Reflections

It's weird to think that I've only been back in Thailand for two and a half weeks now.  It really feels like I never even left.  The past two years in America feel like a distant memory, almost as if it were all just a dream.  But I look back and I know that without those two years, I would not be the woman I am today.  Without the heartaches, mistakes, loneliness, friendships, hard times, and good times I would still be the little girl who left Thailand when she was 18.  So excited to be moving on with her life and getting away from parents and being her own person.  I look back at that little girl and think 'how naive and dumb she was'.  But I guess that is all part of the growing up process.  I have grown and matured more both spiritually and mentally during the past two years in America than I ever did the 18 years before that.  Because of this, though they were the hardest two years of my life, I wouldn't trade them for anything in the world.  


However, despite all of this, that time in America still feels like a dream that I have to try really hard to remember.  I think about it and I wonder if it really even happened.  But I look around me now, in Thailand, and for the first time in two years I finally feel like I fit in and like I belong somewhere.




"I was on my way to a brighter day, I'm still chasing around, But somehow I believe that this is home, It's so good to be home" ~Alaska, Sky Sailing.

Vegetarian Festival and Judgment

It is that time of year here in Thailand.  The time of year where for ten days the Thai people give up eating any meet, wear only white and attempt righteousness.  It's the time of year where they do everything they can to appease and please the gods.  This includes (but is not limited to) piercing themselves with sharp objects, inviting spirits into their bodies and large parades all over the country.  It is quite scary and a big reminder of the firm hold that Satan has on this country.  They call this the Vegetarian Festival.

Here are a couple of websites that explain the Vegetarian Festival more in-depth for those who are curious: 

http://www.thaifestivalblogs.com/thai-festival-blogs/vegetarian-festival-in-thailand.html

http://gill-hart.suite101.com/thailands-phuket-vegetarian-festival-a63001 

At our Sunday meeting this past week a discussion came up about the vegetarian Festival.  During the processions of the festival many people will invite spirits into their bodies.  Of course, some people who invite these spirits in really do become possessed while others merely pretend to be possessed.  

Someone in the meeting on Sunday brought up the fact that there really is no way to tell who is genuinely possessed and who is only faking it.  The discussion then turned to how true that is in the Christian world.  So many things are done in the name of Christ that are actually from Christ while other times people do things in the name of Christ that are not really from or of HIM.  And just like we can not tell who is faking possession by the spirits in the Vegetarian Festival and who is genuinely possessed, we should not try to say who is genuinely doing something that God told them to do and who is simply using the name of God as an "excuse".

Of course, there are obvious things that if someone were to say "God told me to do this," we would know without a doubt that God did NOT tell them to do that just based on what the Bible says.  But on matters that are not specifically laid out in the Bible, who are we to judge what someone else does in the name of Christ?




"Judge not, that you be not judged.  For with what judgment you judge, you will be judged; and with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you." Matthew 7:1 and 2