Crosses in Gardens

Cross on the Hill at Hot Springs
Photo Cred: Dave Driver

Crosses in gardens seem more real, somehow.

Yes, let's put them on our places of worship, and wear them around our necks, or hang them on the walls of our homes to remember, to identify ourselves with this Sacrifice.  

But we all know these are sanitized symbols.  

So it's good for us, sometimes, to go outside.  

To reflect beside the rough wood of it.  

To be more real about it.

Crosses in Thailand feel more real somehow.  

Inside or outside.

Maybe because they stand in stark contrast to golden domes.

But just in case I'm tempted to point fingers, 

we Christians tend to glitter too.

Drawn to the bigness of it, I guess.

Different ways to point to God.

Again, no pointing fingers.

There's room at the Cross for this.

But still.

Crosses in gardens seem more real.

In some ways of thinking, 

suffering is to be avoided at all costs.

There's another stark contrast for Thais.

Christian Thais.

We worship a God who suffered.

All the more reason for crosses in Thailand to feel more real.

Inside or outside.

There is no 'spring' in Thailand, either.

Nothing to 'cross' over between equinox and resurrection.

No cultural expression of a celebration of dying that brings life.

Not seasonal.

Not like we do.

All that's left is what is real.

Crosses in gardens.

And hope piercing a recycling of despair.

All of us at New Family Foundation wish you all the very best, 

most real Easter ever.

And if you get the chance,

go visit a Cross in a garden.

Some surprising encounters have happened there before.

Celebrating a Remarkable Woman

 

Happy Birthday to one of the most amazing women I know!

It's not just that she, along with her husband Suradet, have for the past 16 years, welcomed so many children into their care. That alone is heroic and admirable and incredible all in itself.

But to know Yupa is to be graced somehow with the measure of her faith. It's as if the deep spirituality and powerhouse of her inner strength sort of sparkles off onto you. You can't help but get some on you, somehow. To be prayed for by Yupa is truly a great gift.

So, on this birthday, we again celebrate that God has given us such a treasure.

And we pray blessings over and abundant.

As you have given, may it be given unto you.

Essentially Uncomfortable - Thoughts on Cross-Cultural Learning

I stand for a while on the patio enjoying the warmth of this March sun on my skin.  It's 16 C out here at the moment, and I'm loving it.  In the roller coaster ride of temperatures we've had in Ontario over the past several weeks, this peak is welcomed as a hopeful hint of the true Spring that is yet to come.

In Chiang Mai right now, temperatures are peaking at 39 C.  March is one of the hotter months.  I know this because I've been there then.  This was at the beginning of our times going back and forth, before we figured out that November and February are much more conducive to meaningful participation for farangs who can be easily laid low by the extreme heat and humidity.  July and August are okay for visits too, because by then the thermometer in Thailand had fallen way back down to similar temperatures we would be having in Ontario, making it feel so much less of a shock.

And there's the interesting thing about temperatures on any given day.  Whether you feel it's hot, warm, cool or chilly, all depends on what you're used to, what you're expecting, what you've just come from.  Me basking in the warmth of 16 C on my patio in March is the same as me, shivering at early morning worship time at Hot Springs in the 16 C chill.  

Suradet, a bone-chilling 16 C

It reminds me, as I stand in the sunshine on my own back patio, of how much, if left to my own devices of temperament, I might prefer to avoid having to make such adjustments.  Not just in temperatures, but in almost everything.  When I get comfortable, I sort of want to stay like that.  My routines, the food I eat, knowing where my toothbrush is, waking up in my own bed, communicating in my own language, driving on the 'correct' side of the road...all of it is well within my ability to navigate comfortably.  

Except, of course, in perpetuity this is no life at all.  And everything in me is unspeakably grateful that regularly I have the great gift of being flung way out there into all manner of things that require me to adjust, to figure things out a different way, to be surprised and pushed and challenged and made uncomfortable enough to become oh so much more human.

I remember when I was first planning Team trips to Hot Springs.  There was a long list of things I thought I could do to help make sure everyone was comfortable.  I didn't want them to have to experience the same degree of disorientation and shock I did my first time out.  But then I heard, "Don't deprive your Team Members from the same essentially uncomfortable opportunities given you."

These thoughts come to me on my patio on a this "warm" March morning, likely because I am gearing up now to bring another Team with me in November.   

And I'm already praying for them.