bunker

 Anne returned from her prayer walk looking rather excited. "What's that dug-out building thing over behind the church?" I had no idea. It was only my second time in Beung Klung, and I hadn't found occasion to wander the surrounding jungle alone.

We asked the lead medic about the building that day, and this is what we found out. It's is a Thai military bunker built within the last year. It overlooks a Burma Army base on the other side of the border. There hasn't been any fighting in that area recently, but it appears that Thailand wants to be prepared in the event that their neighbor decides to try anything unfriendly.

Anne considered the empty bunker an ideal place for spiritual warfare, so that's where she stationed herself the following morning. She wanted to pray something from Scripture, so she pulled out her Bible and opened it at random. Her eyes landed on Psalm 91.

"Whoever dwells in the shadow of the most high will rest in the shadow of the Almighty.
I will say of the Lord, 'He is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust."

It so happens that Psalm 91 was the passage given to me by two different prayer warriors shortly before my first trip to the same area. Through Anne, the promise was being confirmed, its truth underlined by repetition.

A few days later at the clinic in Lay Tong Ku, we had a worship service with the medics one evening. I asked the Karen to sing a worship song of their choice. This is what they sang, in Karen...

"Hide me now under your wings
Cover me with your mighty hand"

Double underlined.

And then, Anne had Sue Bu, our Karen administrative assistant, read from the Psalm that had been percolating in her heart...

"He will cover you with his feathers, and under his wings you will find refuge; his faithfulness will be your shield and rampart."

Triple underlined.

Lay Tong Ku is in a vulnerable position. It's barely on the Thai side of the Thai/Burma border, and unlike in other areas, there is no river separating the two countries. Patients in need of care can cross the border easily. So can soldiers, spies, and traffickers. Our medics faithfully serve in this beautiful, exposed, strategic location.

"You will not fear the terror of night, nor the arrow that flies by day,
nor the pestilence that stalks in the darkness, nor the plague that destroys at midday.
A thousand may fall at your side, ten thousand at your right hand,
but it will not come near you."

I believe that, through prayer and the power of the Holy Spirit, we who trust in the Lord are sheltered by a spiritual bunker. I don't claim to understand what this means for God's physical protection of his children, because that kind of safety is a small part of a much greater reality. But I have absolute confidence that we can trust him, fearlessly, for his protection from every single thing that he has forbidden to touch us.

"'Because he loves me,' says the Lord, 'I will rescue him;
I will protect him, for he acknowledges my name.
He will call on me, and I will answer him;
I will be with him in trouble,
I will deliver him and honor him.'"

leader

I like it when people tell me what to do.

I operate well when I have reasonable, clear, structured expectations. I finish projects when I am given a deadline. I color beautifully inside the lines. I'm not so good at drawing the lines myself.

School is made for people like me. Real life isn't.

I was recently put in charge of a clinic Partners helps manage in Lay Tong Ku, middle of the jungle, Thailand. Lay Tong Ku village has a fascinating story - centuries of prophetic legend, the arrival of the Gospel 50 years ago, ongoing staunch traditions, an actively growing church. The local church, in cooperation with Partners and FBR, has set up a respectable little clinic. It's a work in progress. My job is to make sure that progress continues.

I have now made two visits to LTK clinic.


Visit 1.

"Theramoo (teacher), come now!" I was pulled away from my lesson preparations to see a baby with a fever. The medics were all in class. I had no translator, no clue where supplies were, no medical reference in English - in short, no idea what was going on. Other patients pressed in to see me while I was trying to work out how to deal with the first one. I wanted to take off running into the jungle.


Visit 2.

(Controlled) chaos again, alleviated (and aggravated) by the presence of two other nurses, a dozen medics, translation, medication, and medical reference. My brain began to sluggishly sort through the activity around me. Hemoglobin and malaria tests being used properly - good. No place to wash hands - not good. Medics spontaneously giving disease prevention education to patients - good. No effective patient follow-up - not good.


I confess that I was feeling overwhelmed. What needs to be done? In what order? How? By whom?

Late one night after a busy clinic day, I lay on my sleeping mat in the medic dorm. Everyone else was asleep, though I could hear someone's phone softly playing Karen pop music in the next room. I stared up at the mosquito net, reveling in the coolness of the dark and sending prayers up through the purple mesh.

"Lord, I don't think I'm cut out for this. I can follow trails, but I don't know how to blaze them. I'm supposed to be the leader here, but I need someone to follow."

And then, immediately, inaudible but clear, I heard these words: "I will be your leader." Simultaneously, I felt as though my head had been touched, and a gentle shock zinged down from that place on my scalp to the toes on my right foot.

My eyes and my heart were suddenly full. God as leader. I hadn't really thought of him that way before. He wasn't just behind me, launching me forward; he was in front of me, promising to show me what to do. What a relief and comfort that knowledge was to me! He knows what I need. He IS what I need.

"Lead me in your truth and teach me, for you are the God of my salvation; for you I wait all the day long." (Psalm 25:5)