Marsha's Blog

I heard an interesting thing this last week. Our friend was interviewing Thai people to work in the Baptist student center where Tony and I are teaching.  A middle-aged lady came in and sat stiffly across  from him as he looked over her application. In the box marked “Religion” she had written “Buddhist”. James thought it was interesting that she would be applying to work in a Christian institution, but figured this was yet another one of those “who can understand the Thai?” issues, and continued to the next page. The question was meant to be a discussion starter for the interview, and it asked simply, “Who is Jesus Christ?” She answered, “My Lord and Saviour.”  The question was followed by, “Why do you believe that Jesus Died on the Cross?”. The lady had answered, “For my sins”.  Now James was becoming a bit confused. Laying the application down, he said, “You say you’re Buddhist but you’re answering as a Christian. What’s up?” She smiled and answered back confident...

 Dear Blog Friends, Here it is June already.  We've been 'on the road' for six months now with another six or so to go. Thank you for continuing to read my ramblings and not only that, offering comments that let me know you’re listening. And all that, in spite of the fact that this latest series of blogs are mostly excerpts from a book I wrote years ago. For myself, it’s been nice to remember those times back in Bangkok, and to see that God’s workings are not bound by time or circumstance. He really is the same, “yesterday, today and tomorrow” (Hebrews 13:8).  I’m happy to say we've recovered from Covid, and were able to enjoy our reunion of over 800 retired missionaries down in Florida.  I don't pretend to know everyone there but it was amazing how many we did!  A couple that I would have never picked out of a lineup grabbed us as we walked by their table and "reminded" us that we'd oriented them and sent them to the mission field over 40 years ago.  ...

 News From Camp (Note to Reader: This is another in our series of “River Crossings” blogs, written while we were in Thailand (2009-2011). Enjoy!) I’m writing today from camp. We’re up in the mountains about three hours from Bangkok with 60 enthusiastic Thai young adults and 15 very energetic Australians! The Aussies, from Brisbane’s Kenmore Baptist Church, come every year and do an English camp for the student centre kids and they just keep getting better. Anyway, it’s been a crazy couple of days, what with wild games, boisterous singing, and even a Thai rendition of an Australian bush dance (Hey you Aussies, is there really such a dance as “The Waves of Bondi, or are they making this stuff up?”). It’s also nice to be a bit cooler than usual, thanks to the camp’s location, up in the mountains. The place is beautiful, the food is... well, interesting, and the beds are reminiscent of an English torture rack, but hey, it’s camp! But I think the thing I’ll remember most are the testimo...

 A Fine and Beautiful Thing Surprise! This blog is going out a little early this week since we won't have WiFi for the next few days. We're doing great and looking forward to starting the "driving portion" of our American visit next week. Love ya! (Note to Reader: This is another in our series of “River Crossings” blogs, written while we were in Thailand (2009-2011). Enjoy!) You might remember Tony wrote a blog a couple of weeks ago about “pouring out your life for the Lord”... Well, Tony was sick this last week. I mean a sickness of biblical proportions. People worried that it was the swine flu, and it might have been, but he got better instead of worse. Albeit it said, as he was pouring out his life and losing 7 lbs, (3 kilos for the metric bunch) we were thankful to have indoor plumbing! Now he’s better and trying NOT to find the 7 lbs again, but I’m sure they’re going to find him as he is eating again... And that reminds me of a little story. Years ago, I was a yo...