God's Love

This is the banner used as backdrop for the stage. I've
been told that some Thais who attended the CITP event
heard of the Christmas story for the first time in their lives.

 For this week, I thought to post the video that I helped get recorded for "Christmas in the Park" last Saturday. "Christmas in the Park" is the school's annual community Christmas celebration. It is held outside, on the grounds of the school, hence the name. The Thai neighbors in the area where the school is in, had always been invited. This year, together with the students and families of those who studied at our school, there were about 1200 people who attended. The place was packed with people who came as early as 5:45 p.m. even though we advertised that the gate only opened at 6:15 p.m. Apart from using that event to share our faith to the Thai people, it had been used to provide a venue where we could hang out as believers, sing Christmas carols, eat baked goods and drink hot chocolate, and fellowship with one another. There really aren't very many places in Chiang Mai where we could do all that. There are less than 1% Christians (although the numbers are increasing) in Thailand

Branson Reagan and Mary Brannon perfectly played 

Joseph and Mary during the program. To make it
interactive, they played their roles even before the program
and asked guests if they knew of a place for them to stay.

 so typically, Christmas is just another day. There would hardly be any decorations indicative of the day, it would be a regular working day, and no Christmas carols are sung. So, "Christmas in the Park" or CITP had been the answer to counter the loneliness of sometimes being the only odd ones in the neighborhood wanting to celebrate Christmas. During the event, it actually rained twice - quite heavily. Although a handful left, most of the people stayed and took shelter under the mats they were sitting on, or their plastic chairs which they upturned over their heads! When the rain abated, the mats were turned upside down so that the dry parts were the ones sat on. Later, I found out from friends that we were all praying that the rain would stop so that no one would get electrocuted! We all survived without anyone getting fried and enjoyed the evening tremendously. Apparently, the unusual heavy rain was due to a passing storm in a neighboring country. Based on the downpour almost the whole afternoon of the next day, we were actually blessed that it only rained twice for short periods. Thank you, Lord, for answered prayers!

This year's theme was "Love Came Down" so a 2+ minutes video was made of people answering the question of how God's love impacted or changed their lives. The video was shown during the event, specifically, after the birth of Jesus was re-enacted by actors while singers sang what was happening. It was particularly heart-warming when "Angels We Have Heard on High" was sung while angel actors in unison lifted their hands in worship. That is exactly what we should all do. If you wish to view the video, please click on this Youtube link http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3WqEpxVplHI&feature=youtu.be

God's love transformed me and filled my life with joy. What about you? How has His love changed you?