Of Whom Shall We Be Afraid

What strikes you about this photo?

 

Is it the lean of the spirit house?
The gaudy green color?
The desecration of a natural area by a man-made object?

To me, one of the interesting things about this spirit house (and many others) is the presence of a ladder.

The spirit house is a structure built to make offerings to the land-spirit in return for using the land.   They are present in most yards and agricultural fields. Devoted worshipers will leave fresh offerings every day.

But why the ladder?

Does the spirit actually need a ladder to get in the shrine?

In a similar way, old traditional Thai house were built on stilts with a ladder to get in.  The ladder could be pulled up to keep the spirits from getting in the house.

I don't know about you but to me, a spirit that needs a ladder to get to the shrine does not seem terribly intimidating.

Mind you, I take the spirit  world seriously and don't want to trivialize their power or presence.
 
But whom shall we fear?

Jesus said: "I'm speaking to you as dear friends. Don't be bluffed into silence or insincerity by the threats of religious bullies. True, they can kill you, but then what can they do? There's nothing they can do to your soul, your core being. Save your fear for God, who holds your entire life—body and soul—in his hands." Luke 12:4-5 (MSG)

Many are those who go about their days without giving a thought to God.  They are concerned about things of this life: what to eat, what to wear, how to be safe, etc.  Concerned about their earthly existence, they buy car insurance and wear a seat belt.  But they neglect their soul.

Here in Thailand, people will make offerings at various shrines and temples, trying to placate a plethora of deities, yet not acknowledge the God who created us (though some may add an image of Jesus to their shrine as if to hedge their bets).

Of whom shall we be afraid.

King David wrote:

  The LORD is my light and my salvation— so why should I be afraid? The LORD is my fortress, protecting me from danger, so why should I tremble?
  When evil people come to devour me, when my enemies and foes attack me, they will stumble and fall.  
  Though a mighty army surrounds me, my heart will not be afraid. Even if I am attacked, I will remain confident.  
  The one thing I ask of the LORD— the thing I seek most— is to live in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, delighting in the LORD’s perfections and meditating in his Temple.  
  For he will conceal me there when troubles come; he will hide me in his sanctuary. He will place me out of reach on a high rock.  
  Then I will hold my head high above my enemies who surround me. At his sanctuary I will offer sacrifices with shouts of joy, singing and praising the LORD with music.
   Psalm 27:1-6 (NLT)  


Don't be afraid of the one who needs a ladder,
Fear the One who created the world on which it rests.

Explore

Last week, while we were driving home from Chiang Rai, we decided to take a different route than usual.  The route took us through an area that has a fair number of these bizarre hills that stick almost straight up out of an otherwise very flat landscape.

A limestone hill in Wiang Chai district of Chiang Rai province.

I noticed that there seemed to be some kind of statue on the side of one of these, so we turned off down a dirt road that headed in that general direction.  The road quickly narrowed until it was just wide enough for a vehicle to pass between the rice paddies on either side.  It also turned away from the hill we wanted to get to.

A quick question to a farmer assured us that the road would take us to the hill, we only needed to turn left up ahead.  And, sure enough, we eventually made it.

Buddhist shrine in Wiang Chai

While we were climbing around the shrine, Ingrid noticed a small “tunnel” formed by some pieces of limestone that had fallen off the mountain.  She suggested that we go through the tunnel (letting me go first to scare any snakes out of the way).  We were rewarded by coming to a small cave formed by a large slab of rock sloughing off the mountain.  But what this cave lacked in size, it made up for in the sheer number of bats that were hanging around inside.

Bats hanging from the wall of the cave,
even after scaring off many of them.

Both Ingrid and I have this curious bent that makes us want to explore new places.  To us, the phrase, “we haven’t been that way before,” is an invitation to a new adventure.  Sometimes we even get rewarded by the sight of something new or especially interesting or beautiful.

Last week I was wandering down a farm road on my bicycle when I happened upon an almost random Curcuma flower growing at the edge of a rice paddy.  Well worth the flat tire incurred along the way.

Bloom of Curcuma latifolia.

Since I’ve taken to bicycle riding as a form of exercise in lieu of going to the non-existent gym, I’ve been able to explore a lot of the roads in the area.  Often I’ll get a big smile from some farmer driving his truck down the road (after the initial look of surprise a seeing a foreigner on a bicycle in the middle of nowhere).  One time I even got cheers from a bunch of people planting corn, who were impressed that I actually rode a bicycle up the hill that far.

Perhaps it shouldn’t be surprising, then, that it was at a workshop called Explore that we were launched on a new trajectory towards service with MB Mission.  With a compass on the logo like that, who WOULDN’T want to go?

Since coming to Thailand, we've had the opportunity to explore different parts of Thailand. 

On our explorations of Thailand, we’ve noticed a few things.  One is that there are large areas of Thailand with no churches.  Another is that some areas, like where we currently live, have lots of churches—but they are generally in villages of some of the hill-tribe peoples that don’t worship in the Thai language.

One of the challenges facing the church in Thailand is how to mobilize some of these people groups with a fair number of Christians to reach out cross-culturally within Thailand.  It is our privilege to work with a number of our Khmu brothers and sisters who have a desire to do exactly that.  So now we are exploring  together with them how it might happen.

Working with some of the Khmu church leaders.

There are a lot of challenges to make this happen.  Like some of our journeys, sometimes the road seems to go in the wrong direction.  And just like how driving down the back roads brings risks of getting stuck or a flat tire, we also will likely run into obstacles along the way.

But in the end we have the hope that we will encounter something beautiful along the way.

Then all of you came near me and said, 'Let us send men before us, that they may explore the land for us and bring us word again of the way by which we must go up and the cities into which we shall come.'

Deuteronomy 1:22 (ESV)