Taken For Granted

When venturing to new places you often find things you aren’t accustomed to seeing. The difference may be seen in the street food where everything from fruit to pig liver is served on a stick. It may be seen in the skin tainted, tangled limbs of the beggar on the sidewalk. It may been seen in the woman flaunting herself on the street corner. Fresh experiences, sights, and smells are sometimes in other countries and sometimes right outside your front door.

One privilege that my team and I have had while being in Thailand this far has been meeting a small few of the 10% of students who have faith in Jesus rather than Buddha. Unlike the typical American college campus where students are as ethnically diverse as their beliefs, 90% of the students here are proclaiming Thai Buddhists. However, the attitudes of the believers are not as sad as that statistic. In fact, they are the complete opposite.

Apec College has a Christian club that invited us to join them one day for a meeting. A few blocks off campus and up several flights of stairs is where this group of ten college students meet weekly to find fellowship and find a deeper knowledge of God. Thank God for these students. Their numbers are few but their hope is loud and strong. These students were extremely encouraged by our visit. One man said that he was overjoyed with the dream that God had placed on his heart. When he voiced this dream, he mostly said that God had big plans for the campus and big plans for the hearts there.

How often do I take advantage of the mere fact that in America, we almost have more accessible churches than we do grocery stores? It definitely gave a new perspective to see these students, the same age as myself, so serious and passionate about their faith. I am excited to continue to watch these students grow in their faith and to encourage them in it.

The next three months will be full of building rich relationships rooted in Christ and I cannot wait to see where God takes them! 🙂