Monday, January 15, 2007

Where Have I Been?

I'm sorry that I have not been able to keep my blog up lately. I have been here (mostly), but my internet has not. Apparently there was a 7.1 earth quake in Taiwan that damaged fiber optic lines that carry internet traffic from South East Asia. I has been very difficult for us to send and receive email and impossible for me to blog. I couldn't stand it any longer so I drove to our down town office to use their internet connection which I heard is better than ours. That appears to be the case because for the first time in almost a month I could actually log into the blogger web site. A lot has happened since my last blog. We just got back from our missions annual conference. This year it was in Thailand with the rest of the South East Asian missionaries from our group. We spent the first four days in Bangkok and then flew to Chaing Mai for a week long conference. We had a great time seeing the beauty of the country, spending time together as a family,
meeting other missionaries from all over Asia and getting some inspiring and motivational teaching from our leaders from the U.S. In Bangkok we visited many Buddhist (probably the largest religion in the country) temples. I kept thinking about Paul in Athens when I saw the many idols that filled the country. I couldn't help but fell bad for the many lost souls in this country who are worshiping false gods. Praise the true God that we have some new church plants in the country as well as a bible school. Pray for the believers in Thailand as they try to reach the lost in a country that is very resistant to the gospel.

In one temple that we visited, there was a golden statue of Buddha that was about as long as a football field and about three stories tall. People were on their knees praying to it, touching it, and giving money to it. I saw a crack on one side of it and wondered if any one else thought about the power or lack of power that a wooden god has who is dependent on men to keep a fresh coat of paint on it to hide it's imperfections. 1 Samuel 5 popped into my mind when I saw that Idol. I remember how the Ark of God was brought into the temple of the false god Dagon. The Bibles says that when the Philistines went into the temple the next morning, "When they rose, there was Dagon, fallen on his face on the ground before the ark of the Lord! His head and hands had been broken off and were lying on the threshold; only his body remained."
I hope you enjoyed these pictures. Perhaps when our internet is working well again, Jessica will post some on our family web site (www.ransomreport.com). We had a great time and God gave us some great counsel regarding our next step in ministry in the Philippines. I will write about that the next chance I get.

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