Woven into the grand narrative of the Great Controversy are smaller stories, countless as Abraham’s stars—your story, my story, the stories of some 250,000 Buddhists living in Khon Kaen, Thailand. I cannot help but marvel at how God keeps us all straight and triumphantly weaves our narrative threads together into the beautiful story of redemption.

Best-selling authors are experts at setting up the plot, pulling us into the problem and then surprising us with the resolution. The mundane details of daily life make their appearance as props, but the engrossing storyline holds our attention, effortlessly carrying us from “once upon a time” to “happily ever after.” But real life is an entirely different thing—a story lived in real time. How easy it is to lose sight of the main narrative thread as it gets tangled up in the day-to-day routine.

Each morning, the rising sun reflects off our wardrobe mirror, serving as my visual alarm clock. As I pray in the new day, Ricardo is already at the park. I wake up the boys, and we head there ourselves to run and have our personal worships. Then there’s breakfast to be made and instruments to practice. Gabriel and Daniel start school, and Ricardo and I dig deeper into Thai. I get out my new Children’s Thai Bible story book and work on the story I’ll share with the kids at Nong Kluay Hom next Sabbath. When our language helper comes, I practice with her, and we talk about how I can ask the kinds of questions that will open their eyes to the Invisible and raise their curiosity about The Story.

The sun burns through the day, breaking records for how fast a load of laundry can dry on stainless steel banisters. Ricardo talks with Pastor Wanlop and continues working on infrastructure details for our ministry here. Throbbing music announces that it is aerobics time in the park, and I had better get to the market. My favorite vegetable vendor tells me—for the fifth time—that she is going to send her kids to play with Gabriel and Daniel. I wonder when they will come, wonder which of the relationships we are building will lead to salvation and provide this city with another Christian witness.

Somewhere in this round of activity, my phone rings and I (miraculously) recognize the caller, a woman I met on public transportation a few weeks ago. In our conversation, I had told her about the music school we are starting. She was very interested and took down my number. Now she is calling to see if we have opened yet. I explain that we’re working on getting registered as a school with the government.

Thankfully, the Thailand Adventist Mission will process this for us, but we must first meet the requirement of having an official director who is Thai and who holds a college degree. There is so much to do in taking a plan and making it reality. While we’ve had our share of drama as God has directed our steps and wowed us with His networking ability, we have been living in the lull of our story for a while now. But we know God never suffers writer’s block. We trust that He is actively developing story elements we can’t see yet, preparing to merge those threads with ours in a miraculous twist. It will be exciting someday to look back and see the full, sweeping narrative of how He started His music school and His Gospel movement among the people of Khon Kaen.

Here’s an interesting plot twist that is still being written: There is a couple from this part of the world who have devoted their lives completely to sharing Jesus in their wide sphere of influence. She is a musician with years of experience teaching music and bringing people to Christ. About two months ago, unbeknown to us, a mutual friend mentioned our project to this couple. Two weeks ago, we received a call from our friend and fellow missionary, Christopher Sorenson, who had encountered them while on a trip to their part of the country. Sensing God’s leading, Ricardo immediately hopped on a bus and rode five hours to meet them. Ten days later, they came to Khon Kaen. After much prayer and discussion, they believe God is calling them to be part of our ministry.

God’s story of how His work began in Khon Kaen will be continued. The needs are great. We need teachers, instruments and a facility in which to meet and teach. Could it be that God has a place for you in this story? Please pray about it. Email us, and we will be happy to answer any questions you might have.

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