Revelation!

Hi,
My name is Stuart Lamb. I’m an Englishman living in Thailand. I’ve been here for two years now – before I tell you what I’m doing here, let me tell you a little about my background.

I was born to an Irish mother and English father and was brought up as a Catholic, attending Catholic schools (one of which was monastic). I loved God from an early age….even re-enacting church services to my fellow students (I was at boarding school). Whilst I felt ‘close’ to God during my schooling, I don’t think that my walk with Him had really begun. This was to change drastically after I had left school. I realised that my Biblical knowledge was far from adequate and so I sought to rectify the situation. I picked up a Bible to check out something that I’d been told…..the Book became my best companion and I started to get ‘personal’ with God. I gave my life to the Lord and was reborn…I’ve been suffering ridicule ever since…..and I thank God for it because this testing has made me stronger….and led me here to CLI.

In the UK, I lived in a few different places according to my employment. I was blessed to find strong Biblical churches wherever I found myself living. I met many wonderful Christians. I have been involved in many in-house church ministries and also been a Street Pastor and was on course to be a Port Chaplain….I’ve always been passionate about sharing my Faith with others….so, here I am in Thailand…..evangelising. My dream was to travel around Thailand evangelising and also encouraging the small churches which I found along the way. I can hear people say “your dream WAS to…..”? Yes, the reason I’ve entitled my submission ‘Revelation’ is that I now believe God is steering me towards a pastoral role…..I have no idea where….but He knows so I will wait upon the Lord.

I would like to share something amazing with you now; one sunny weekend in UK, I was helping someone clear a field of stones and boulders as they wanted to use the land as a riding school. It was hot….I had sweat pouring into my eyes….if you’ve every experienced this, you’ll know how much it stings! Well, to cut a long story short, I lost the vision in my left eye…..and then in my right eye. The casualty diagnosis was that I had detached retinas caused by macular degeneration. After further examination I was told they could save the vision in my right eye, but I would never see again through my left eye. Whilst I was waiting for the retinas to be reattached, I could do nothing at all and stayed in bed. The long and short of this is that my vision was restored in both eyes (despite the retina not being attached to my left eye)…..but even better than my sight being restored was the ‘sight’ given to me by the Lord…..my eyes were truly opened! Forgive the pun but I’ve not looked back since!
So, I’m here in Bangkok to evangelize….but over the period I’ve been studying here….I now feel that the time is close to take-up a pastoral role. The biggest challenge I face (in either role) is that Thailand is a staunchly Buddhist country…but the blessing is that the Thais are tolerant and allow multi-faiths.

The small churches, here in Thailand, operate on a shoestring budget, so the support I get is fellowship and encouragement. I support myself financially through teaching English. Of late, I’ve had more and more opportunity to speak to people about Christianity. I want to be as best-equipped to do this as possible. This course at CLI is God sent…I can do this course and eventually end up with a Bachelor of Divinity….this will open up so many more possibilities here, maybe even help me in obtaining a ‘religious’ visa which would afford me much more security in this country….but it will (and is) drawing me ever closer to our Savior, Jesus Christ, the only Son of the Almighty Father.

Please pray for my success in Kingdom building, for my continued walk with God, for those that I’ve already preached to and for those I’ve yet to meet. Please pray that doors would be opened to me and that I fulfil my new calling to become a Pastor.
May the Peace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all.
Amen.