Overcoming Obstacles

So encourage each other and build each other up, just as you are already doing.

1 Thessalonians 5:11 NLT

One of the things I enjoy doing in Phon Phisai is teaching guitar.  I've had several people show interest in this, by my most faithful student has been Kung Nang.



It's been a challenge for Kung Nang to learn guitar.  I thought the biggest obstacle would be her tiny hands.  But that has not been so much of an issue.  Instead, there have been two main obstacles.

First, and this is true for many of us, the biggest obstacle we have to overcome is ourselves.  Lack of confidence and slow progress can cause us to get discouraged.  Several times, Kung Nang would say "I can't do that." I would tell her not to say, "I can't," but instead to say, "I can't do that yet" or, better still, "I can!"

The second obstacle I discovered Kung Nang was facing was that one of the reasons for her discouragement has been family.  One time while we were practicing, her mother came in and was talking with Ingrid.  Her mother said, in her hearing, something like, "she should quit trying to learn guitar, she is so slow in learning."

To help Kung Nang overcome these obstacles, we've had to offer a generous supply of encouragement.  A turn around came a few weeks ago.  Normally in our church services, we have an opportunity to give thanks to God.  Often—based on the amount of people who share during these times—it seems people have little to be thankful for.  But this time Kung Nang spoke up, "I thank God that I am learning to play guitar well!"  I had a hard time holding back my tears when she said that.

Earlier this week was our church's first ever Christmas outreach. I was feeling a bit run down because of a lack of sleep induced by a cold.  But I managed a small burst of energy that lasted through the celebration.  Part of what kept me going was looking forward to the closing songs, to be sung in English (and a little Spanish), by some of the girls from the church.  Kung Nang played guitar publicly for the first time for two of the songs.  This was an encouragement not only for her, but for all of us.

The girls singing the closing songs for our Christmas celebration.

We all face challenges in our lives.  At these times it is wonderful if someone comes along and cheers us on.  And how difficult it would be if people kept yelling, "Loser! You can't do that!"

Churches face challenges as well, especially in places like Phon Phisai where there are so few believers.  A lot of what the people need, then, is encouragement, and this is a major part of what we do.  Sometimes, though, we inadvertently say or do things or even behave in such a way that causes discouragement.

God, make us aware of how or words and actions affect others. Help us to identify those things that might be a source of discouragement to others and replace them with things that would cheer others on as we try to live out our lives together for Jesus.

Bald Spot

Nat in her shop
Originally uploaded by SierraSunrise

You can't tell by looking, but I do have some hair on the top of my head.  There are not very many and I think they are more annoying than cute, so I keep them shaved off.  But even if I didn't, you would hardly notice them.  One glance at the top of my head and you can make a quick judgment: "Oh, he's bald all right."

Last week we visited the southern tier of provinces in Isaan (Northeast Thailand)--Buriram, Surin, Sisaket and Ubon Ratchathani.  We are looking for a place where God might be having us plant churches.  Our focus is on those areas that do not have them.

And so our travels brought us to a district (Amphoe) in Sisaket Province called Uthumphon Phisai (อุทุมพรพิสัย--and no, it is not as easy to pronounce as it looks).  According to some statistics we had there were no churches and no Christians in this district of about 110,000 people.

But the statistics were wrong.

Just like there are actually a few hairs on my bald head, so in fact we now know there is at least one Christian in Uthumphon Phisai.  Nat is a hairdresser who had moved away to Bangkok for a while, during which time she decided to become a Jesus-follower.  Now she has returned to Uthumphon Phisai where, as far as she knows, there are no other Christians in her province.  We found out about her when Judy, one of our team members, went to inquire about getting massages.

We were glad we were able to meet Nat and encourage her in her faith.  To help bless her, we each got a haircut, whether we needed it or not.

Nat faithfully reads her Bible, but still she gets discouraged sometimes.  Perhaps there are other believers in Uthumphon Phisai that Nat does not know about. 

Maybe the reason God led us to Nat was not only to encourage her, but also to make us consider Uthumphon Phisai as a place to move to in the future.  In any case, we will try to continue to encourage Nat by sending her Christian literature and music.

Pray for us as we continue to seek God's will as to where to locate to in the fall.  Pray also for Nat and others like her in Isaan who can easily get discouraged by their circumstances.

(Our) purpose is that they may be encouraged in heart and united in love, so that they may have the full riches of complete understanding, in order that they may know the mystery of God, namely, Christ, ³ in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. Colossians 2:2,3 (NIV)

Significant

Recently a friend of mine posted on his blog about how, for most of us, our names will be forgotten within a few generations.  Perhaps for those of us without children it might be even less.

I know there are days when I wonder about what I am doing. I want to be doing something significant, and plugging away at learning to communicate with the Thai people in their heart language just doesn't seem to qualify as one of those things--especially on those days when I mess up so bad.  (Well, at least on those occasions I may have given someone something to laugh about.)


