Backswamp

You can take the soil scientist out of the dirt but you can't take the dirt out of the soil scientist.

Monsoon season.  That's a fancy term for a seasonal rainy season.  Practically it means that for part of the year, it is very wet.  Add to the normal rains a tropical storm pushing in from the east and, well, its kind of soggy in Phon Phisai right now.

To our regional climate we will add some humans.  Humans often began to settle in areas that were near rivers.  It made sense.  Rivers were transportation channels and a source of food.  Phon Phisai is on the confluence of the Mekong River and a smaller river called Huai Luang. It was a good place to settle.

Now we'll add s small geomorphology lesson.

Geomorphology is the study of landforms.  A typical landform associated with rivers and streams is a floodplain.  A floodplain generally has two main parts:

The levee is a relatively high part of the floodplain located adjacent to the river. The soils here are generally coarser (e.g. sand and fine gravel).

Adjacent to the levee is the backswamp.  This is a relatively lower position. The soils here tend to be finer-textured (e.g. silt and clay).

When we combine landforms, climate and humans, we can get some interesting results.

Because the backswamp is lower, it tends to be wetter. And because the soils are finer-textured, they hold onto water longer. As a result, when people would build adjacent to a river, they would often build on the levee, as opposed to the backswamp.

But as villages grow, people need a place to build, so they will often fill in areas of the backswamp and build there.  In some places there are grading ordinances and such regarding the filling of low areas.  Here in Thailand, if there are such rules, there is no obvious indication.  And people don't seem to think much about what happens to the water that falls on the landscape.

So the basic rule is, if I am going to build, I need to build higher than what is around me.  If I build next to someone who has built already, I just need to build higher than them.  If the water that falls onto my place goes onto their place, well , that's not my problem.

The house we are renting, like many other houses in Phon Phisai, is built on a backswamp.  There are a lot of areas that have been filled in, but some low areas remain that are generally used for growing rice.  However, the field adjacent to us has been filled in on all sides and is the recipient of much of the runoff from the filled in areas.  The only way for the water to get out of the field  is through a small culvert that drains to an area where the water is impounded to protect other fields. The lowest part of that field is so wet, they can't even grow rice, though they tried last year.  So last year we had this beautiful reflecting pool next-door. This year it is just aquatic weeds.

The Field Next Door - Last Year

Most of the houses are built up higher than the street, so the street is subject to flooding.

Our Street

Most of the water on our street clears off a few hours after flooding.  However there are some nearby streets on the same landform where the the water has no place to go.  I was out for a walk earlier this week and when I came to this, I decided to try a different route.

Phon Phisai or Venice?

But flooding is not the only problem we face.  As I mentioned earlier, most of the houses are built on fill. Most the the soil they use to fill with is fairly clayey.  Not the greatest stuff to build on, but it is what they have.  And they don't engineer the fill, they just dump it.  So the houses are built on unstable fill on top of mushy soils.  Unless someone goes through a great effort to put in decent footings (not so common), the houses tend to crack with time.  The house we are renting is less than 10 years old, yet there are several full length cracks.

Glad we don't have earthquakes

 
Because I used to have a job making soil  maps, I tend to think about these things.  When we bought our first house in Bakersfield, one consideration I had was whether it would flood if one of the dams on Lake Isabella gave way.  (A geologic fault line runs between the two dams on the lake.)

Jesus taught us that we should think about what we build on as well:

The people who come to me, who listen to my teachings and obey them—I will show you what they are like: They are like a man building a house. He digs deep and builds his house on rock. The floods come, and the water crashes against the house. But the flood cannot move the house, because it was built well. (Luke 6:48 ERV)


If we want our lives to be strong and endure, we need to  build them on the right stuff.  And the stuff to build our lives on is the teachings of Jesus.  Jesus spoke the words above after giving what is called "The Sermon on the Mount."  That body of teaching contains some things that are very difficult to practice.  Yet, it is in the doing of these things that make for a strong house.

I pray for strength and wisdom from the Holy Spirit to embrace the teachings of Jesus in my life and I am thankful for the grace that comes through Christ Jesus when I fall short. I want my life to not be like a poorly built house on a backswamp.

Kilometer Posts

Thailand is very good about putting up kilometer posts along almost all the highways in the country.  The side facing the road will have the highway number, and the sides facing traffic will have the distances to the next towns ahead.

8 Kilometers to Phon Phisai

In the past five years or so, it has become popular to make signs with similar form, as the way of advertising your business or perhaps some landmark, having a distance of "0" to wherever the sign is and then distances to other places.

0 Kilometers to This Intersection

While kilometer posts may not always be very good at letting you know where you are, they are helpful in determining progress towards your destination or from a starting point.

In my home country, these things are more commonly known as milestones, a term that has grown to have significance beyond just measuring distance.

Bicycle in Rubber Plantation

This past month I reached a milestone on my bicycle—I reached 10,000 kilometers on this particular bike.  I realize that this is not much compared to what serious bike riders do (it took me 26 months), still, it was fun to see the odometer put on a fifth digit.

Last month was also another significant milestone for us--it was a year since the official launch of our church.

