Good-Bye Thailand

So just a quick note as early tomorrow morning we leave Thailand for Bali. We have a couple of days in Bali before flying onto East Timor. Probably too early to write anything much in regards of looking at the trip. We came to look at long term options ---- at this stage Partners says that there is nothing here that really fits us. So this really is at the moment "Good-Bye Thailand and Partners". We will walk the beach of Bali and see what the future brings. So that's us now - but you can't do a post without at least a few pictures......

Mae Sa Elephant Park

So some random pics of our trip to the elephant park today - finally we did it, we rode an elephant - woo hoo!

Just Thoughts

Ok, so here are some thoughts from a book I have been reading - that is challenging and has me thinking that maybe my Christianity up to now has been only "Half-Pie". Now this has nothing to do with us being in Thailand it is just a few thoughts written here as much for my benefit as anything else. The one contact with Thailand, is that this sort of thinking definitely has played a large role especially in me being here.
Anyway the book is called: Justification: God's Plan and Paul's Vision. It is written by Tom Wright. Some background, in theological circles there is this thing called the "new perspectives on Paul", and it basically is a group of people that look at Paul's writings in the NT differently, than the traditional view. The traditional view comes very much from reformed theology. A while ago John Piper, wrote a book against Tom Wright (also writes under NT Wright) that i forget the name of. This book then is Tom Wright response or defense you could say to that book written by John Piper.
Now there is a lot of detail --- that I don't want to go into. But there one thing that I think Tom Wright has dead on. That is the importance in the NT of Jesus' death and resurrection bringing together one people. Read Ephesians, Galatians, or Romans and take note of how often Paul is addressing the issue of Jewish/Gentile relationships - you will be amazed. Tom Wright writes, how we have made Christianity so much about --- an individual being saved, and going to heaven when we die - that we have missed what God wants to do with his people (together) here on earth. Anyway here are some quotes from the book.....

"The theological equivalent of supposing that the earth goes round the sun is the belief that the whole of Christian truth is about me and my salvation...........Salvation is hugely important. Of course it is!..................But we are not the centre the of universe. God is not circling around us. We are circling around Him. It may look, from our point view, as though 'me and my salvation' are the be-all and end-all of Christianity. Sadly, many people - many devout Christians! - have preached that way and lived that way........I believe that the salvation of human beings, though of course extremely important for those human beings, is part of a larger purpose. God is rescuing us from the ship wreck of the world, not so that we can sit back and put our feet up in his company, but so that we can be part of his plan to remake the world. We are in orbit around God and his purpose, not the other way around. ............There has crept back in theology, even good. no-nonsense, copper-bottomed Reformation theology, the snake whisper that actually it is all about us, that 'my relationship with God' and 'my salvation' is the still point at the centre stage of the universe. I am the hero in this play. Even Jesus comes on the stage to help me out of the mess I'm in. (pg 7ff)

I hope it is already clear that God's dealing with sin as the root problem, and God's purpose to bring Jew and Gentile together in the single family 'in the Messiah', are so tightly intertwined throughout this passage so far that it would be futile to try to separate them.(passage is Gals 3)
(pg 105)

As I have argued at length in Surprised By Hope, we are not saved from the world of creation, but saved for the world of creation. (Roms 8:1-26) Humans were made to take care of God's wonderful world, and it is too strong to say that the reason God saves humans is not simply that he loves them for themselves but that he loves them for what they truly are - his pro-creators, his stewards, his vice-gerents over creation. (pg 207)

Generally the point Wright is making and I think I have missed up to now is the point we often make with the cross. What we often says is that there is a vertical and horizontal part to the cross, and we say Christianity is about our relationship with God (the vertical) and with others (the horizontal). But, what we all hear and what Tom Wright argues against, is that the vertical is the really important part ---- prayer, worship - me, I and Jesus - the aim of Christianity is for 'me to grow closer to Jesus' for me to get to know Jesus more. The vertical is really where it's at. But here's the point. Without both, we don't have a cross. What if there is no both/and even here, for they are so close that the vertical and horizontal are simply meant to be "one thing". Jesus gave us two commandments - and maybe we make to bigger fuss over the fact that he called one 'the second' - maybe it is only our Western mindset's that think of this as a ranking. We are to love God (vertical) and others (horizontal). So why does this matter ....

