B is for Bandaid

If there was anything about my first time here that had the power to throw me off my first born female, Type A, anal retentive kiester, it was the way in which life and ministry in SE Asia was so astonishingly unpredictable. Make a plan to your own peril, because, likely as not, it would fall victim to the whims of whatever forces rebel against order and reasoned control.

This morning proved true to the random patterns that seem to define the remarkable productivity of people like Debbie and Mike Flinchum, full timers for Asia's Hope in Doi Saket. Over breakfast, one phone call completely and seemingly unflinchingly altered the course of the day. An ESL class for preschoolers, previously cancelled to allow for preparations for the weekend's dedication of the new Education Centre, was now being requested to go ahead. In like, an hour.

With almost three decades of ministry experience behind her, and an inspiring heart of servanthood, Debbie concocted a two hour preschool program "brought to you by the letter B". This was done as we collected the breakfast dishes, a few necessary props and supplies, and headed out the door.

Since I had committed myself to participating in whatever ways would be most helpful during this time before going to the reatreat at Wiang Pa Pao and then on to Hot Springs, I headed upstairs to collect whatever I might need for the day. That's when I saw the box of Sponge Bob Square Pants bandaids. It had been a small, last minute impulse buy about two days before leaving Ontario. I'm not sure what I was expecting to do with them, really. But they had caught my attention and I threw them in the shopping cart.

My friend Debora would call it "shopping with God." Before you dismiss this as a spiritualized excuse for random spending, bear in mind that the idea has a strong sense of listening and paying close attention to little nudges whenever one is anywhere where retail goods have the potential of being redirected in small but mysterious ways by a God who doesn't miss a single detail.

Having stopped by a fresh fruit stand by the side of the road to buy Buh-nanans (the morning's snack), we arrived equipped with a large blue ball, some balloons, an electronic phonics gismo, and, yes, the Buh-andaids. As soon as the "babies" (hey wait, that starts with B!) which is what the preschoolers at Doi Saket I are affectionately called, knew that Debbie had arrived and that Ashley (an intern fron Ohio) and I were gathering with her in the new Education Centre, they stumbled on over, laughing and hollering the English word "apple". The combination of baby-speak and Thai accent made it sound more like "App-o", said with great emphasis on the O sound at the end. This was very obviously the focus of the last ESL lesson.



Have you any idea what happens to the cuteness factor when 11 Asian orphan preschoolers sit in the same circle? Through the roof! They were adorable rolling the blue ball to each other. They were irresistible chanting "B says buh. B says buh. Every letter makes a sound. B says buh." The were charming in their attempts to cut out a construction paper banana for the banana tree mural. They were pure delight bashing around the balloons. And they sat with amazing patience while each one, one at a time, was given a bandaid bearing that bright and silly image of Sponge Bob Square Pants.

Each time, Debbie applies the bandaid, saying "B is for bandaid", waiting for the sweet attempt to repeat the same from each wide eyed child. They showed their bandaids to Debbie. They showed them to each other. They showed them to me. They proudly wore their bandaids for the rest of the day.

Now, it may seem like such a small thing. A box of bandaids, on sale for $2.49 at Zehrs in Waterloo, ends up in Chiang Mai as part of a totally unscheduled ESL lesson for 11 very little children whose lives will be greatly benefitted by knowing English. But I don't see it as small at all. I see it as another evidence of a God who doesn't miss a thing.

That He would do something so "insignificant" seems HUGE to me.

"Are not two sparrows sold for a penny," Jesus asked. "Yet not one of them will fall to the ground without your Father noticing. And even the very hairs of your head are numbered. So don't be afraid. You are worth more than many sparrows" (Matthew 10:30-31).

And if Sponge Bob Square Pants bandaids will help you learn English and bring delight to your little heart on a morning when it wasn't even scheduled, then those bandaids will get there and be there when you need them.

Now I am fully aware that God does what He wants when He wants, and often it can seem that we are not at all the object of His careful attention. I don't pretend to be able to explain the whole "unanswered prayer" thing, or the "why bad things happen to God's people thing"....certainly not in one blog posting. But it's the fact that these little/HUGE things happen at all in the midst of the wretchedness of this world, that helps my own soul find rest in trusting the ultimate goodness of God.



So, okay, that was just ONE of about five really, really cool "gifts" to my heart in this first full day here. So anyone who's thinking this blog will spare you from sermon illustrations in the future because I've written all about it while it was happening....think again.

Time for bed. I want to be rested up for whatever unscheduled and profound gifts God might have planned for tomorrow.

Love you.

Ruth Anne