. We're too busy with our own lives that we walk past people who may not even have the chance to call out for help. It's the cold indifference towards the suffering of others that renders the gospel in us useless.
Many of us do care and the suffering of others pains us deeply and in ways that leave us heartbroken and sometimes at a complete loss of what to do. And I'm guessing that for most, we're fearful of what might happen to us if we choose to get involved. The man abusing his wife that night was physically large and violently aggressive. He spoke a foreign language that left everyone unsure of what was happening. And he was so consumed by anger that he never once noticed the crowd gathering around him. But it was the rage in his eyes and the way he yelled at his wife that scared me most. For anyone to step in would have meant to endanger oneself willingly. Looking back, I should have at least alerted police or security.
No one has the perfect answer for every situation and we need to seek God's wisdom for discernment in addressing all matters. But we must ask ourselves, remembering the life of Jesus, what it is that we are willing to do for others and the cost we are willing to pay to protect the weak and oppressed. We must practice the acting out of our faith - a gospel-response. At times, direct involvement isn't the wisest or best decision for the victim, or for us, and can lead to more devastating consequences. Yet I believe that the gospel enables us to answer every situation with Christlike grace and compassion, and at the same time allows us to bravely confront evil with faith and confidence in the presence of Christ with us through the Holy Spirit. We can never know the transformation and redemption that the gospel can bring unless we are willing to move into situations of darkness with faith.
And we can only give that which has first been given to us. So before asking ourselves, "What does the gospel demand of me?" we need to ask:
"What has the gospel given me?"
The answer of course, hallelujah, is everything!
God, make us like Christ!
Your partner for Thailand,
Mi Yun Lee Jeong
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© 2015 MI YUN LEE JEONG. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.