What If We Weren't Color Blind?

As I sat down to write this blog post... I stared at my computer screen for long stretches of empty time just thinking and dwelling upon God. My next door neighbors would come and visit me every so often and we would talk for an hour or so and I would return to this blank screen when they would leave. Sometimes I realize that  I just don't have the words!

They are trapped in a snippet of melody, a color in the clouds, a curve of a smile, the saltiness of a tear, the pounding of a faithful heart, the prayers of the earnest, and the wind of the Spirit.

The wind is blowing with conviction outside my window... my curtains stretch and flit every so often, and I can hear the rustling of leaves as branches meet distant relatives. It is a beautiful sound, and an inviting event to behold.

God is beyond our consciousness. He is beyond our understanding. His love is overwhelming. His truth is blinding. His light rips a whole in our dimly lit reality. Oh how blessed we are to catch a hold of His garments here in this life.

He is so gentle with us. Oh if we could see and understand His power, if we could have the slightest dash of faith to believe in His love.

A friend of mine once told me that "The Kingdom of God was advancing violently!"

It is with tears in my eyes that my heart cries out to God "I want to see! I want to see what Jimmy saw!" Oh God give me the eyes to behold your presence as it dances and wraps itself around those who seek your face, and those who thirst for your righteousness in this broken and hurting world.

I want to sit and listen to your voice. If I can heart, then my heart wouldn't wander for to be filled. I want that melody, that tune that you are humming over me to reside within this heart. I long for you to take your brush and paint the walls of this heart into something beautiful.

Oh give us the faith to behold your glory and love. Remind me that I am clay daily, and humble me. Drench me and soften me with your grace. Shape me with your firm hand and guide me with your light. I want to be able to walk humbly with you through this life, and it is only in complete surrender unto you that I may.

The kingdom of God is advancing violently as Jimmy told us. It is running like a mighty steed, burning in flight like a phoenix, sailing and skipping like a dolphin, and snatching and dashing rusty chains of bondage. It is awakening hearts, and bringing color back into this world of grey. My eyes haven't adjusted yet to these new colors...

We need His love more than the air we breath. Everything else is meaningless and chasing the wind.

Handong, the place of vision! Let me introduce you to my new family! :)

You should see what God has done in 16 years! I am so blessed and honored to be a part of this place and the team of beautiful people that God has placed me with. We learn, to serve. He is all we need!

Looking over Lake Cheon-Ma-Ji towards the city of Pohang! You can see the forest of apartment buildings there in the background. A 5 minute walk from my dorm :)

Looking back towards Handong, down the hill and through the woods!

Handong Canyon! We took a wonderful hike to the top and saw an owl perched in the cleft! :)

Looking over the canyon to the lake and Pohang beyond :)

A traditional tomb that we found in the woods :)

Rice fields :) I love these things... such a beautiful green!

Like I said... I really enjoy these rice fields. See the joy on my face, and the need for me to have a picture taken with the rice?

Practicing Korean culture and my new knack for modern art :)

On a bike ride to Chilpo beach! Looking back the valley to Handong.

On campus! A look across a field, that we're techincally not supposed to walk across but I try to atleast once a week to enjoy the grass, at our beautiful library!

A look at our cafeteria and lots of crazy asian kids playing b-ball :)

My three roomates (Teriyoung: Korea, Kami: Rwanda, Mil Ar: Korea) and I doing a Rwandan pose: AKA in the states as the standing in the rain after crawling through 500 yards of poo to escape Shawshank prison :)  We took this picture on the beach during our Team's first adventure and party night!

The Lone Survivors of Jim-Jil-Bang! (Korean Public Bath House). My team and I all went swimming in the ocean at 1 AM and part of our team continued on to the most epic Korean experience ever! Salt shower time, Sauna, late night games and snacks, sleeping in little brick oven shaped coveys, and waking up to the most epic hot tub/cold shower experience ever! I am going to do this every weekend I believe... Yes I have decided!

