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In Bangkok you’re told you can get “anything you want… anything.”  I’ve heard it several times from different people in almost the same words.  There are Western malls full of Dunkin’ Donuts, I-max theatres, brand-name clothing, jewellry, and Mexican food.  There are tuk-tuk (took-took) drivers offering you a ride, marijuana, or a lady.  In the mall we walked (and gawked) past a Lambourghini sports car display and saw a ticket on a Porsche for 15 million Baht (about $500,000).  Of course real people live in a more average Bangkok all over the city, but the foreign section was teeming with opulence and options–for you, whatever you want.

Gretchen was different.  From the moment she welcomed us outside her studio apartment it was clear she didn’t fit the self-indulging stereotype.  Gretchen was the friend of a friend who opened her home to us, until then strangers.  She graduated from CSB (our connection) and pursued a Masters in Social Work from Augsburg in St. Paul, Minnesota.  After an initial volunteering opportunity in Thailand, she decided she wanted to come back, and found a job teaching developmentally disabled children with an organization that could use some organization.  She often finds herself working long hours teaching, as well as counseling ex-patriates on the side.  But, despite her busy and draining work schedule, she showed no reservations in hosting four stinky bikers and their gear in her one-room apartment for a week.  Our stuff took up the space along the wall and most of her narrow balcony, while our bodies took up the remaining space on the floor where we slept.  She was gracious and welcoming, even offering to give up her bed because if she slept on the floor, two of us could fit in the bed.  Jim assured her he preferred the floor, which he does.  Besides, we weren’t about to take away her apartment and her bed!  Still, her generosity showed through.

We spent several evenings with two of her Thai friends — Nu and Gium — who spoke English well and laughed often.  I asked her if she has any foreign friends or mostly Thai friends.  She said she doesn’t connect with many ex-patriates in Bangkok–she doesn’t appreciate their attitudes toward the local people–and she’s friends with the people with whom she works and lives, which are the Thai people.

Our last day together was Saturday, so after working the morning Gretchen treated us to swimming at the public pool.   In her words she wanted to “do something for us while we were in Bangkok.”  Amazing.

“Whatever you do for the least of these my brothers and sisters, you do for me.”  I don’t know if Gretchen does it because of Christ, but she certainly showed us Christ-like love as strangers to a big city.  She emptied herself of her privacy for a week in order to acommodate four people she did not know.  I am challenged to think that in the midst of materialism, perhaps the most important question is not What do I want? but rather What can I give?  May her reward be great, however God chooses to give the blessing.