Unusual Creatures of Unremarkable Colour

"Is this not the kind of fast I have chosen:

to loose the chains of injustice

and untie the cords of the yoke,

to set the captives free

and break every yoke?

Is it not to share your food with the hungry

and to provide the poor wandered with shelter --

when you see the naked, to clothe them,

and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?"

Isaiah 58:6-7

I've been sorting through the literally thousands of pictures I've got on file representing 18 years of visits to Thailand.  

I'm not sure if this is to help ease my longing or if it's making it worse.

Probably a bit of both.

Mostly the pictures are of children.  Or flowers.  Or outings we've taken together.  Or food.  And oh, the sunrises and sunsets, yes.

But I also came across these three shots, and they caught my attention.  Because even though, unlike the flowers and the sunsets or so many other vibrant things to take a picture of in Thailand, none of these critters are particularly colourful, yet they still fascinate me.  Two are moths of some sort, and the other a toad.  I welcome those with more knowledge than me to educate us on proper names or species.

For now I'm finding it rather striking that they all look like they might have been painted with the same brush by the same artist on a day when there wasn't much going on in the pallet or the imagination.  

And yet I noticed.  Took their picture.

Each unique, and remarkable in their particularly unremarkable way.

Of late I've had the opportunity again to evaluate some of the basic assumptions of life and ministry.  

At New Family Foundation, we are at a pivotal point in our story, just on the edge of actually breaking ground for the new build (exciting and terrifying at the same time).  

At Highview, we are in a season of recalibration and resetting for future ministry as well (full of potential with the usual uncertainty thrown in).  

Personally, for our family, there is something on the horizon that will feel like a big difference for us (not bad per se, but a little painful).

However each of these unfolds, in all three aspects, there is the opportunity to clarify and reclaim important values.  And I welcome that.

And a value that has settled even more deeply inside of me as a result of this, is the value that is apparent in the stopping to take a picture of an unremarkable thing.  

The small and the ordinary have God's complete attention.

"Are not two sparrows sold for a penny?

Yet not one of them will fall to the ground

outside your Father's care."

Matthew 10:29

I will confess to feeling the pressure of comparison when other ministry leaders announce the impressive statics of their latest ventures.  How many Bibles distributed, how many baptisms, how many people deciding to become Christians, how many in attendance at their event.  And I celebrate with them, for sure.

And...there is something remarkable in a persistent persistence of doing Isaiah 58 in the ordinary ways of every day.  There is something unique about every child who comes into our care, no matter what they've been told thus far.  And there is something wildly colourful in the subtle, intentional pallet of the Creator who fashioned them just as they are, because He thought they were a very good idea indeed.

"For You created my inmost being;

You knit me together in my mother's womb.

I praise You because

I am fearfully and wonderfully made;

Your works are wonderful."

Psalm 139:13-14

How amazing that He notices us!

And it doesn't need to be big, and it doesn't need to be flashy, when we notice them with Him.

It just needs to be real.

I need this for me.

I need this for them.

As always, thank you to all who notice them with Him together with all of us at New Family Foundation.

Rev. Ruth Anne Breithaupt, MDiv.

Canadian Representative/Missionary in Residence

New Family Foundation/Highview Community Church

The mission of New Family Foundation is to

provide a loving home for at-risk and 

orphaned children in Northern Thailand to

help them achieve their best potential in 

education, vocation and service to society.

New Family Foundation

                                            

     https://www.hcckw.ca                                                                    https://www.adventive.ca

Practice Makes Possible Online Workshop: Deepening our Connection with God Through Spiritual Practices

Graphic design by RAB/ARH 2024 copyright

 Introducing 

"Practice Makes Possible"

Deepening our Connection with God Through Spiritual Practices

Online Workshop

An interactive online experience designed to help us 

nurture the environments that help us grow deeper in our connection with God.

By the end of the workshop you will:

- Have a better understanding of yourself to form a personalized spiritual formation plan.

- Have practiced an ancient form of Bible engagement known as "Lectio Divina."

- Have practiced a simple method of personal Bible meditation built around the acronym S.O.A.P.

Offered at two separate times (sign up for one only):

Thursday, April 23 - 9:00 to 11:15 a.m.

Saturday, April 25 - 10:00 to 12:15 a.m.