Market Place downtown Pohang :)

Advertisements in an alley way. Yeah... Koreans are big into drama/singing.

International outing in the streets of Pohang! Photo shoot time... All in the spirit of being "more" Korean.

Looking through an old window... into another world!

That's it for now! Love you all :)

Thailand!!

Hello everyone! I am safe and sound here in Mae Sot Thailand. We have spent the last week and a half in two neighbouring Karen villages about 100 km north of here near Mae U-su. It`s been eye opening to live among these people and kind of a wild experience to be able to look across the river into Burma where fighting between the Burmese National Army and the Karen National Union had taken place just three months before. I`ve lived, slept, ate, worked, and played with these incredible people and they have taken our team in most hospitably.

However I will start from the beginning. We arrived in Bangkok a little after sunset almost two weeks ago. It was kind of a crazy weather switch from 32 F with no humidity to 85 F at night with 90% humidity hehe. I kind of felt like I was at home back in Texas on late august afternoon by the beach. We met Boy our translator while we were in Bangkok and headed for the truck. The transportation here is insane. Everyone has a moped, and taxis are trucks with benches in the back and a couple bars to hold on. It is soo much fun! So we all loaded up the truck and enjoyed the ride to the YWAM base. It was kind of funny because every car that came up behind us had smiling, laughing and waving people in it when they realized that we were white foreigners.

I`ve never been in a city so big. Bangkok was overwhelmingly crowded, noisy, and dusty roads. The inner city has a population of 9 million with the whole metropolitan area of 20 million. After relaxing at the YWAM base for a day we headed into the city for a prayer walk and to see the various temples, shrines and soo many Buddhas. At one point we were taking the sky train through the center of the city and it felt like I was walking through a forest of High-rises. I`ve never seen so many tall buildings before in my life. The sky train in itself is a feat with three trains stacked up on top of each other whisking you away to different parts of the city. The highways are also interesting. Usually 5 lanes each way with a skyway (another highway) as a median between the two. Most people die in moped accidents. Also the prices here are intensely cheap. In fact you can rent a moped for 1 day for about 1.50 Dollars.

Anyways our time in Bangkok was very nice! The exploration of the inner city and prayer walk was very cool! Every morning we had fresh mango for breakfast :) The fruit here is delicious! And every lunch and dinner we eat out. Mhmmm! Good tea, with chicken and cashew or sweet and sour chicken. So much rice!

We then hopped on a night bus here into Mae Sot. We arrived at 4 in the morning and met our Karen translator and friends Gugu and Moses. :) Ahh they are seriously two of the coolest people ever! We got a ride to one of their friends house and slept there for a few hours before we hopped in the truck and headed North to the first village.

First perhaps I should mention our sleeping conditions. It`s very traditional for the Karen to only sleep on a thin straw mat on the ground. When I heard this I imagined a bag stuffed with fluffy straw and a comfy sleeping on hay kind of an experience. However what they meant was a thin woven straw that could be rolled up much like a yoga mat or something. It was very fun experience.

Driving through the Thai countryside was very interesting and lots of fun! We saw lots of farm land and lots of little villages. After a while we started coming into the mountains. The mountains are very steep and interesting shapes, but not very tall. As we drove through the valleys we began to see alot of dry rice fields with their stepped areas. This is where we started to see the heart of the Karen refugees. We drove by the largest refugee camp which was not a village but more of a city. It was about a square kilometer in size with a population of 60 thousand Karen. There were so many bamboo huts squashed up near each other. Behind the camp you could see tall mountains lurking up on the Burmese side.

We stopped here for a few minutes and picked up Sunshine our third translator for our Swedish photographer friend who joined us in the village for a school project she was finishing. It was kind of random because we didn`t know he was going to join us, and all of the sudden he jumped in the back of the truck with us. We were all, "Hi! What`s your name?" It was pretty funny. When we arrived in the small village it was an experience I`ll never forget.

