Orphans for My Heart

 “We’re leaving tomorrow morning.” That was Terry Heuser on the phone, and it meant that we were taking off two days ahead of schedule. I wasn’t really sure why I was going on this trip for two reasons; first, I didn’t know Terry very well [he got my email address from Chris, a colleague of his who I have yet to meet, and he emailed from Australia 5 days ago (04Feb07), and we met for the first time in the Royal Orchid Sheraton Hotel and Towers in Bangkok, had dinner at a riverside resto two days ago, and that’s it]. Second, he wanted me to accompany him to northeastern Thailand on an inspection trip to see some orphanages, and this was something very new to me so I didn’t know where I would fit.

That night I tried to find some reason to explain why Terry came into the picture of my life, and why he needed me to go with him. I was imagining that he needed a guide and an interpreter or maybe a brown Asian as a deterrent against extortion or whatever. One thing I was sure of was that he was a Christian [AOG] and that he was representing Global Impact, an Australia-based company of Christians engaged in humanitarian work. I prayed that God would use me on this trip and then went to sleep.

The next day Rob Dunk – an Aussie, Founder and Director of Mercy International, drove us 380 kilometers to Lom Sak where I was introduced to another five Australians with very challenging accents [this is my first time to be around guys from “down under”]. They - Malcolm, Ron, Murray, Chris and Gordon, were volunteer “builders” who were in Lom Sak constructing a school building for Rob’s “Mettachanupatham” [School of Mercy under the patronage of the highest King], which is a support school for the orphans in the “House of Mercy” at Lom Sak. Pawinee, a hospitable and cheerful Thai Christian lady took us in and fed us.

The next day Ron, Gordon, Terry and I took Rob’s Toyota SUV and drove through the mountain ranges of northern Thailand to Khon Kaen 200 kilometers away to see the House of Mercy for HIV orphans. We could easily pass for a bunch of “farang” Desert Storm veteran commanders with a Thai guide, and yet unknown to the locals we were actually “soldiers of the cross” on active duty. The HIV+ orphans touched my heart when I realized that they had lost their parents due to diseases related to AIDS. Wendy, a sweet and gracious Aussie, was there to show us around and to update us with the plans and progress of the orphanage.

After lunch we drove to Payakhaphum Pisai, approximately 150 kilometers east, to Samuel House, an orphanage that is owned and operated by a young and dedicated Thai Christian couple – Nehami and Hannah Pawcome, who like Rob with the other two orphanages had only sheer faith and empty pockets to start with.

We drove back to Lom Sak the next day and spent the following day pouring concrete for the floor of the school building, and then back to Bangkok on the next. I only realized back home in Bangkok that I had traveled 1,400 kilometers in five days, and that I left my heart with the orphans. I also found the answer to why God wanted me to accompany Terry.

You see I grew up in a church [SDA, Philippines ] that doesn’t have a program to uplift the plight of the orphans, and has hospitals that cater to the middle class, insurance policy holders and the rich. We brag about our spick and span, well furnished suites, which only the rich and the church’s employees can afford but don’t have a single bed for charity patients [I trained in one of these hospitals and was a member of the Board of Trustees in another until my rebirth]. The poor and the underprivileged that live around these institutions know fairly well that they will be turned away.

With these facts you will know now how I was brought up and why God had to retrain me and teach me how He manages His kingdom. He had to reorganize my priorities and make me realize that it is the care of “the least of these my brethren” that places the saints on His right hand, and not the observance of a day of worship. He also had to bring me to the mountains of Thailand to show me that I had to "be about my Father’s business,” and to stop looking at myself.

Hallelujah!