"We are the broken, You are the Healer..."

I'm sitting at Doi Chaang coffee in Chiang Rai, sipping an iced cafe mocha as the sounds "Canon in D" float to my ears. There's a local highschool orchestra playing live just in the next room over ... it's absolutely gorgeous! Makes me think of you, Cheri, and your amazing violin skills... and the days when I *used* to play the violin! :-) Sometimes I still think about pulling it out of the moth balls and playing it again. ;-)

Thank you all for your prayers regarding my health. Nearly 24 hours later, I'm feeling almost 100%, praise God! They almost had to take me into the hospital because I couldn't stop vomiting. I couldn't even hold the smallest sip of gatorade down. To tell the truth, it scared me. I layed on my bed yesterday afternoon, totally miserable, literally groaning and in the midst of my groaning I just cried out to God that he'd heal me. Here I am in Thailand... supposed to be ministrying.. and instead I was sicker than a dog. I drifted off to sleep for about 2 hours. When I woke up, the nausea was gone! Praise the Lord! I slowly began eating some crackers, drinking some Sprite, and I was able to hold it down. This morning I was able to eat some watermelon and a couple thin pieces of french toast... and at lunch I had some toast and tea [guys at home, I had to remember the quote, "Dry toast and tea?!?!" -Felix King]. My team is a.m.a.z.e.d. how much better I am in just twenty four hours. It's totally a God-thing! I'm so grateful the Lord is healing my body so quickly.

This morning we attended a Thai Baptist church. The service was all in Thai. The pastor spoke from Philippians 2 about how Christ took upon himself the form of a servant. He spoke about humility and pride. He mentioned that when we're selfish, we're not only not seeing the needs of others, but we're also not seeing Christ. WOW. That really stood out to me. "We're not seeing Christ" because Christ is humility Himself. It's because of Christ's great humilty that He is so high and lifted up today.

Tonight we're flying back to Bangkok [the Caynor's home] for a couple days of debriefing and last days of ministry before the rest of us fly back to the States in a couple of days. It's hard to believe this trip is almost over. 3 weeks goes by faster than one thinks.

Some random things I've forgotten to mention so far:

• I found out I'm allergic to sawdust. Yes. Lisa and I were on the hunt for some "facilities" to do our "business", and we found this place that charged 3 baht per visit. [Yes, kinda like the 25 cents per flush kind of thing...] The place was full of [settled] sawdust, as it appeared they were doing construction and remodeling in there a day or so before. I could barely breath and every time I drew up for a breath, I'd start coughing prefusely. Lisa was like, "Man girl, you must be allergic to sawdust!" [as she was just fine]. Um, I know, that was pointless information.
• It's a normal thing here to have your feet bitten alive by ants. Since it's a customary thing to take off your shoes at the door, I had to get used to walking all over ants and getting my feet bitten. It hurts for a while and then you get this numbing sensation in your feet. Yeah, that's another piece of pointless information.

And ladies and gents, this is Nahm Waan [me] signing out from Chiang Rai, Thailand until the next post!

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Our team's "theme" song seems to be "How Deep the Father's Love for Us." I love the words...

"How deep the Father's love for us, How vast beyond all measure, That He should give His only Son to make a wretch His treasure. How great the pain of searing loss, The Father turns His face away as wounds which mar the chosen One, Bring many sons to glory. Behold the Man upon a cross, My sin upon His shoulders, Ashamed I hear my mocking voice, Call out among the scoffers. It was my sin that held Him there, Until it was accomplished, His dying breath has brought me life, I know that it is finished. I will not boast in anything, No gifts, no power, no wisdom, But I will boast in Jesus Christ, His death and resurrection. Why should I gain from His reward? I cannot give an answer,But this I know with all my heart, His wounds have paid my ransom."