- It matters 'cos it effects how we do evangelism. What are we calling people into? A place where they get there sins washed away, a free card to heaven - and more a boring life, 'cos now they have to be good. Or into a family, a community ---- that covers the globe ---- a force who have their sins dealt with and are now "doing" (when was the last time you heard a Christian Altar Call that said that when you become a Christian you are meant to do something - other than of course pray the 'sinner's prayer') what humanity was made to do ---- we're partnering with God for the sake of his kingdom, his rule, his purpose - seeking to turn this world the right way up. Which one of those options gets you say - Yea I'm in.

- It effects how we view Church. This is so much more than the often boring old Sunday morning/Sunday night thing. This thing,. this new community that should be breaking down barriers and showing the world what a unified community can look like (didn't Jesus say they will know we are Christians by our love for each other), is as much a sign of the cross as a forgiven changed new Christian. In Ephesians 2, Paul starts talking of how we get our sins forgiven - he then goes onto how Jew/Gentile are being brought together, he then talks of himself being the herald of this. But then he makes this amazing comment --- God's purpose in all of this was to use the Church to display his wisdom in its rich variety to all the unseen rulers and authorities in the heavenly places. This was his eternal plan, which he carried out through Christ Jesus our Lord. The Unified Church was God' s plan to display his wisdom to the unseen rulers and authorities. How important then is Church??? In an age, where Christian community is almost seen as optional - after all it's about me, I and Jesus remember (the vertical) - I don't need Church (the horizontal) - I think this is challenging.

- It affects how we view life. I am here not as a man waiting for heaven, but as a man working for God's kingdom. That gives my life a very different point of view. It also when we consider the wars, and internal conflicts between people groups that ravage our world - shows that if God's kingdom is about being people together - then we have a lot of work to do.

Anyhow - sorry if you wasted your time reading all this it was more for my sake than anyone else. If you read this far I'm guessing your interested so you really should read some Tom Wright --- this book was Justification: God's Plan and Paul's Vision. Another good one is Surprised By Hope....especially the second half where he gets into the 'so what' of all the theology in the first half.

Til Next Time
D

Random Pictures

Some random pictures from the boys we played soccer with to roads we travelled to pigs and places we saw :)

2nd week in Chiang Mai

Last weekend we visited Chiang Mai Zoo - well it is meant to be the biggest zoo in Thailand! Maybe the area of it is but there didn't seem to be many animals though - this is maybe because we went in the middle of the day but still it wasn't anything spectacular!

The week started off with a 5hr or so drive to Mae Sot (south on the border) where we spent the night, then the next day we visited the Partners office there and were taken on another hr drive to a refugee camp. We were going for a graduation of students who had been studying for 4 yrs doing different courses - this was the first group of students to graduate there. Wow what a sight in many different ways!





The camp itself is more like a big village, and I mean big there were over 50 000 people there who have fled the Burmese Army from the Karen state just over in Burma. The camp itself has been around for over 20 years. It is funny, at the graduation you see all these happy people with their cellphones and digital cameras, and it can be easy to think that they have life alright. But then when you think about you see how rough these people have it. They cannot go back to Burma, though many do - they do so in fear of their own lives. They can also go nowhere in Thailand where they have no rights or papers. To flee from the camp into Thailand (which won't be that hard) and get caught would mean being handed back over to Burma authorities which would mean prison or even death. So many people are in this crowded little camp of over 50 000 and that's all they have known their entire lives - they have never left the camp. They are not allowed to farm or grow their own gardens (not that there is apace to anyhow), so they are completely dependent on the NGO aid to survive. Yet despite all this is was amazing to see that every speech at this graduation (and there were a few) mentioned about how they wanted to help their people. It was commented that many of these people finishing school would go back and try and help their people in Burma.
The rest of this week has just been at the office - doing more post outs and working on the youth studies they have asked me to do. We were to visit a Children Home supported by Partners on Friday through to Saturday, but unfortunately it is Nell's turn to get a little sick so we had to pull out of that trip.
This next week are heading up North and maybe into the Shan state.

