a detox & a prayer.

I just wanted to send out a quick post asking for prayer.

We took a man to the hospital this morning.  We learned that he got sick a few days ago with a stomach bug, and in not feeling well stopped eating and drinking for the past two days. He also drank alcohol regularly before this, and quitting suddenly put him into detox.

We started him at the Burmese clinic in town, but he was moved to the public Thai hospital. He has three friends there with him, but he isn’t doing well. We went by to see him, but weren’t able to learn much other than simply seeing that he is in the ER with a nurse with him. He has been intubated.

He is much worse than he was this morning, so I just wanted to ask for prayers.

Sickness is always difficult, and of course it is always hard to see people in the hospital. If I can say it without being crass, it is harder when I know death is a possibility. It brings back the urgency of us being here, and the urgent aching for them to know and experience the Kingdom and the King that enables us get out of bed every morning.

Most days are a sorrowful experience here.  It is not that every day isn’t a miracle: every day is filled with joys and smiles and laughter. We had a dance party in the street just last night, and there was much, much laughter. Our God is good and gracious. But every day is also filled with sights of poverty and brokenness, whether it is in local hierarchies, corrupted systems, sick children, drunkenness, factories…the groaning for the Kingdom is so tangible.

But in groaning, Romans 8 reverberates in our souls, and we hope!  We hope for language, we hope for life change, we hope for our sweet friends to know the Lord and experience truth. We hope for countries to change and world systems to be overturned.  We hope for these things, we pray, and we wait.

And then there is something about a man in the hospital, with death closer, that makes it feel like we don’t have the time to wait. We do, and God is still good. He is still gracious. But I do want to ask you to pray. Please pray for this man, and the number of days the Lord has counted for him.