Mr. Daeng

"The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.' “ Matthew 25:40, NIV.

Mr. Daeng was one of the 200 plus patients who came for help at a mobile medical clinic led by Southern Baptist volunteers in Thailand. He was in his 40s and had severe cerebral palsy. He could walk, but his gait was awkward and jerky. Others in the community referred to him as a clown due to the way he moved and his inability to speak clearly.  He wore old, ragged, smelly clothes. He had no shoes and his ankles had open sores. 

After seeing the doctor and receiving his prescription, he came over and sat down to wait for his medicine. A local motorcycle taxi driver who was hanging around the clinic that morning took the prescription paper from Mr. Daeng and read it. I noticed he was telling Mr. Daeng what he had to do, kind of scolding him like a child. He even slapped him on top of his head to emphasize his points.

I went over and sat down by him and tried talking to him. His head kind of lay to one side and then swung to the other. It seemed an effort for him to look at anything for very long. He grunted more than spoke. 

“Have you seen this little booklet?” I asked, showing him the tract that the clinic had been using that morning.  The booklet described a living Spirit-God who created the universe and is more powerful than all the other spirits. Mr. Daeng grunted and nodded, yes. 

I was about to go talk to someone else, but then decided to sit down with Mr. Daeng again even though it was difficult to communicate.

“Do you understand the booklet?” I asked. He shook his head, no. 

“God knows you very well Mr. Daeng,” I said. “He has known you all your life. This great Spirit God looks at you and He doesn’t see your body. He looks at your heart. He loves you Mr. Daeng more than anyone, and He wants you to know Him as your God and spiritual Father.”

After going through the entire booklet again I told Mr. Daeng, “God’s Spirit is listening and watching us to see what you will do.”  It was difficult to know how much Mr. Daeng heard and understood since my Thai is not that great, and I could not really tell if he had listened intently or not. I asked him if he believed this story about Jesus and he nodded his head once and grunted, “yes.”

I asked him if he wanted to tell God that he believed and that he wanted to follow Jesus, God’s Son, and again he nodded his head and grunted, “yes.” 

So I prayed and told Mr. Daeng that if he agreed with all I had prayed and prayed it in his heart, God would hear him. After praying, I asked Mr. Daeng if he had prayed too. He looked at me with a smile, nodded once, and grunted “yes!”

We asked another local lady who was watching nearby if she knew Mr. Daeng. She said, “Yes, everyone in town knows him.”

Pray that:

Mr. Daeng’s life will be transformed by Jesus and the entire town will take note.

Many others will want to know the Jesus who changed Mr. Daeng’s life.

Pacific Rim is a Region of the International Mission Board, SBC.