We bounced down a rocky dirt road for a couple minutes, rounded a bend and saw the first hut. As we passed it two little smiling kids waved at us from behind a bamboo fence. Beside the road two pigs were snarling at each other, which was kind of humorous to watch. Guess you had to be there.... As we came into the heart of the village there was several people flocking to the road to wave at us. It was, really heart warming. I can`t really describe it with words.

My time in the village is kind of dream like to remember. There were lots of chickens, pigs/piglets, dogs and naked children. It was peaceful, quiet and surreal. Every evening I took a bath in the river that ran through the village. The water was cool, and the sun was hot. Ahh it was so nice! There was a weird mix between modesty and village life living. Thankfully I had bought the village clothing :) It`s actually really cool! Everybody here wears skirts :) It`s actually not a skirt but towel thing that`s sowed together making a giant skirt hoop thing. I realize now that I`m very bad at describing physical items. Anyways... all of the women would wear this as they showered in the river whereas the men could shower in their shorts and only used it as a changing device. Lots of fun... :) I have quite a few funny experiences trying to get used to changing with one of these :p

Every day we played with the children and did some practical work. While we were there we dug a new well and helped them clear the hillside for new rice fields. It`s the dry season over here, so everything is pretty dusty and not as green as you would expect. At the moment everyone is getting ready for the rainy season and preparing the fields for rice planting. The sad thing is, the Karen people have no land of their own per say. However they still have to plant rice to farm just so they can survive. So as they clear the trees to make room for farm space the Thai conservationists freak out. It really sucks actually. The Thai authorities have a good point, you can`t destroy all of the rain forests, but at the same time the Karen don`t really have any other options.

So when we went to the rice fields we worked in an area that looked like Morodor. It was a mix between LOTR and Lost :p All of the guys had alot of fun :) However my favorite time in the village was every evening when we would go house visiting. After the sun had gone down and we had all had dinner we would go throughout the village in teams to just talk with the village people. They would invite us into their houses and we would talk by candle light. It was so nice to hear their stories and ask them questions about their life back in Burma and their new life here in Thailand. God really gave me a heart for these people and I can`t tell you how sad I am to leave them.

And ofcourse, I can`t forget to write about our little disciple Tuwapo. He was one of the bravest and coolest kids ever! He also climbed the steps to our bamboo house and hung out with us as we ate, talked or played the guitar. Such a great kid! I miss him alot! All of the kids here were soo cute and fun to play with! I learned alot of Karen from them :) With the older kids closer to my age we played Kaneball with. Woah! This is a fun sport! It`s basically volleyball except you use everything but your hands to get the ball over the net. Since I`m so bad at hacky sack, I didn`t think it would be possible for me to play, however I got pretty good!

All in all, I really enjoyed my time there! I really want to come back here one day and stay here a much longer time living among these people. I also tried ant eggs here. They weren`t bad... pretty tasty :) Oooh and Ice Salads... Mhm very good! For all you bubble tea drinkers out there, try to rap your mind around this. It`s the closest thing to a pangalactic gargleblaster that I`ve found. An Ice Salad is basically Strawberry tea with crushed ice mixed with bread, cookies, nuts and my personal favorite tapioca! :D Mhmm I thoroughly enjoyed trying this!! The rest of my team wasn`t as impressed :p At the end it gets a little sloppy and slushy.... But it`s very good!

