Our Daily Bread

[posted by: claire cecil]

You can probably already tell that this trip has involved a lot of eating, thinking and talking about eating, buying food, trying food, etc. Liz posted some awesome photos below of our lunch today (see below). It was quite the treat just to sit down and try all the gourmet dishes that Thailand has to offer--some of which I still don't know what was on my plate. I trusted that the people who live here in Bangkok knew what was safe to eat and what would send us to the "head" for hours.

Thais eat all day long. Street vendors are always marketing food, ALWAYS. The team and I just went to visit an alley where many of the BSC students live by the Bayoke Tower and James (one of the BSC teachers) bought some sweet corn pastry that I'm not even going to try to spell. With food being so cheap and so easily available, it's not hard to trust that eventually when it's time to eat, something will be provided. Thais don't worry; why should we? Tonight after that walk down the alley and a trip to Star Bucks, we stopped at 7Eleven and got some groceries for the next day. We got back to the BSC and I put the "groceries" (a cup of yoghurt, a croissant and jam, and a bottle of water) in the empty fridge; empty because I had used up the groceries from the night before this morning. In an odd sort of way, I like that feeling. I like to get what I need daily and no more.

It's exactly how we're supposed to trust in God. If we really believe that God is sovereign, we need to trust that he's going to provide what we need in the moment that we need it. When we lack strength, He is strong; when we lack faith, He is faithful; when we don't know what to pray, He speaks to us; when we blunder through a presentation of the gospel, He uses His Spirit to articulate what wasn't said and more than that, blesses us for the attempt. God is so good.

Tonight was the first conversation corner and as far as I know, I spoke English (no tongues this time since there wasn't an interpreter--to those who don't understand sarcasm, this is it). For some reason since I grew up in the burbs outside of DC, I was the Washington DC expert. To counter this, I told Yo the story of the time my sister and I went to the Folger Theater and couldn't find our car at 12:30 AM in one of the most dangerous cities in the world. It was not funny at the time and I still cringe a bit when I tell the story. I hope he doesn't take any of my advice. The language barrier is hard. It helped that Yo brought paper and when there was a confusing word, I could write it down and he could mostly understand me then. I forgot almost every bit of training that I had ever received about Thai people. Don't do this, don't say that, be mindful of this. I just wanted to have a conversation. God allowed for that to happen. God made a way to bridge to the gospel. He planned before the world began for this conversation to happen because He is sovereign. Sovereign over our blunders; so sovereign and loving that He extends His grace and covers our mistakes with His mighty hand.

A concept that I've been thinking about a lot lately is that God will bring His elect to the saving knowledge of Christ; He just allows us to participate in that process. John Lapos, an IMB missionary and a man whom I consider to be my brother in Christ, used the analogy of the field that needs seeds to be planted and watered. Who makes the sun shine and the chemical processes happen within the plant itself? God does. It takes time. It takes faith. Despite all the odds though, God provides for His children every single day. Not more than we need, not less, but just enough for that day.

Give us this day our daily bread, Lord. Help us to feed on your Word and hunger for it because it is nourishing. Amen.