Read the fine Thai print

Recently we were shopping in a bakery supply store and I noticed that they had some canned ripe olives at a good price.  Since I had not had them in a while, I decided to try them.

Looks kind of like olives

Looks not quite like the olives I know

Several days later, we opened the can, and I looked at the fruit that looked a bit different from the usual black olives.  So then I decided to read the label more closely.  The label listed the main ingredient in English as “olives” but in Thai it was written as หนำเลี้ยบ (namliap), not the word that I knew for olive, มะกอก (makawk).

But it says "olives"

I decided to look this up on the internet and found that the fruit we had bought are not even related to olives!  The taste was quite salty, so salty it is hard to distinguish from the salted plums that you can find in Mexican grocery stores in the states.

Not your usual olive pit

So it is that not everything is at may at first seem to be.

So it is with our work here in Thailand.  When we first visited MB Mission’s work here in Northern Thailand, it appeared to be a certain way.  Upon being here a while, we find that beneath the surface, things are not always what they appeared to be at first.  They are not necessarily better or worse, just different.

If we were to have made decisions based on appearances, we may have made decisions that might not have been appropriate.  Which is why during our first year here, we did not do much teaching; mostly we were just listening and observing.

And still there is a lot yet that we don’t know.  It’s not always easy to know how to respond to situations we encounter.

Jesus warned his disciples when he sent them out into a world where things are not always as they seem, to be, “wise as serpents and innocent as doves”. (Matthew 10:16)


May this be our prayer.

Don’t Judge a Book…

Just down the street from where we live is a large shed.  Until a short while ago, we had not seen any activity going there.  There was a large conveyor across the back of the shed, so we assumed it was for some kind of agricultural packing operation.

Then, we noticed that there was a refrigerated semi-trailer running beside the shed.  What kind of packing would they do that needs refrigeration?  Most produce here is shipped in open trucks.

So on the way back from an evening walk we stopped by and found out that they pack pummelos.  That night they were packing a load for China.  They also ship to other nearby countries like Malaysia and Indonesia.

(If you’re in the import business and would like to import some pummelos from Thailand, I can get you the contact info.)

Who would have thought that our little town would have such an operation.  A little shed in Wiang Kaen, the least populous district in Chiang Rai, is impacting the diets of people throughout Asia. How cool is that?

There is an English saying, “Don’t judge a book by its cover,” that seems to fit this situation.

The Bible, too, is full of examples of misjudged expectations.   King David is one of the prime examples.  Here he was, the smallest guy from a large, insignificant, family chosen to be king and also the one to take down a giant.

"Do not consider his appearance or his height,” LORD said to Samuel, “for I have rejected him. The LORD does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart."
1 Samuel 16:7 (NIV)

Many of the surprising examples from scripture are women.  Rahab, a harlot, is instrumental in the fall of Jericho and becomes an ancestor of Jesus and David.  Just down the genealogical line, Ruth, an unknown woman from Moab, enters the same line.  And Jael, remember her?  Didn’t think so.  She took out Sisera, the commander of an army that was tormenting Israel.

In the New Testament, there is Mary, from an insignificant town in an unimportant place called Nazareth.  But now millions of people know about Nazareth because Jesus is from there—because Mary was from there.  Then there is that other Mary—the woman of the streets who anointed Jesus feet.  We don’t know the names of many of the important people of that time—but we know her name.

These people weren’t trying to make names for themselves—but we know their names anyway.  No one would have picked these people as “most likely to succeed,” yet their names have been recorded in history.  We know the names of these people, not because they were prominent people in their day or because they sought glory and fame, but because they chose to love and serve God rather than men.

Some people have a goal in life that they want to be famous.

A better goal is that we be found faithful.

Pummelos in plastic baskets waiting to be packed

Unloading pummelos from a pickup truck

Putting labels on pummelos prior to putting in boxes

A 2 kilogram pummelo

Deception

Father and daughter rinse toothbrushes
in the canal

As I watch this father and daughter rinse their toothbrushes in the filthy canal water, it almost makes my stomach turn. Indeed, if I were to do that--and then use the toothbrush--I'm sure my stomach really would start turning.

The canals here don't have the cleanest water. They are not only a source of irrigation water, but also the dumping grounds for all kinds of waste--be it biological or otherwise.

And then I think of the pristine waters formed by the melting snow in the Sierras. Oh how refreshing that water is--such a nice cool respite on a hot summer day in the mountains. (My body is transported to Pear Lake, nestled beneath the crags of Alta Peak in Sequoia National Park. Oh, how I miss those mountain escapes.)

Pear Lake, nestled below Alta Peak

Yet, even there, danger lurks. For even though the water is crystal clear. It can be the home of some nasty parasites: giardia, among other things. And the critters I might consume in that refreshing swig of mountain waters can cause me just as much grief as the stuff in the green murk of the canal in rural Chachoengsao, Thailand. (OK--so the risk is perhaps a bit greater in the murky stuff, but you get my drift.)

So we have to be careful how we judge things. Outward appearances aren't always letting us know what is going on.

This is the challenge we face in trying to start churches here in Thailand. Who are the leaders? Maybe the ones that we at first think are the next great leaders of the church, may not always be the best choice. It's hard to know what is going on inside someone.

And we want to trust, but sometimes it is hard to trust.

Only God knows what it going on deep inside us and so we need to lean on Him to show us who the next leaders are. It might be the unlikely-looking one.

O LORD, you have searched me and known me!
   You know when I sit down and when I rise up; you discern my thoughts from afar.
You search out my path and my lying down and are acquainted with all my ways.
   Even before a word is on my tongue, behold, O LORD, you know it altogether.
Psalm 139:1-4 (ESV)