After we left that village, we travelled a few kilometers to a nicer village with electricity where we had a youth camp at the church for 70 Karen teenagers. This was lots of fun! :D We had a great time of ministry, teaching and prayer with them. I really think God touched alot of their hearts! It was soo cool to pray for these young men who are searching after God and also want to help their people from the oppression of the Burmese government back in Burma. Many of these guys came alone to Thailand leaving their families back in Burma. As we were leaving several of the guys (who were my age) asked me when I was going to be back. I told them I didn`t know, but I hoped in six years when I`m through with University. That made them smile :)

Things are bad in Burma. Landmines are probably the number one danger to those still living in Karen villages in Burma. There are three factions. The Burmese National army, the Buddhist Karen Army and the Karen National Union. Sadly enough the Karen are actually fighting each other as well. The reason why is, when the Karen split up half of them (The Buddhist Karen Army) Surrendered to the Burmese. So now the BKA are being forced by the Burmese government to fight against their brothers the remaining Karen. Both of the factions landmine each others villages in and it`s very dangerous to travel anywhere. So that is the main reason why so many Karen seek a safe haven in Thailand. Yet even in Thailand the Karen Buddhist Army sneaks across the river to set fire to houses in the refugee camps. It is a major tragedy that is happening as I write this.

So I ask for prayer for these two nations, especially Burma. Burma has been a place on my heart since the beginning of DTS. Actually I felt God telling me that I was to work with these people and care for them, so when I found out I was going to Thailand specifically to Burmese Refugees I was so ecstatic! God has revealed so much of Himself these last two weeks I`m completely blown away :) Thank you all for continuing to pray for me and my team! But also pray for the fighting to end in Burma, and pray that the Karen will continue to come to know God intimately and trust in Him. As for me, I`m a little sick right now, and team Unity and focus on God`s voice is extremely important for us.

But as for what`s happening next, we will travel to Chang Mai on Wednesday :) We will encounter different challenges and new opportunities to share God`s word and love with the poeple there. In addition! We will be there during the water festival. For those of you that don`t know the water festival is the coolest idea in the world and we should do it back in the states. It`s basically three days where everybody in Thailand (especially in the north) have water fights all day long. You can`t walk down the streets without being drenched. Being a foreigner it will be extremely intense for us :p I wish I could take pictures but I`m afraid my camera will be ruined haha. Speaking of cameras I will hopefully update pictures of the village soon :)

Thank you all again for your prayers! You have no idea how much they help. God is constantly guiding us and speaking to us and revealing His heart to us. I miss you guys alot!

Love
-Sam


PS. You can read my Thailand Teams (and all the other outreach teams from my DTS to South Africa, Ethiopia, Columbia, and the Middle East) blog at http://ywamskien.wordpress.com/ .

Thailand A`hoy Mateys!! I Am A Gift...

Egads!! We had a team meeting today and I realize that only three days have to come and go before we will be dropped off in 36 C (95 F) weather in the middle of Bangkok Thailand :D Still, even saying this I fully don`t understand the implications of the changes I`m about to experience. God is full of surprises and will provide and pave the way, but I feel like when I step I`ll be stepping in freshly laid concrete that wasn`t there the day before leaving my prints as I go.

I`ve learned sooo much in the last 6 months. I really can`t describe some of the changes and challenges and beautiful revelations God has been giving me through various experiences here in this cozy little town in Norway. I`ve learned alot about myself and feel equipped and confident in who God made me to be :) I`ve had such valuable opportunities to share what God has done in my life and what He has given me to people from across Norway and Europe. I`ve learned that no matter how small or big the talent, we should let it shine and give glory to Him! I don`t want to be the man that took his talent and burried it in the ground, I want to invest my entire being into His kingdom!

This whole period has been rather "me" focused, I won`t lie. And necessarily so at that! As my Swedish friend from Koster Island says "Before you go out, you must go in". Quite simply that is what God has tried to do with me these six months. I`ve fought and struggled with Him, but I`ve learned alot despite my own efforts. He has revealed Himself to me and inside me.

However I`m coming to the point where I simply have to get over myself! :p I`ve learned alot and internalized alot, and resolved issues from my past. I`ve been equipped to live for Him and to live passionately. I feel like I`ve found the good life! Soo cozy!

