Sukhothai Trip

The girls in a traditional way of
greeting in Thailand.

As I said last week, I did chaperone my son's class to Sukhothai, a city just over four hours south of here. It proved to be a very entertaining time for me. It was tiring but full of interesting things to see. For more information on the ancient city, please read last week's post. First, before we got to Sukhothai, we visited a cave which got its name from the huge three headed elephant called "Erawan". The elephant is associated with the Hindu God "Indra" who supposedly rode it. Presently, statues of "Erawan" can easily be seen in Thailand. Even the old Kingdom of Laos had "Erawan" depicted on their flag. (Source: Wikipedia.org) Inside the cave, a huge rock formation looked very much like it had three protruding trunks with the accompanying head bulges. It was dark, cool, and creepy with bats that flew overhead but it was interesting to see the "Erawan" looking rock.

From there, we traveled to Si Satchanalai Historical Park and checked out ancient temple ruins. We had to traverse a very steep road (on our bicycles!) and climb many steps to get to the site which was on top of the hill so I was the last one up. Obviously, I was panting and out of breath by the time I got there! I actually wondered why I volunteered to accompany 7th graders on a sight seeing trip! What was I thinking? But, I managed to play my part well and took LOTS of pictures. We also enjoyed the speedy bike ride downhill! I hadn't done that in years and it SURE was FUN!!! =)

The girls peeking from behind the ancient pillars.

From there, we drove another two hours to get to Hotel Pailyn where we were soon eating supper and later cooling down in their pool. It was a HOT day so it was fitting to end it with a dip in the refreshing water. A short devotion time was given and some active games were played before we all slept well. The welcome rest helped to have energy for more cycling around a bigger historical site in Sukhothai the next day. But although it was interesting to see structures that were still up from the 13th century. It didn't exactly excite me to be looking at ruins of old temples. I found the old trees and their roots far more fascinating. And of course, the girls and their scheming to come up with artistic poses helped to make the going around fun. There we were, looking at structures over 600 years old and they did nary a glance at what was in front of them but were more intent on making their next pose far better than the one before. They did really well!

At one point, we headed to 7-11 (a convenience store) and bought ourselves ice cold drinks. I made us stop to enjoy our drinks and to think about what we were grateful to Thailand for. Because we were in the ancient city where the country was founded, I wanted us to thank God for what we appreciated about Thailand. I also had us pray that a seed of love for God would be planted in that very place and that it would grow to affect the rest of the country. May it be so, that a new kind of faith, the kind that honors Jesus as Lord would begin to arise, just like the religion founded in the ancient city of Sukhothai did. I am grateful that nothing is impossible for God. =)  Let it be so, Lord. Amen.

With Knowledge Comes Responsibility

 You are of God, little children, and have overcome them,

because He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.

1 John 4:4 (NKJV)

This Thursday and Friday, I will be a chaperone to my son’s class’ field trip. We’ll be going to Sukhothai. It’s an ancient city located in Lower Northern Thailand, over 400 kilometers north of Bangkok. It’s a popular tourist spot because it is located near the ruins of the ancient city with the same name. The old Sukhothai was the Thai capital during the 13^th century. Back then, when Thailand was known as Siam, the old Sukhothai was founded by King Ramkhamhaeng the Great. He was a monarch highly respected because he created not just the Thai alphabet, but the foundation for Thailand’s politics, religion, and monarchy (Source: Wikitravel.org).

Ancient Buddha figures seen at the park in Sukhothai.

The province's temples and monuments have been restored and it has numerous sites of historical interest. One example of what can be seen there is pictured on the right.

In light of what seventh grade students might do, or not, I was prompted to write today’s post. Sometimes we go through all kinds of seminars, conferences, training, courses, and various sessions without a thought of when we would specifically use what we’ve learned. I believe this field trip is an example of a time when one of those sessions will come in handy. Specifically, I remember a training seminar taught by Neil Anderson, the author of “Victory Over the Darkness”, “Bondage Breaker” plus close to thirty other books. A few years ago, he came and spoke here in Chiang Mai and then representatives from his organization: “Freedom in Christ Ministries” did further training. At the time, I was fascinated that they taught on spiritual oppression and the ways that we can open ourselves up to it. One particular example used was of a group of short term mission workers who did prayer walks in several Buddhist temples. When they finally returned to America, every single person on their team was ill. It wasn’t what they ate, nor was it a virus. When they isolated the incident when they all felt ill, it was after they visited a temple where as they entered, they stooped down to get in a particular low threshold. As they did that, a Buddhist monk was inside the room sitting in a typical lotus-like pose on a higher platform. According to the person who taught the session, that innocent act of entering was considered by the evil spirits to be indicative of submission because they stooped, or bowed (although not intentionally, to the monk). Later on, each person on the team was attacked and oppressed spiritually which resulted in their illness.

The great news was that after discerning the cause of their illness, they only had to pray against the attacks of the enemy and they were all immediately healed. It was simply a matter of how to pray. The verse above rings very true and we can certainly put our trust in who we have inside of us. BUT, even better is to not necessarily do something that will provoke a spiritual attack directed towards us. May the Lord grant us wisdom to determine how those actions can come about. And as I chaperone, may I have the eyes to see in the spiritual to properly steer, lead, and guide those that will be with me. Thank you, Lord, that it is a matter of asking Your help.