Psalm 100

When I started this blog, it was for the purpose of sharing our journey with you.  I wanted a way to connect with all of you, to let you know what we were experiencing, how we are adjusting and how we are seeing God at work.  We knew that some days and weeks would be great and some would be hard, frustrating and challenging.  So the fact that we have days of frustration has come as no surprise to us, but where that frustration comes from has.

Today is Sunday and we just got home from church.  Church has been a real pickle for us.  We certainly didn’t expect it.  We love church, we love the body of Christ and worshipping with brothers and sisters.  We need that in our lives.  However, it’s that very need that has been a struggle.  Right off the bat, I need to say that our Nazarene congregations here in the Bangkok area are great.  The people love Jesus and have been so welcoming to us.  So, why the struggle?  Well… that, I think, goes back to our journey.  In the U.S. Kevin was a pastor.  He prepared and preached a sermon every week; I lead or participated in a Bible study nearly every week; we attended small group on a regular basis. Kevin taught Bible quizzing.  Most weeks we participated in leading worship and when we didn’t, we worshipped from the congregation, our voices joining in praise and adoration with our church family.  We didn’t just attend church or even work at a church, Church was our life.  The Body of Christ was central to the rhythm of our days and weeks.  It was never perfect, but it was “home” and it was beautiful.

Here, we have naturally been strongly encouraged to attend one of our Nazarene churches here in Bangkok.  This is as it should be. These are the people we have come to encourage and work alongside to grow the Kingdom in Thailand.  They are lovely Spirit-filled churches and naturally, the services are in Thai (or in one case Burmese) and the people speak Thai.  Some Sundays, this makes going to church hard work.  Moving to a new place, making new friends, and having a new job or assignment is hard enough as it is, but trying to do it in another language is like Ariel trying to woo prince Eric without her tongue.  It feels almost impossible some days.  Today was one of those days.  Choosing where to go to church seemed like a choice between broccoli or asparagus for dessert—both good for you, but not dessert.  We considered staying home and having our own service, but that’s not really Church.  We believe strongly in the importance of gathering with fellow believers (Hebrews 10:25).  So, I sort of pouted, I hemmed and hawed, and drug my feet and felt sorry for myself as we went to church.

When we got to church, almost every song was familiar to me (an English song that has been translated).  This is highly unusual.  I felt like God had seen me and knew exactly what I needed, but that was just the beginning.  You see, God is a really good Father.  He doesn’t just placate us by making us feel better, He also deals with our attitudes.

The sermon was on Psalm 100.  I have to stop right here and tell you that I really have no idea if what I am going to share is anything close to what was preached.  I don’t understand enough Thai to really know.  All I know is what I got out of what I did understand, what the Holy Spirit spoke to my heart.