I am currently sitting in a “quiet room” in Bangkok Thailand. I know this blog is supposed to be “Thought for the Day” but some thoughts just linger much, much longer.

My thoughts on this day are such…they are lingering.

This recent trip to Thailand was a short one and yet I feel like so much has been crammed into that I feel totally drained. It is part of why I parted with too much money to sit in a room that you aren’t supposed to sleep in (and the chairs aren’t that comfortable so you don’t) because the very noise and bustle of the airport was putting me over the top. I just needed to get away…I wish I could get into the hills right now because my mind is overloaded.

With what you might ask? In this case, a study of evil.

I spent a day and night touring a Lahu tribe of Northern Thailand. I can’t speak to all of the Lahu for sure, but this village of 1300 had only 29 Christ followers. And a whole lot of Animistic practitioners. Including the sacrifice and dances the night I was there. But that was not laid heavy upon my heart as I’ve been around such practices before, it was the heart of so many that we encountered that harbored such evil. Whether it be meeting a blind girl who had been raped many times and impregnated repeatedly, or the recognizing that even young puppies would stay away from people because even the littlest of children took out their aggression on these small dogs by kicking them, or recognizing the hardness of some of these little ones hearts because what else can happen when their parents move away and leave them to fend for themselves…at age 6!

Seeing thirteen year old girls who are pregnant and divorced already. You read that right…pregnant and now divorced. Oh they were married, to their sweethearts even…at 13. All that is required is for the man (dare I use that word) to make a pot of tea, take it to the spiritual leader, and they drink the tea together. That qualifies as marriage. But if you want a divorce, you take the tea to the leader and they drink it alone…now you are divorced. Admittedly it cuts down on legal costs but now the teen male goes on towards another female and the pregnant female is left to fend for herself. You can imagine the outcome here.

You can imagine what is going on inside my head. What can be done? What is the church to do? What is the community to do? How do we go about preaching a gospel that leads men to be men and servant leaders to their wives in a culture that is so opposite.

So my thought for the day? Please pray…pray for the Lahu, pray that Jesus reaches even deeper into this community, pray that leaders who follow Him rise up! And I ask for prayer for healing…my heart has been broken anew this trip…from several bar girls including one who now calls me “daddy” to a village that overwhelmed me with their pain.

And now…off to catch a plane…be blessed.