Post Retreat High

Oh how busy the last several weeks have been. We have ended out first summer course, hosted a group from America, and had a church retreat. Now its time to finally get a little bit of breather before starting a new English course TODAY! Haha…

Even though it has been a busy month, I have still seen the blessings that God has shown not only to me but also to the entire church. Most people get busy and just shut down, but for me God is clearer in the midst of all the chaos. I have to admit though that even though I wasn’t apart of the planning committee of this retreat, I saw all the effort that goes into planning a retreat. And most importantly I saw myself in some of the members of the committee, particularly in one person of the committee and it’s kind of interesting to see yourself in someone else. I saw all the chaos that comes with being a leader and all the good and bad comments that comes with being a leader. But not being that leader I started to understand where all the bad comments came from cause I myself started thinking some of those comments as well. And no longer being in that position I also know all the things that go on behind the scenes that would make a leader choose one option over the other. But what this leader had here in Thailand that I haven't seen in the States, was support from the people around them that were willing to give advice and people who understood the position that this leader was in. God through all of this showed me the willingness of the people here in Thailand, their willingness to serve Him, their willingness to help, their willingness and openness to understand. And it really made think about the ministries I have been involved in in the States. 

I don’t really remember the last time I was that willing to serve others or had the openness to understand others’ opinions. I know that I helped because someone told me to help or I served out of frustration because no one else would do it. And now thinking about it I can count on one hand the number of people of who have given me the same kind of willingness and openness the Thai people have. It is unfortunate that I can only think of a handful of people who have given me that kind of support. Part of it could be because there are only a few people who are willing to support and partly because I haven't opened my eyes to see the support around me. The willingness to serve and openness to understand is really something that all believers should be doing. But it doesn’t happen because we sometimes forget the reason we serve and whom we are serving. Instead we get so caught up in the ministry and all the logistics/administrative stuff and forget the purpose of our ministry. I myself am guilty of do this many times in my times of service to the Lord. The bible tells us that we are one body in Christ and Christ is the head. If all the limbs and organs of this body functioned under one brain, how much more functional would that body be? What if believers throughout the world had this mindset? What if everyone were united in one vision, in one God, for one purpose? I believe that the planning committee of this retreat had one vision for this retreat and they were united together under the same God for one purpose. I saw on a small scale of what unity within the church of Christ was like and I can only hope for that same unity to happen throughout the world. I as one person cannot make unity amongst a nation happen, but we as a family in Christ can make that unity happen, and it all starts with faith and heart that has a willingness to serve and support and openness to understand the functions of the rest of the body. Imagine a world united in Christ and one nation and as one family. How awesome would that be? So lets start with our own churches first. If we can get each individual church to be unified in the same vision, we can start seeing that vision come to life throughout the rest of the world.