Yet now I face phase 2 which simply says "Whoever finds his life will lost it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it." Matt 10:39 I never fully understood this passage until now, (or atleast how I interpret it). I`m now understanding that I`m faced with a choice. Go into these two months saving some face, not puting my expectations too high, settling for mediocrity and a comfortable living experience. Or... Pour myself out for the sake of His kingdom. I will "throw my life away" in the eyes of many, even my own, but as I give my life as a living sacrifice to do whatever He wills I trust that I will find a truer life than I ever imagined.

What am I willing to give? How much? What`s the point in asking "what`s in it for me?" anymore? Here is the beautiful and weight lifting truth, It`s not about me! Hallelujah, I thought I had drowned in my own ego by now. How much pain am I willing to endure? Is it really worth it?

It`s always worth it... for one child alone. Sometimes I feel like the song "Sleeping in the Light" By Keith Green really applies to me.

Open up open up
And give yourself away
You see the need, you hear the cries
So how can you delay

The world is sleeping in the dark
That the church just can't fight
Cause it's asleep in the light
How can you be so dead
When you've been so well fed
Jesus rose from the grave
And you, you can't even get out of bed

And there`s the kicker! This is where the line falls and by grace alone I stand on one side (or I should say jump and fall) or the other. Will I get my fuzzy bed head out of bed to do what He has said? How can I delay? His spirit has moved my heart, and spoken so much truth to me, I would be denying Him if I did. How can I be so dead, when I`ve been so well fed?

And this is what it comes down to. My motives. My heart. Will my actions and words reflect my heart, but more importantly will my heart reflect Him? The truth is when I change my motives from myself to Gods kingdom, I change from being a victim of my past to a player in Gods kingdom.

This is why I feel like I am about to be broken in half. I feel as if my pride will rain on my own parade and come crashing down only so the skies can clear and I relish in the simple joy of seeing the sun again. I feel as if I will be crushed by mercy and grace itself in horrifying ways that force me to be forgiving and giving to others. UGH ahhGH! This is going to suck! Seriously... as a friend of mine mentioned "all I see is pain in the forecast...". I had to laugh, but now I realize he may have been right.

The most glorious act in all of history, the ransom of our sins, was excrutiatingly painful to the whole being. We are to live as Christ lived. Why did I expect I could escape the pain factor of life? Through pain we find some of the most beautiful and precious things in the world. But who wants the precious things of the world? "Whom have I in heaven but you? And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever" Psalm 73:25-26.

Through sacrifice and through giving, through living the heart, the curtain is lifted from our eyes and we see the life that is truly life that we read about in 1 Tim 6:17-19 at the end of verse 19. And what are these treasures that are being laid up? Is there really a big big house, with lots and lots of food? Oh no these treasures are different...They`re treasure of the kingdom! And oh how they trump this world! "For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking but of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit." Rom 14:17

In reality these three eternal spiritual truths are the true treasures in any life. This is what I yearn after, this is what I am trading my rags of desperate ego worship for. This is what I`m losing my life for. To find contentment in His hands.

So now all I have left is to be content in His hands, and cast away the lies that tell me to jump out and try stuff on my own because I`m strong and coragious. That`s such a laugh! Oh man. I`ve seriously got to be realistic with myself. I`m such a human man! Ahh its hilarious sometimes :) I really am mortal, and pretty weak in all respects. How could I assume with some air of arrogance that what I did have was rightfully mine?

Everything I have is a gift, everything I am is a gift. I am a gift, and gifts are made to be given. So I`m giving myself completely unreservedly over the top extremely radically to God, and commiting myself 100 % to be used by Him in Thailand. "Do whatever it takes, to make me into your original masterpiece..."

Go Under the Mercy
-Sam

Ps. Here`s a prayer folder my team-mate Helge cooked up for us! It means sooo much if you could take a look and keep my team and I in your prayers! Love you guys! Enjoy :)

http://helgehaugland.com/diverse/prayerfolder_thailand_march_may_2010_english_v3.pdf



This is just a little thing I wrote in Germany that I haven`t posted yet, but wanted to :)

Lovers Walked These Hills...


