MicahJohn

So this will be a quick one. I’m leaving shortly to go welcome in the New Year (before any of you).

Thursday I had the opportunity to be prayed for by Baba Doug, just in from Malawi. I was dropped of at Newark airport by Nathanael, Gabriel, Josiah, and Tom. It was a good send off team. I was able to bring my guitar as a carry on!

The flights from Newark to Stockholm, from Sweden to Malaysia, and then from Malaysia to Thailand were all just about as good as long flights can be.

I was welcomed in Bankok by Kris and the Goshorn family. I get to be here with some good folks.

The last few days have been quite full, but at the moment I’m unsure how to relate what they were filled with. The days have been right when nights used to be. My friends here have kept me busy during the day to ensure that I’m ready to sleep at night.

 Trying with a foggy mind to pick out highlights from time lived with a foggy mind is a little tricky. I know I have enjoyed being loved by the Goshorn children. Levi and Julia are fun. Carrying them, however, can be challenging by the end of a day (that by my internal clock is a night). I know my apartment is located conveniently near both a skytrain station and a superstore (Super WalMart esque). I know I’ve had a lot of great Thai food a good deal cheaper than I could pick it up in the US. I know I’ve met a whole lot of people I look forward to getting to know better. Many of whose names I am sadly still a little unsure how to say, and very unsure how to write with English letters.

Happy New Year!

If the title of the sermon makes you curious check it out here

It was a good reminder to delight in the realization that Jesus is more than I might sometimes want him to be, not less. Jesus has come to do more than make me comfy.

While I’m commenting on Sunday mornings, allow me to share a question that really rattled some of the foundations in my brain:

“How much are you willing to pay to give up your rights?”

Don’t get me wrong, I know on the surface (and even a little below the surface) that God’s way is the best way and that surrender to him is worth far more than anything else, but something about the way the question was asked last week brought that truth deeper into my being.

The silent one speaks! Sorry there has not been much communication from my end as I approach departure. Due to the number of you and your geographic spread, a lack of mass communication means, for many of you, a total lack of communication. My apologies. My deepest apologies to those hearing of my upcoming departure to Thailand for the first time (I don’t think there are any of you, but both I and (less often) the postal service at times misplace things).

Wow! Time isn’t big on slowing down. It just keeps cranking along. Yesterday morning I purchased my ticket. I fly out of EWR with Malaysia Airlines on the 27th of December. I have three more weeks to wrap up my affairs on this continent. Your prayers for wrapping up paper work, saying good byes, getting packed, etc, are much appreciated.

I’m ashamed to admit how readily I am surprised by God’s faithful providence. My best efforts continue to fall short of the mark, and God continues to provide more than I ask or imagine. One of the places I have seen this most clearly recently is the area of finances. Money is a nice clear cut place to see God provide. Money is there or it isn’t. God has been my source in a number of other ways that are less readily communicable. That said, here here are two tales of the monetary provision of God:

Around Thanksgiving I was beginning to grow anxious. The gifts people had given were far from the pre-departure threshold. Then a week ago, apart from any of my efforts, someone gave through my sending organization to me a generous gift that brought my funds to the cleared-for-departure level. Then, right on the heels of that provision, a friend (also apart from my efforts) put forward money to cover the cost of my ticket.

It is beautiful to me that God is my source, and that I, as a part of his body, am part of his source to others. You can pray for me that I grow both in recognizing God’s provision (and thanking him for it) and in allowing God to use me to provide for others.