Last week I sat in church next to Pong, 32, one of our newer students.  Pong's husband died in his sleep 4 months ago, leaving her with 2 children to care for.  Pong is Mae's aunt; Mae is the 13 year-old we snagged out of a bar a few months ago.  It was only Pong's third visit to any sort of church. 

Grief counseling is a virtual unknown in rural Thai culture, and Pong has simply had to keep her head up and figure it out.  Last week she cried hard.  I can't imagine the despair she has felt through all this.  She has a quiet personality, and seemed so hurt and vulnerable sitting next to me in the pew.  As is my nature, I found myself wishing I could fix everything.  It was only the thought of inappropriateness that kept me from giving a quick one-armed hug and saying, "Don't worry.  We're going to take care of you."

The sermon was a simple explanation of the Gospel, and included a couple of clips from The Passion.  The clips were looped on PowerPoint slides, so each played more than once.  I watched Pong out of the corner of my eye, her own eyes wide with fascination at those gruesome scenes of the beating and crucifixion.

The only real consolation I know in explaining suffering is that Jesus did it.  His suffering says to me that ours is important.  The writer of Hebrews writes these fascinating words: "In bringing many sons to glory, it was fitting that God, for whom and through whom everything exists, should make the author of their salvation perfect through suffering." (Hebrews 2:10).  God didn't miss a trick here.  Before He could come up smiling, Jesus needed to go to the very bottom of the pit.

Down the row a bit from Pong sat Pui, the 16 year-old who was recently raped.  Next to her was a 17 year-old who was raped on May 8, just before she came to The Well.  Behind me sat one of our students whose mom started pimping her at age 17.  She spent several years selling herself to support the drug habit of her and her unemployed boyfriend.

It is right that we are here.  It is right that our work is very often difficult and trying, not because the work is hard, but because we love these women so much.  When there is love, there will be sacrifice, the kind where Jesus set the standard.

Last Sunday night we went and picked up Pear, our other 13 year-old.  Pear went A.W.O.L. a good month ago, and moved into a restaurant/brothel.  We were beside ourselves, but she would not leave, and we were too unfamiliar with the legal system to trust that if we got the owner arrested, a) it wouldn't make things nasty for the women we do have at The Well, and b) it wouldn't make things even worse for Pear.  Thank the Lord, last week she ran away.  Her mom asked us to pick her up tonight, so she is now a foster child in our own home. 

Pong is in the process of meeting Jesus.  I think she will like what she learns about Him.  Meanwhile, thanks to the generous help of lots of people who support The Well, we will indeed take care of her.  She's already asking to bring a couple of relatives in similar situations, both also in their 30's. 

There is an answer to suffering.  It's not easy, and I certainly don't give it out as a pat answer.  The answer is simply love--when we lovingly choose to suffer together with those who suffer, something happens, a special bond forms between us.  In the process, their loneliness fades, the hopelessness gives way.  

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Jim Larson
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Reply #3 on : Wed December 05, 2007, 07:22:54
First, I certainly don't pretend in this short article to answer the problem of pain. Noah states what is in fact a key starting point for me--years ago when I first read of the size of the "night industry" here, my thought was, "Lord, can't your people do any better?" Certainly much suffering goes on because of our selfish lack of involvement. At the same time the skeptic would point out that countless suffering is neither caused nor preventable by our own action. We can only hold God responsible. The answer that Jesus suffered too may not satisfy many, but for some reason it works for me, especially in how it motivates me to do the same for others, to deliberately choose to enter into their lives in a way that does in fact often hurt, either in sharing the pain they are going through or when they make choices that are hurtful to themselves.

Marie, thanks for your honest, thoughtful question. It is crucial to note that we can't go very far or well in suffering with others out of duty or need for significance, to name a couple of common motives--there are other motives, including some very unhealthy ones. The kind of suffering I am talking about comes from a pure love for others, from the sense that they are so wonderful that any amount of suffering for them is worth it, even an honor. I am not saying that I am there 100% or ever will be, but I do get tastes of it in how much I love so many here, and how intensely I find myself wanting them to have a happy, fulfilled, eternal life.
Marie
Posts: 3
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suffering
Reply #2 on : Tue December 04, 2007, 10:42:36
These are hard words. You talk about suffering with others. I am weak. How do I subject myself to suffer with others? Thanks for your sacrifice for these fragile lives. I have continued to give to your ministry, grateful that I can get a firsthand account of where my money is going.
Noah
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Suffering
Reply #1 on : Mon December 03, 2007, 21:57:00
The question of pain and suffering and why God allows it to exist is a difficult question, but a friend recently posed that question in a way that impacted me deeply. He said, "When we ask God why He allows pain and suffering to exist in the world, He could rightly turn the question on us and ask us why WE allow pain and suffering to exist in the world, if in fact, we are the hands and feet of Christ."

Thank you, Jim (& your family), for loving and being the hands and feet of Christ.