Jod's Story (Continued)

In October, I went with a team to Chiang Mai in northern Thailand, where we spent a couple of days at Imjai House, an orphanage aimed at children of AIDS victims and founded by a member of Immanuel. While we were there, I was introduced to Jod. (At the time, I thought his name was Josh).

Jod is about seventeen and was very troubled. Most of the kids at Imjai attend public school, so they face plenty of opportunity to fall into the "wrong crowd," even though they live in a strong Christian environment. This is what happened with Jod. He developed some bad friendships and he began to be convinced he was missing out on something by living at Imjai house. He developed a pattern of sneaking out at night to join his friends from school. In late August, he took a motorcycle belonging to the orphanage and went into town late at night, joining some friends at a local club. I am not sure of the details, but late that night, he ran the motorcycle into a car and was seriously injured. Jod had a collapsed lung and lacerated liver, among other injuries.

By the time of our visit, Jod had undergone two surgeries and it was thought he would need one or two more. He had a cath bag attached and had to have multiple injections each day. Knowing they would not get paid, the hospitals in the area were shuffling him back and forth with none being willing to take responsibility to perform the needed operation on his liver.

Jod on the day of our visit.

The directors of the orphanage are an older couple and were at wits end trying to determine what to do about Jod. If and when he was released from the hospital, could they take him back in, knowing the influence he could have on the younger boys? Ordinarily, I would never think to do such a thing, but I knew no one had ever really spoken "man to man" with him, so with Ah Jan Winit translating, I pretty much got up in his grill and talked to him about the choices he faced. By all rights, he should have been killed in the accident. It was clear that God has a higher purpose for him IF he will allow God to direct his life. I assured him that the only way he'd truly be missing out would be if he continued to go down the path of rebellion, because if he did commit to knowing and serving Jesus, then and only then would he know true adventure in his life. He seemed to be listening intently, but who knows?

After the team returned from Bangkok, I continued to be burdened for Jod. The church prayed for him corporately several times. One evening, the Young Leaders Group wrote him letters or encouragement. I attached a photo of each of our young men with the letter he wrote and we sent the whole packet to him. I hoped he would see from these guys that you CAN love Jesus and be very cool at the same time.

Imagine my surprise when two ladies from my church came to be this week with news on Jod. The ladies had been to Imjai House during the week. They reported that Jod was much, much improved. He has been released from the hospital and was living back at the orphanage, at least temporarily. Although he still has the cath bag, the doctors had determined no further surgery was going to be needed. And he looked much better. They brought photographic proof.

Jod this week!

Most importantly, they said he had really had a deepening of his faith and that he was happy and just a different person than the Imjai House staff had ever seen before from him. Incredibly, he has spoken with the directors about attending a nearby Bible College.

In addition to all that, one of the ladies produced a letter Jod had written for me. How amazing is our God? The letter thanked me for my concern and prayers and said he was praying for me, as well. He thanked the Young Leaders for their letters and said he had gotten great joy and encouragement from each. He said something in the letter about his gratitude to God and his desire to study the Bible. And he promised to pray for us all regularly. Now, I make no claims that our visit was the major turning point for Jod. I have no idea how that factored in to where he is today, but it is wonderful to know that God used us in some way to make an impact on Jod's life.

Jod's Letter

Our God is an awesome, life-changing God. One more miracle to be thankful for in this season of miracles! Please take a moment to pray for Jod, that he can be freed from the cath bag, that God will make this new-found peace and joy of his a permanent part of his life. And join us in praying that God will afford Jod an opportunity to come to Bangkok for a week or two sometime soon to spend time with the Young Leaders guys and to be encouraged in that way.