Dearly Beloved

This summer, we have many of our mission partners guest-writing a Dearly Beloved, all the way from their part of the world, directly to you. This week, we are blessed to hear from Matthew & Amber Price.

Dearly Beloved, 

So very regular would be a great way to describe us.

We’ve been married for 18 years, and most of that time has been in contexts outside of Canada (we’re coming on 9 years here in Bangkok). We’re raising 4 kids to be decent humans, are intentional about being present in the spaces we find ourselves in, making sure that we still love and like each other within our marriage, and forever checking the family calendar, convinced we’ve missed something. We believe God has a father’s heart for those who are overlooked and even pushed to the fringe. Here in Thailand, where less than 2% of people are Christian, walking alongside the marginalized is our focus. Through ZOE Network, we empower women. Through ChildCARE Plus (CCP) we work with local churches to be change-agents in their communities. With over 400 sponsored children in 20 communities, our team of 18 might be some of the only Christ followers that people ever meet. With urban refugees, we engage with those held indefinitely in detention centres and their families on the outside. Most days we’re motivated and excited for what we’re part of here, and some days we’re intimidated by the scope and brutality of it all…like bringing a rocking horse to compete in the rodeo! God has been faithful not because we’re superstar believers, but rather because we’ve put ourselves into places well outside our depth. We expect God to show up and be so wonderfully himself. 

Matthew 14 is the familiar story of Jesus feeding the hungry masses with nothing more than the meagre food that was present. Despite the popular phrase that “God will never give us more than we can handle,” this story, like many others, reminds us that God often invites us into undertakings wildly beyond our abilities. Most of the Bible is God asking regular folks to do exceptional things, that person having anything from a panic attack to a tantrum, God (mostly) patiently waiting for that person to realize that they’re not being asked to do this alone, and that person stepping into what God had originally spoken about. In feeding those thousands of people, the disciples made their own plans, worked out the cost-benefit analysis, and declared the problem unsolvable. They told Jesus to his face that it couldn’t be done. Jesus knew the nature and size of the problem, yet he took the bread, the fish, and the open-air seating (all those present things), and he did something more with them. At times, we look at the 600-year Christian history in Thailand and think that we should be well beyond 2%. We wonder how we can move that needle. We don’t need to rush to God in panic over the impossible nature of it all—spoiler, he knows! Rather, we show up with whatever we have, trusting that he, too, will show up.

In the Comox Valley, God has put those seemingly unmovable things before you. He’s asked you to put your hands to situations that unnerve you. He’s (mostly) patiently waiting for you to freak out and then find the faith to say, “I’m in.” On the other side of that fear, of that pesky uncertainty, there is a world of divine possibilities. Go explore those.

Amber + Matthew Price