Hope you all have a great Easter - God Bless

Til Next Time

D & N

First Chiang Mai & Partners

So we have had our first week in Chiang Mai, we sent out an email with more information on it - if you want that and didn't receive it then just let us know. Below is a video clip to let you know about the situation in Burma and the work Partners and Free Burma Rangers are involved in (sorry dial-up people). There are more on Vimeo and Youtube just search under Partners: Relief & Development.

This is Our Home from Partners Relief & Development on Vimeo.

On Friday, we also went to a festival of the Shan people - they are a people group from Northern Burma that is fighting a civil war and being oppressed big time by the Burmse Army. Unlike the Karen people, they are not allowed to form refugee camps, so instead come illegally into Thailand where they end up with the worst lowest paying jobs. 70% of prostitutes in Chaing Mai - which has the highest percentaage per head of population in the world - are Shan; as are most of the construction workers, which are very poorly paid here. This festival is their coming of age festival if you like, where the young guys are all dressed up and carried round on he shoulders of their fathers. There was much colour, dancing and music.



That day we also got a bit of a lesson on Buddlism. A couple of things to think about....

• If Buddlism at an academic level doesn't believe in a god - which they don't - then are those images of Buddla really idols???? Sadly, they become so, for the common people more out of superstition than anything else.
  
• Buddlism believe in achieving a state of Nirvana. They have these different level structures that getter narrower and narrower as they reach the top - which is a point. The bottom widest level is Hell - level 4 is heaven ----- which then has lots of levels until you reach the narrow point at the top which is the aim - Nirvana. This is a state not a place. But, with this being the Buddist worldview, when Christians come along and say do you want to go to heaven? Buddlists hear something completely different.
• Buddlism is about getting rid of suffering - you do this basically by letting go of desire. To a degree there is truth in this - but 'cos there is no God, no nothing really except "letting go", Buddlism in the end leaves people empty. Which is why a lot of Buddlists are really into folk Buddlism.

So that is a little of what I learnt in our little lesson from Stu Corlett. I typed it here party for anyone who was interested and mostly so I wouldn't forget.
So tomorrow we are of to Mae Sot maybe - and going to visit one of the Karen refugee camps. Will let you know how it all goes.

Til Next Time

D

End of Bangkok to Chiang Rai

Hey so what’s been happening since our last update well...... I did a 5hr Thai massage course (may have been a waste of $) i have a photocopied book n a certificate to prove it though – just need to practice it! (makes Dale happy) We enjoyed an adventure into China town via a boat down the canal and had a good look around getting lost, had a ride on a tuk tuk – little 3 wheel vehicle! Found a big shopping centre n realised there was 3 of them but only managed to go into 2 of them as they so huge! Had a crazy 45min taxi ride back to our guesthouse at the end of the day!! Thursday we caught a flight to northern Thailand to Chiang Rai leaving from the “old airport” which is probably really only used by the dodgey airlines for domestic use (ok maybe not really) - again the taxi ride there was crazy but we made it! The flight kept being delayed but finally we flew the hr flight unfortunately we couldn’t see much out the window as the smog has come! Seems to be worse up here in Chiang Rai which is a shame. Here in Chiang Rai it is alot smaller n more relaxed than Bangkok (wonder why!) There are more Buddha’s, so we saw the Emerald n the Cave ones! Hired a scooter one day, went checked out a museum n had a little spill on it but no really damage was done! One reason to be in this city was to meet Dan Rutledge n hear about the work he has been doing here with a boys orphanage. So we met up with him n his beautiful family! They took us our to try some real Thai dishes n chat about their story. We ended up going to a night market with them as well but this market only happens on a Saturday night n nearly a whole street is closed off for it! So many people n I think some famous people where there as well (what would we know). We met up again with Dan n his family at the Chiang Rai Gospel Church on Sunday – 2hrs of Thai speaking actually wasn’t too bad! Dan keep Dale informed of what was being said though. Took Dan n his family out for lunch n their favourite is Pizza so we went to the Pizza Company (Pizza Hutt) of all places. Enjoyed very much getting to know n find out things from Dan n his family. We hope to meet up again when he has to come down to Chiang Mai, which is where we off too toaday via a bus! Another adventure that will be! Ok enough now – check the pics out

Till next time

N