HOT

It's getting hotter here.
Not just the temperature either.

Yesterday I ate at the tarp covered market where you can buy a shrimp, fish and Thai chili (the small hot peppers I enjoy so very much) lunch with a couple of heaping spoonfuls of fried rice for about a dollar. I also had a chance to get a piece of corn on the cob for about a dime at this same market. We sat at wooden tables on worn concrete floors and waved off the flies and enjoyed our meal watching the Thai news which featured the NBA slam dunk contest from America. It's the Thailand that is, but it's not the Thailand that soon will be.

The Thailand that will be is right there next to that market. Just walk out from under the tarp, turn left and take 10 steps and there is a shiny, white 7/11 with everything in cellophane and plastic and sparkling like coins at the bottom of a fountain.

There's another 7/11 less than 200 yards from that one - across the street.

Oh, they're coming. The Starbuckses and the McDonaldses and the Pizza Huts and all of the other multinational trademarks will most certainly stamp their brands onto the hills and towns of Thailand, just as they will throughout all of Southeast Asia.

Already the signs are here. No, I mean the real signs. "Coming Soon." In English, no less. Some of these signs are exclusively in English. Oddly, I found out that most of these were put there by the Chinese people who are flooding here day after day.

Here in Chiang Rai, there are 2 universities. One is a large, venerable and beautiful campus with many thousands of students. The other is brand new and was built by the royal family in order to teach the students - wait for it - in English.

Why? Pretty easy to guess really.
Not only are these mainly American conglomerates making their way here, the Chinese are moving here in droves and bringing their business savvy and love of English speaking dollars with them. There is the "Friendship Highway." It's the road that I travel everyday here on my way to the Media Light school. It's a busy 4 lane stretch of asphalt that is meant to connect openly over the Mekong River straight through Laos and into southern China. China's border is less than a hundred miles away and this nearly completed highway is inevitable as the Chinese system continues its quest for world domination one business and one neighborhood at a time.

So things are heating up in every sense of the word "climate" you can imagine: The climate of business, the climate of change, the climate of climate. It got to about 93 today and I hear that's mild. Hoo boy.

It's also heating up for the gospel. This place reminds me of Cambodia a few years ago. In flows the cash and the government somehow loosens up to allow the "opiate of the masses" to take a small foothold. They think they can contain it in small doses. Maybe it's the scripture "the kindness of God leads to repentance," brought to life. It sure looks to be some sort of beautiful plan unfolding here. As peaceful as Buddhism seems to be and as devout as the followers are - its whole purpose is to be empty. Finding the void leads to fullness. Nothingness begets completeness. It's a concept that has some merit for this life but leads to nowhere. On purpose - it actually leads to nowhere.

So here comes commerce, with all of its benefits and foibles, to fill that void and hot on its trail, but not in sync with it, is the gospel; burning down the barrier between this world and eternal life with the power of God and the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus. A radical concept when placed next to any of the eastern religions and certainly a final and legitimate source of hope, joy and love for all eternity. Who wouldn't want that? Sadly, even most people who are from Christian nations don't see it this way. They see a form and function and have lost the completely incredible promise of eternal life. Here it's new and it's going to freak these people out when faith blooms. We have one Burmese girl here as a student who prayed for her brother a few weeks ago and his blinded eyes were opened. God is going to turn this place on its head as the Spirit of God makes His way west to close the circle and complete the call to all the world.

It's a great time to be here and we're busy, working hard everyday to make sure that these young leaders have the skills to be able to speak to their generation before the certain wave of mass merchandising floods every corner of this region and douses the fire of change by drowning everyone in greed.

I named this class "The Red Hots." Red, being the first and fastest light in the spectrum and Hot because of the reasons listed above. I selected the Thai Chili as our symbol because I'm an instructor and can do whatever I want.

Keep praying for us all and for Media Light. We're doing some pretty ground breaking things here and laying a good foundation for the future.

The next blog, coming tomorrow, is all pictures. Enjoy them - they were taken by my students on the school's video cameras.