I get goosebumps every time, and I’m not ashamed to admit that a few times I’ve gotten a bit teary-eyed. It never ceases to amaze me how the Thai people know how to honor their king. They love him, they are faithfully devoted to him and they hold him in the highest reverence possible. It is partly for this reason that I often feel like the Thai people are a step ahead of us when they come to know God; Not only are they very much in tune with the realities of the spiritual realm, but they know the concept of kingship.

They know reverence and holy fear. If only we in our irreverent Western tendencies could grasp onto this and integrate it into our relationships with God.

I just hosted my brother Josh and his friend Buddy for a few weeks of adventures in Thailand. For part of that time, we had the privilege of going down to Krabi to visit my friends Doc and Zina Docto of Muay Thai Missions, to experience the south of Thailand and get a little bit of Muay Thai training (which, incidentally, I loved).

We were hanging out after lunch one day, and this concept of kingship came up. Doc got teary as he shared a similar experience to mine in the movie theaters. He was in a mall one day when the King of Thailand made a public appearance, and Doc joined with every single person in the mall to watch this appearance on television.

As he watched the crowds of Thai people bow and cry in front of the television, he experienced reverence lived out, and felt a new and holy fear for God. As this new understanding of the status and holiness of his King, the King of Kings, permeated him, Doc also realized that our King wants to be loved and revered, but also longs to draw near to us. So much so that Jesus humbled Himself and was and always is willing to wash our feet, the dirtiest part of us. Such a love.

I know that it is this love that envelops me daily, and compels me to pour out love on the Thai people in Pattaya. The Thai people understand reverence, but will they allow Jesus to draw close to their hearts, to come into even the darkest and dirtiest parts of them? Will they allow Him to wash their feet, and thus understand the greatness and fullness of His love for them? I pray so.

And I pray that as our King pursues their hearts and ministers in love, that they will know an intimate relationship with their holy and beautiful King.

Jessica Mock is a missionary in Pattaya, Thailand. In addition to her Muay Thai skills, Jessica is a minister and worship leader with True Friend Fellowship. You can read more about her work at www.jessicamock.com.

All day long, I see girls wearing close to nothing, clamoring for the attention of every passing foreign man. They will do anything to sell themselves in an attempt to make enough money to get by and to have enough to send home to their parents (and often their children) back in their home villages. Often, it’s not what the girls do to get attention that’s shocking to me, but the foreigners who come to Pattaya that think it’s suddenly OK to completely abandon all sense of morality. It’s not uncommon to see an 80-year-old man wearing a string Speedo publicly. Many women seem to think it’s OK to go topless at the beach (which, incidentally, is completely inappropriate to the normal Thai person, and shows a lack of respect for their culture.) Suddenly, your average bearded European man becomes like a kid in a candy shop. You can almost picture them wearing little suspendered trousers, high socks and loafers, with wide eyes and drooling mouths as they peruse the goods at hand. OK, some of them really do dress like that.

Just in case you were starting to think that my life in Thailand must be totally miserable, I will say that there is another side to Pattaya. There are places where there is peace, quiet, refuge from the crazy, and amazing cinnamon rolls. One of my favorite places to hang out in Pattaya is Tamar Center, a branch of Youth With A Mission Thailand. Without going into details that you can research on your own, I will say that the Tamar Center’s bakery has to be one of their most successful and wonderful businesses that they have started as an means of providing alternative work for women who previously worked in bars (the front for most prostitution in Thailand.)

Pii Kak, who runs the bakery, is a good friend and highly respected maker of cinnamon rolls (along with cakes, cookies, pies, and every other baked good imaginable.) She can barely keep up with all of the orders they have, and that’s a good problem. That means that they are able to employ multiple women who are working on building job skills outside of the prostitution industry. They’re able to enjoy a work environment where they can be loved and respected for who they are, and not for what their bodies have to offer.

Every time I walk in the doors of Tamar, I feel it. God. Love. Peace. And refuge from the gaping stares of Speedo-wearing old men. Amazingly enough, there’s even love enough to go around to all of the men who frequent the Tamar Coffee Shop and Bakery (but only for those who are fully clothed). Frequently, as I’m sipping on an iced cappuccino and eying the carrot cake in the glass case, I end up talking to a tourist who is there to get his kicks, but, coming up short, has found and rested at the Tamar Bakery because peace, quiet, and a bit of normalcy emanates from the doors. “It’s just good,” they say. And most of them have no idea that it is not “just good.” God meets with them whether they know it or not, through the amazing and transformed women who work at the Tamar Center, through those of us who hang out there, and through the peaceful atmosphere. God is present, God is working, and God is pursuing their hearts.

God loves those men, in their desperate search for love and in their emptiness. I pray that every time they come up dry and still searching for fulfillment in Pattaya, that they find themselves wandering into a place like the Tamar Center, and encounter the One who forever loves and fulfills.

For more information on the Tamar Center (and where to get the best cinnamon roll in Pattaya), go to:
http://www.ywamthai.org/pattaya/tamar.html

Jessica Mock is a missionary based in Pattaya, Thailand. She is a worship leader, makes amazing curry and crochets copious amounts of beanies. You can read her blog here.