Lost

 Lost

 (Note to Reader: Today we’re back to “River Crossings”, excerpts from our stay in Thailand a few years ago. We will intersperse these with “Real Time” reports from along the road as we make our circuitous journey back home to Australia. For today, please enjoy…)


I want to say something about the word, “lost”. We sometimes use it to describe death: “I lost my wife”, “I lost a child”, and in the same breath, talk about losing our keys, our way, our train of thought, our sense of purpose. One word, but worlds of difference.

This week some dear dear friends ‘lost’ their baby, stillborn at 7 months. But in the midst of our grief, we had to remember that he’s NOT LOST!  We all know exactly where he is: he’s WITH his heavenly Father.

What is truly lost is OUR experience with him. We were looking forward to knowing him and we feel robbed of that. We are lost to seeing his smile, hearing his little laugh, watching him bring his mommy a muddy frog or toddle off to school. We lost the chance for that prideful moment of watching him graduate from medical school having found the cure for the very thing that took him home this last week. That’s where the real pain comes into play.

We stumbled around all this past week, “lost” in grief... staring at the walls, wishing we were there instead of here, shaking our fists at God (in unguarded moments) and reminding Him that there is not a more deserving couple on the planet and asking WHY is this happening to them? No answer, just that “peace be still” sort of quietness. The Thai word for death is sorta loosely translated as “the life force was unable to continue and so…” The Thais are a gentle people, but unfortunately 99% of them really are lost: lost to a dying world of sin. That’s where we hope to make a difference someday.

Other than that, it’s been a rather ordinary week. Marsha struggled with a case of food poisoning, spending a day or so curled up groaning, and as always, Tony feels a bit frustrated with his progress in acquiring language skills (he’s really doing fine, just needs more patience). But thanks be to God, I’m well now and will steer clear of that WESTERN STYLE bakery till they learn to wash their hands. Tony spent the day doing what he loves best, preaching, doing Lord’s Supper and having meetings, etc in the language he loves, Japanese. In his words, “It was like being a boy in a bathtub full of bullfrogs.”

We have one week left with the private tutor, polishing up what we should know, and then next week  we’ll jump back into the foray of organized language school, this time to pick up reading and writing… Please pray for stamina and that we don’t indeed LOSE our minds, which, of course IS a possibility!

Love ya, Marsha

“All this is for your benefit, so that the grace that is reaching more and more people may cause thanksgiving to overflow to the glory of God. Therefore, we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day.” (2 Corinthians 4:15-16) 


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