To Register:

Contact me at rabreithaupt@hcckw.ca.

by Monday, April 20th

Includes:

• Three 40 minute sessions:  "Cinnamon Bun Meditations: Drafting a Spiritual Formation Plan", "Bible Listening: Lectio Divina," and "Letting the Bible Read Me: S.O.A.P."
• Power Point Presentation
• Participants Worksheets (provided electronically, or printed for KW area participants)
• Interactive instruction and guided discussion
• Zoom-intimate environment
• Bibliography for further exploration

Cost:

• $35.00 per person
• Due five days before workshop date
• Various payment options
• 100% of proceeds go directly to New Family Foundation
• Zoom link and Worksheets will be provided after payment.

Participants:

• Limited to 10 person maximum
• While I am an avid supporter of men and women serving together and learning from each other, I am inviting women only to these first two sessions.

The material shared in this workshop was first developed for an in-person Ladies' Retreat and presented to 52 women in March 2026 with encouragingly positive feedback.  

An inquiry about whether or not such a workshop could be offered online has led me to explore this idea with you!  

As New Family Foundation enters into a more intensive fundraising season, I am seeking to use my experience and skills in creative ways to benefit our cause.

To Register:

Contact me at rabreithaupt@hcckw.ca.

by Monday, April 20th

Rev. Ruth Anne Breithaupt, MDiv.

Canadian Representative/Missionary in Residence

New Family Foundation/Highview Community Church

The mission of New Family Foundation is to

provide a loving home for at-risk and 

orphaned children in Northern Thailand to

help them achieve their best potential in 

education, vocation and service to society.

New Family Foundation

                                            

     https://www.hcckw.ca                                                                    https://www.adventive.ca

The High Cost of Conflict, and Pertinent Prayer

 

In a very real demonstration of how we are all connected on this planet, I share with you this video, taken by Yupa (and Suradet who is driving), showing the long line ups for gas that are happening in Thailand right now.

This was taken along the highway between Chiang Mai and Hot Springs.  

She tells me that people are waiting in cue from 4 a.m. to 12 noon.  And that there are purchase restrictions from 1,000 THB to as little as 500 THB per visit in some locations.  For perspective, it cost close to 1,500 THB for a fill up when Ken and I were last there in January.

And yes, this is in response to the energy crisis precipitated by the conflict in the Middle East, specifically the issues blocking the passage of oil in the Strait of Hormuz.  A Google search of "Thai energy crisis" will produce no end of news articles that talk about how the Thai government is responding, and as a result how the Thai population is responding.  And while there is communication of decent stores of oil in Thailand, it is clear from the line ups and 'panic buying' that folks are anxious. And I can't blame them.

For us at New Family Foundation, there is a sliver of good news in that, at the moment and for the next two months, our children's school is closed for 'summer' holidays.  This reduces the gas expense for us to get them to school and back again each day, at least for the time being.  

Longer term, of course this is a concern.  We have recently set the 2026 Budget (fiscal year April to March), and felt we had allotted sufficient funds in the category of transportation costs.  We'll see.  

There is a lot to pray about these days.  Of course, in the biggest picture, the prayer is that peace will prevail.  Such complex mechanisms barreling through.  So much loss of life and liberties!  Even so, Lord Jesus come!

Next level down, closer to home, is prayers for cool heads to prevail in the daily living of the Thai people (and other southeast Asian countries in similar circumstances), so that anxieties at the pumps do not spread out to infect the decency of human interactions in other social spaces.  Desperation tends to lead humans to turn inward and self-protective.  Remember toilet paper shortages during COVID?  Only so much worse.

 And then, bringing it right down to our own hearts and minds, the prayer is for the strength to remain steady in the face of our own anxious responses.  To stay fixed on the promises of God that He will never leave us or forsake us, and that He knows what we need.

"Do not be anxious," Jesus says, "about what you will eat or drink, or how you will clothe yourselves...Look at the birds of the air...are you not more valuable than they?...your heavenly Father knows what you need."  Matthew 6:25-33 paraphrased

And I guess we can add prayers that Suradet and Yupa and other followers of Jesus in Thailand who live and move amongst so many anxious folks, can themselves be messengers of peace and stability as they rest in these promises for themselves.  

Me too.  

I learn so much about unwavering trust from them.

Thank you always for your faithfulness to stay in tune with what it happening in different places of the world than where we live, specifically with the needs of our gathered family on the other side of the planet.  

Thank you for your prayers and support that keep us keeping on in the care of these precious children entrusted to our home.  

Rev. Ruth Anne Breithaupt, MDiv.

Canadian Representative/Missionary in Residence

New Family Foundation/Highview Community Church

The mission of New Family Foundation is to

provide a loving home for at-risk and 

orphaned children in Northern Thailand to

help them achieve their best potential in 

education, vocation and service to society.

New Family Foundation

                                            

     https://www.hcckw.ca                                                                    https://www.adventive.ca