Thai Dawgs and a man named Phillip

On September 10th after a long day of ministry, our Passport Team headed home to clean up before dinner. After a few minutes of chatting and struggling to connect to the wifi, Josh, Jordan, Morgan, Madison, and I decided to hit the streets. Our mission: to take pictures of the wild dogs of Mae Sot to post on Josh’s Instagram page, “thaidawgs.” As we were wandering the streets, clueless to where we were going, we made a series of turns that lead us to Grace Life Church. It was in the middle of a quiet Thai neighborhood. As we stumbled upon it, we heard what we thought was worship music blaring over the large white wall surrounding the building. We peeked into the open gate and saw children playing and ventured inside for a closer look. We were immediately welcomed and introduced to the assistant pastor, Philip.

He joyfully welcomed our group into their church and we sat down in a circle of chairs as the worship team practiced their set. He began to ask us a little bit about ourselves, and we returned the questions. He told us he grew up in a Buddhist family. Then Josh asked, “If your whole family is Buddhist how did you become a Christian?” He leaned closer to us and gave a testimony that none of us could have expected.

Philip was a practicing Buddhist until the age of 16. That was the year he fell ill; so ill that he was expected to pass away. One day, while lying in his bed being pumped with medicine, Philip’s soul left his body. His soul drifted down to a flowing river, and as he tried to cross, he looked up. Across the river bed was Jesus Christ. Jesus said to him, “Where are you going?”

Philip replied, “I’m coming across.”

Jesus said, “No, you have to turn around and go back to your family. I’ll be waiting for you when you get there.” So Philip turned around and as his soul fell back into his body, he jumped out of bed in almost full health. His family was terrified, and couldn’t believe the miracle they just witnessed. But Philip couldn’t tell his Buddhist family about his encounter with Jesus. So he began to attend Bible studies in secrecy.

About 3 years later Philip was caught in a terrible flood in a river so dangerous, boats weren’t even allowed to sail on it. As the murky water pulled him under and filled his lungs, he cried out to Jesus.

“Jesus if you are the true savior, save me!” He looked up and saw three wrecked ships in front of him. Then suddenly, a boat appeared. The men on the boat pulled him up to safety. He pinched himself to ensure he wasn’t dreaming. Philip then confessed his religion to his family. They kicked him out with nothing but the clothes on his back.

Despite the loss of the relationship with his family, Philip’s heart for the Lord is overwhelming. He told our team that the only thing that matters is that Jesus is our savior; no riches, no family, no friends-nothing in the world was more important than that truth. He could not have been more right.