But the fact that our name does not live on does not mean that our lives do not have an impact.  And the reality is we never know completely, at least in this life, what the eternal significance of the impact of our lives is, for good or bad.

This got me thinking about windmills like the ones pictured above near Tehachapi, California.  Windmills are seemingly a fairly benign source of renewable energy.  We do know what some of the impacts of the windmills are, positive and negative.  But we certainly don’t know all of them.

Windmills take energy from the wind.  After the wind passes through the windmills, it has less energy than before.  That energy used to be dissipated somewhere else, but we don’t know exactly where and we don’t know what the effects of the loss of that energy downwind will be.  It could be good.  It could be bad.  While mathematically it could theoretically be calculated what the impacts are, the number of variables is almost unfathomable.

The truth is we don’t live in a vacuum.  Everything we do affects our environment or the people around us in some way.  There are also impacts in the spiritual realm that we cannot see.

What that does mean is that we have to be careful about the decisions and choices that we make.  True, no one person may be watching—though these days it is hard to escape the views of security cameras, webcams and phone cameras—and even if God were somehow not aware, it does not mean our choices do not have consequences.
So we need to choose carefully and decide wisely.

One of my favorite passages from the Bible is Hebrews 12:1-4.  The writer here talks about a “great cloud of witnesses”—referring to the great heroes of the faith that have gone before us—as if they are watching us as we go through the race of life.  The picture I get in my mind is of a stadium full people cheering at an athletic event or the people lining the road of a marathon course who cheer on and encourage the runners.  We are being watched.  People do care, even if we do not see them.  And these aren’t just any people.  These are people who encountered great trials and tribulations in this life but somehow managed to persevere to the end.  And it was worth it.  These are the people who cheer us on.

So let us, as the writer says in these verses, “lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.  Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted.” (Hebrews 12:1-3 ESV)

Our lives DO matter. We are significant.

One day we can be part of that great cloud of witnesses cheering others on in their races.

Danger of Comparisons

Philippians 3:12-16 (ESV)
¹² Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own.
¹³ Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead,
¹⁴ I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.
¹⁵ Let those of us who are mature think this way, and if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal that also to you.
¹⁶ Only let us hold true to what we have attained.

LOOKING TO THE SIDE

I have recently been reminded of the danger of comparing ourselves with each other.  While such comparisons can be good in that a little competitive spirit can bring out the best in us, there is a double-edged danger to this.

On the one hand, I can get an inflated ego and full of pride as I see how much better I am than others at a given task.  On the other hand I can become discouraged and want to give up as I see how much better others are.

In our Thai class the other day, we were learning the expression to say: “In the past I was ___ but now I am ___.”

I remember as a child that I was not very good in sports and so I gave up on them completely.  The taunts and jeers kept me from wanting to participate.  I was better academically, but there were always those better than me and even though I was near or at the top of the class in some subjects, I always felt that I was behind.  In this case though I was confident enough to benefit from a competitive spirit.

LOOKING FORWARD

In the passage above, Paul reminds us that our eyes ought to be looking forward toward Jesus.  Jesus is our standard, not others.  Paul says in the following verses that people would do good to imitate him, but only as much as he follows Jesus.

Having Jesus as our example could be discouraging, as the goal of imitating Him seems impossible to attain.  Indeed, it is impossible to attain on our own, and so it should give us humility as EVERY ONE OF US, even Paul, need to depend on the power of the Holy Spirit to become like Christ.  But this also gives us hope, because the same Holy Spirit is available to all—even to the lowliest and most awful sinner among us.  I can do no more to earn my salvation to anyone else.

LOOKING BACKWARD

While Paul tells us to forget what lies behind, he is telling us not to go back to our old way of life.  We don’t want to be like the Israelites, wandering in the desert wishing they were back in Egypt, rather than moving forward towards the promised land..

But one can be encouraged by looking back just to see what progress has been made.

I like to climb mountains.  But sometimes it seems like we walk for hours and seem to be no closer to our goal.  Then, all of a sudden we get to a viewpoint where we can see where we came from.  At that point we realize that, while we have not reached the top—and we may not even know how far ahead it is—we have come a long ways.



Columbia Rock--an encouraging point on the challenging hike to the top of Yosemite Falls

Learning Thai is like climbing a mountain.  If I look at the task ahead of me, it seems like I can never become fluent.

If I look to the side at others around me learning the language, I see those that are further along and those that are further behind.  There is not much value in making these comparisons—I can become either prideful or discouraged.  If I must look to the side, it should be either to give encouragement to others or to receive encouragement from them.

What does encourage me is when we are asked a question that I don’t know how to answer, but then I realize that at least I understand most of the words in the question, which I would not have been able to understand a week ago.  I am moving forward, even if I have not arrived.

BALANCE

In general, I like to:

• Remember where I came from,
• Live in the present
• Move forward towards the goal
• Encourage and be encouraged by those around me