It`s startling to think of how this little village of Menzingen was once part of Nazi Germany. There`s such peace here. I hear the birds chirp through the winter sunlight. These steep hills lined with orchards and vineyards waiting to burst at the seems at the first mention of spring give me such hope! This place is undyingly romantic and archaic. The fact that other young men have stood where I stand partaking in this gift of beauty stirs somethings inside of me. I can see them standing as I stand now gazing down into the valley over the snow topped village to the hills and woods that lie beyond. It creates a sense of longing in the human soul that can not be explained nor fully fulfilled in the physical sense. Yet there is a beautiful sense of complete contenment in knowing this truth which overwhelms me, and I am thankful just for this short moment.

The church down in the village sounds it`s fifteen past, and I must be on my way. Yet I pause just one last time to cherish the contentment of my soul. God is good, and this simpleness that I behold is just a fragment of the root of truth. Just enough to season my day, to make my cold poridge of a life into a warm tasty bowl of broth that will heat my heart during the winter seasons. God knew what He was doing when He gave us senses to behold His creation. The result of true life is passion and pleasure in its most purest form, where everything is complete. When the striving of the days between physicality and spirituality give way to the calm and the rest found in unity. This is life, this is truth, this is beauty. How can we not fall in love?

This is my prayer. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EmSrlZ6Uxe4

Say hello to Sweden :) Mini update of my adventures!

Hello from Strømstad Sverige! (Sweden) :) I have... alot to update! I always seem to be quite late in my updates but alas oh well... Right now I`m sitting in the basement of a local church here in Strømstad watching the rain drizzle outside and drip off a few apples still clinging to their tree. The weather here is in an interesting state, I currently reside in that funny place between Autumn and Winter. I suppose Autumn has come and gone, the colors have left, but Winter is still waiting to pay me a visit.

Strømstad is a little town of 10,000 folks on the coast of Sweden not more than 20 minutes f rom Norway. You would think that there is almost no difference here in Sweden compared to Norway, and you would be correct... almost. The culture is similar, the houses and lifestyles are similar, excpt the language. I can not understand a word of svenske... It`s so crazy. Norwegians and Swedes can communicate pretty well and the languages are similar, but its still crazy...

So I don`t have much to say about this team week so far, as it is only the second day. However I will update next week on the last three weeks and finally get around to uploading my Bergen trip pictures and the pictures that I took when Autumn was here almost a whole month ago back in Skien :p And hopefully some videos I`ve taken here around Norway. This next week, I`m putting a huge chunk of my time away so I can get around to this :) There`s so much to say and show! God has been doing pretty awesome things!

As a rough preview of the upcoming update I will talk about the team week following Bergen. Instead of going out, my team stayed back at the base and did alot of local projects including visiting the local refugee camp where several immigrants are trying to become citizens. Very cool experience :) We also had a crazy teaching week, and God has really been right beside me speaking to my heart. More on that! And ofcourse my adventures that will take place this week here in Sweden. I`m very excited bout friday... We get to take a boat to the island Kester which only has 200 people, a small church, and not a single car. I heard it`s absolutely beautiful, and will be working with the youth there so I`m very excited!

In other news I`m actually coming home for Christmas! So I will be back in town by the 14th of December, and then back again to Norway for New years :) I do hope I`ll get the chance to see all of you! I`m sure plans of a campfire/bible study party will fall together in time hehe, atleast I hope so! And... I recently found out that my mini outreach country here in Europe is Germany! So I will visit Germany for two weeks in mid January! I`m Very, excited to say the least :D.

I do hope you all are well! I`m praying for you guys, especially this week. Hello to Venture people, I`ve especially been praying for you guys! I hope your school year is going incredibly awesome!

Talk to you all soon! :)
Go Under the Mercy
-Sam