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| Hangin' with a few of the boys at a children's home we visited called Harvest Home. |
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| A Christian outreach concert by The Mercy Station! |
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| Beautiful mountain view sunset at Harvest home in Phrao. |
Greetings from Thailand! Have you ever found yourself easy to please, but hard to satisfy? I heard that recently and I cannot remember where, but it continues to come into my mind. I am grateful we have transitioned back into life in Thailand so smoothly, that my wife and baby are healthy, that we have enough to eat and a home (check out our new place!---the first time in over three years we will have a place of our own), for a job I enjoy working with people I respect, and great friends and family that I love.
I am pleased, just not satisfied (at least not entirely). A good friend and mentor told me that I ask for a lot from life. And he is right. I think most of us do; we can be grateful and still long for more.
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| Our new home...moving in March 1st! Need to start nesting for baby! |
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| A swap in help...Tiida helping us with our Thai homework! |
These past weeks have been full and fun. We found a nice house to rent, we attended an outreach in a local Thai neighborhood hosted by our good friends; we even made tacos for a Thai family we love! I see a future fusion food: ThaiMex! The mother made an 'extra dinner' in case the furong (white people) food was not palatable. Thankfully, everyone seemed to enjoy it. We also had the chance to visit a children's home in the mountains with a good friend of ours who works with them. So much we are grateful for, and yet so much we are still longing for.
It raised the question again: what do we want from life?
And a new question: what do we aim to give our kids?
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| The kids at Harvest Home! |
The question we are faced with is what makes life good, purposeful and happy? How do we have that life and how do we help others find it?
It is a large question that all of us struggle to answer in our own lives and in the lives of our children. In our own lives, Audrey and I believe the answer lies in Jesus and His way of seeking life in the welfare of others, rather than at their expense. The result of such a life philosophy is to be both very grateful and very troubled. Before, our welfare was enough. Now we have tied our welfare to the welfare of others. Their suffering becomes our suffering. But so do their joys! It is, I think, a Christian idea to be content and dissatisfied at the same time.
It is a large question that all of us struggle to answer in our own lives and in the lives of our children. In our own lives, Audrey and I believe the answer lies in Jesus and His way of seeking life in the welfare of others, rather than at their expense. The result of such a life philosophy is to be both very grateful and very troubled. Before, our welfare was enough. Now we have tied our welfare to the welfare of others. Their suffering becomes our suffering. But so do their joys! It is, I think, a Christian idea to be content and dissatisfied at the same time.
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| Faithful Heart's gift of warm blankets to the Harvest Home community. |
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| The house mother teaching Matt how to make a broom--one of the projects she works on to make money. |
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| Soccer with the boys! |
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| Mom & Dad Pound came along with us up to Phrao. |
I believe wholeheartedly that contentment is directly tied to happiness.
The surest way to be unhappy in life is to insist on having what you don't.
But I also believe a little dissatisfaction is healthy too. When my mentor said I ask a lot of life he was saying I made my happiness (or satisfaction) contingent on some pretty big things.
For example, I refuse to be satisfied with the way things are. Justice, peace, and love on earth (Christians call this the Kingdom of God---Jesus taught us to pray and work for it) are not merely 'pie in the sky' ideals, but goals we are daily working towards. But reality forces us to acknowledge injustice done, has not been rectified. Only the hope of resurrection, of a life yet to come beyond death, allows us to labor now, in hope, and not give up.
It boils down to this: Can we be happy while so many are miserable? I think one of the chief works of God's love on a man's heart (my own included) is to make him care about the man next to him (or across the world). The second work is to engage that man on behalf of his neighbor. The third is to give that man (or woman) the endurance to not give up in that pursuit. It is a mistake to understand that to mean we can never be happy while someone is miserable. It is in doing what we can, that we find joy and the strength to hope---both for ourselves and our neighbors all over the world.
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| Matt's first scooter towing experience. |
I thank God for big thoughts and simple joys. I participated in my first scooter tow last week. You can just see the orange flip flop on the foot pushing the scooter on the right above. I was riding behind the young man who commandeered my scooter while his friend steered the one we pushed. An easy and fun Good Samaritan moment. Salt and Light.
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| Bible study with our college students. |
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| 'Practice' hair cut from Bomb, our barber-in-training |
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| Taco prep! |
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| Asking, seeking, and knocking so that we may wrestle with how we ought to live! |
We really love the college students who live here at Faithful Heart. It is an honor and a privilege to help them discover how they can be God's blessing to their own people.
We also attended the graduation ceremonies for several of our children last Saturday and couldn't have been more proud of them!
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| Faithful Heart graduations from Chiang Mai Christian School--3 kids graduated from 9th grade and the oldest graduated from 12th! Getting ready for college! |
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| Peter celebrating 9th Grade graduation! |
What a precious gift life is.
Thank you for partnering with us and with them to spread God's love and peace a little further in this part of the world.
Matt & Audrey