Official Launch of Phon Phisai Fellowship Church

Because they help measure progress, milestones can help fight discouragement.  Sometimes we are tempted to compare where we are to where we would like to be, and the difference is so great that it can be discouraging.  On the other hand, we can compare where we are to where we used to be and then things might look a bit better.

So while it may be discouraging to look at the above photo and count those who are no longer attending our church, I can also see in there some who a year ago were just "coming" to church who are now beginning to lead.  At the same time there are new faces that are not in the picture.   I can also rejoice in that there is still a church in our sub-district, while a year and a half ago there was none.

The main reason I ride my bicycle is for my heart health.  It's good exercise.  I keep track of my miles in order to make sure I am getting enough exercise.

Our spiritual lives need checkpoints as well.
Our lives have milestones like birthdays, anniversaries, etc.  At these times we can take the opportunity turn and look back and say, "I used to..., but now I...".  Paul writes about this kind of thing, comparing the church at Colossae as it was to how it used to be, "You also did these things in the past, when you lived like them." (Colossians 3:7 ERV)

On the other hand, if we look back and end up saying something like, "I also used to do these things in the past—and I still do," maybe it's time to use the milestone to instigate some change in our lives. We don't want to be like the Corinthian church, to whom Paul had to write, "I could not talk to you the way I talk to people who are led by the Spirit. I had to talk to you like ordinary people of the world. You were like babies in Christ. And the teaching I gave you was like milk, not solid food. I did this because you were not ready for solid food. And even now you are not ready." (1 Corinthians 3:1b, 2 ERV)

Maybe I can use the kilometer posts on the highways as reminders to check for progress in other areas of my life as well.

Justification

Recently, I read an article about a televangelist who said that God told him he needs to get a 54 million dollar jet (to augment his other 3 aircraft).

In asking for money, he told his listeners that Jesus "wouldn't be riding a donkey."

Mind you, Jesus didn't actually own a donkey, he borrowed one—once—when he went into Jerusalem the last time to be crucified.

I don't know whether God actually told this televangelist to buy a plane or not.  That is not the point of this blog.  What I wanted to point out was his use of justification—the reasons why he has to have this particular jet.

Here are a couple of reasons given, according to the article:

"Standing beside framed pictures of his current fleet, he said that the jet he bought 12 years ago was no longer sufficient for his ministry because he could not fly non-stop, meaning he had to pay "exorbitant" refueling costs."

 (It's going to take a long time to recover the cost of the plane in saved refueling costs. Nor would we want to consider that even flying first class commercial would be a lot cheaper.)

"Mr Duplantis justified the request by saying that Jesus had told people to "go into the world and preach the Gospel to every creature, now how we gonna do that? I can't live long enough to travel by car or by ship or by train, but I can do it by an aeroplane"."

 (Mind you, I don't recall any scripture directed at Mr. Duplantis, specifically, that this was his job. )

As I thought about my response to these justifications, I was reminded that as I pointed my finger at this man, I had several fingers pointing back at myself.  How often do we have to try to come up with "excuses" to do the things we do.  Sometimes we want to justify acquiring something or doing something we know deep down is not necessary or commanded by God.  Sometimes we are deceiving ourselves with our excuses, we may actually think that God wants us to do something that perhaps He does not want us to do.  Sometimes, God may actually want us to acquire goods or services for our ministries and there may be a very good reason to spend more money on a better product or service.

It's a challenge to honestly evaluate our decision-making, because advertisers are very good at coming up with all the reasons why we have to have the product they are hawking.  Plus its good for the economy: if I keep up with all the latest gadgets then all the industries involved in making and marketing the products do well and the economy keeps growing.  "Yeah me! I'm helping keep the economy strong!" I can always absolve my conscience by giving away my old iPhone to a needy person. (I don't actually own an iPhone, but you get my point.)

I would suggest we need to pray about procurement related decisions, but it may not be a good idea.  Why pray if we've already made up our minds and aren't willing to truly hear from God?

Every way of a man is right in his own eyes, but the LORD weighs the heart. (Proverbs 21:2 ESV)

 It's probably good to have other people in your life to help you with these kinds of things. As we read in Proverbs: The way of a fool is right in his own eyes, but a wise man listens to advice. (Proverbs 12:15 ESV)

While it might be easier to condemn others for the choices they make, it is probably more important that we examine our own hearts and our own choices.  I don't want to be like the ones Paul addressed: Therefore, anyone of you who judges is without excuse. For when you judge another, you condemn yourself, since you, the judge, do the same things. (Romans 2:1 HCSB)

And while I think the person mentioned above is probably in the wrong, I don't know for sure, and he will have to answer to God for his actions not to me.  I'm sure others judge me as well, but I am not trying to please others, but God.  However, I do well to listen to my critics, because perhaps they may be right and perhaps God is speaking through them.

I've gotten off track before and I'm thankful for those who have gently and with humility (not with a judgmental spirit) helped me back onto the right track. As Paul writes, "Brothers, if someone is caught in a sin, you who are spiritual should restore him gently. But watch yourself, or you also may be tempted. " (Galatians 6:1 NIV)