took this picture last week behind the chiang rai, thailand airport. read a psalm this morning. added some text that stuck out. boom. God is good.
how much would you sacrifice for one person to come home to the Father?
He sacrificed everything.
it’s saturday night and i am at one of my favorite ‘spots’. wawee coffee shop in chiang rai. i really love it here. its comfortable, the coffee is great, the atmosphere is inviting, the price is decent i guess (expensive for thailand) but whenever im here i feel good. i throw on my headphones and get lost in the music. it is awesome. when im here i like to sit, listen to music and watch the people around me. (is it eves dropping if you can’t 100% follow the language — debatable!! hahaa)… but anyway. its great. next to me ive got a group of young 20somethings just talking and laughing the minutes away. it fills up my heart to see the thai smile. its something else, i will tell you what. praise God for smiles. praise God for friends and relationships that we can have with one another.
something i have been working on for the better part of this year is relationships. my relationship with God. my relationship with my family. my relationship with my friends in america. my relationship with the people ‘around my table’ here in thailand. i have had some conversations that i would of rather not of had (those are the ones that we avoid but know that everything will be 10x better after), ive written some emails i never thought i would write. ive prayed things i never wanted to admit but God knew about it anyway, He just wanted to hear it from my lips because He is jealous for me (i love that song). ive learned that a relationship is infact a two-way thing. you and the others, and not ‘the others’ from lost even though that show rules. it is communication and so much of it. communication is a two-way thing. it is us talking and then listening to what the others have to say or feel. not just hear what they have to say, but listen to what they have to say. to let it absorb not only in our heads but in our hearts more importantly. man, im going to be honest here, it is hard. it is hard to pursue relationships. but God wants us to have them. God wants us to live in community with others and share life together. He created US. He didnt create ONE. wow, i just thought about that as a wrote it. gnarly.
God brought me to thailand to have relationships with the thai people. to share life with the thai people. and through that i have gained more of a heart for ‘hill-tribe’ people of northern thailand where i live in chiang rai, the akha people, in particular and it is AWESOME. everyday, literally everyday, i am walking around or riding my motorbike or eating lunch or whatever im doing the same thing comes to my mind… I LIVE IN THAILAND – HOW DID THIS HAPPEN!. its a bit rediculous. but holy holy i am thankful for it. i am so grateful for the day on myspace where someone told me about jesus christ (yea, i got introduced to the love of Christ on myspace… its a great story really) i am so thankful that the first day i walked into willow creek community church in the suburbs of chicago, i met this awesome guy, jon, who just genuinely cared that i was there and actually followed up and committed himself to seeing me grow. if i owe all this to man, its him and his wife kelly and the community of believers known as Axis out of that church. but all glory goes to God. it all comes back to Him. it all comes back to the one who loves, who lights the way, who leads us home as we offer all to the one who saves us. (hillsong live – the one who saves)
praise God for life. praise God for all things given. i dont deserve any of it but man, i am so thankful for it. i pray to never take advantage of this beautiful life that has been put before me. that i never forget or stop praying for the beautiful smiling faces that are around my table to share life with.
live love.
aaron gillespie’s story. this ministered straight to my heart. thank you God for the freedom that comes with a relationship with you.
