Day 33

There are many things to write about but I don't have much time right now. The pressing matter is the Princess' visit. (Princess Sirithorn is one of her names I am told (pronounced British style), don't Google it, I don't think I'm spelling it right). The place is getting all decked up around here. It is quite fancy, but you can't hide all the flaws on this poor old ship!

Our director, Daniel Chae, from South Korea will be the one walking by the princess' side during her visit. Many others will be involved in various ways but the majority of us will be off the ship.


Two versus come to my mind in light of this event:

"When you are brought before synagogues, rulers and authorities, do not
worry about how you will defend yourselves or what you will say, for the
Holy Spirit will teach you at that time what you should say." Luke 12:11-12

"But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, so that the surpassing greatness of the power will be of God and not from ourselves" 2 Corinthians 4:7

The first one would be for the director, Daniel. The second one, I think is just great as a theme verse for the Doulos. I chose the NASB translation because it say "vessel" and sounds best in general. I just realized I don't have a good picture of the Doulos on my blog yet, my apologies. Well, here is a picture of the princess' pad.

And for the Doulos, you just have to imagine a 95 year old vessel that has had lots of TLC but it is still 95 freaking years old and overdue for some drydock time. I touched on this idea before with the story of the Vietnamese visitors from the cruise ship in Cambodia. Outwardly, this ship isn't much to look at. But there is something - or should I say Someone - that draws people to us wherever we go. Our bookshop is not exemplary. Sure, in Cambodia and other poor and remote countries we bring desperately needed literature. But here in Bangkok I'm sure there are bookshops 20 times larger, albeit probably with a smaller bible selection. The thing that makes us special of course is that we represent Jesus. And this ship shines in a spiritual way. I heard of one Muslim man that recently visited the ship and when he first saw it he said something to his host about how glorious it appeared.

So, I don't know why Princess Sirithorn is visiting the ship except that she is a huge fan of education and literature and she visited it once before in the 80's. But as Daniel Chae said at our prayer night, "We are just ordinary people, not used to these sort of prestigious occasions" (not a direct quote). And as I have said, this is just a humble boat with a modest bookshop. God has given us a tremendous opportunity to impact the royalty of Thailand, and through them, the rest of Thailand. So please, please pray, and even fast, asking God to make this visit run smoothly, and more importantly to touch the princess' heart with his love and truth.