As I mentioned in yesterday’s post of #thisiscrazylove2016 I have spent the last year of my life working on a project to bring the story of Ken Rideout to others through a documentary. Over the countless hours of watching interviews and listening to the words either shared by Ken himself or by those affected by him I have found myself falling in love with another great teacher.
“***This is crazy, a person a day for the whole year of 2016 to show love and appreciation to on social media. It may be someone in my everyday life or someone I may not have spoken to for years. You can feel free to jump into this craziness with all of us and start today. It’s never to late this year to start the love and appreciation. Check out the rest of the crazies participating with: #thisiscrazylove2016 - Tyler Merritt”
A special day as I discovered Northern Thailand and discovered part of the reason Ken always spoke so highly of his son. Also, a special thank you to Antony for snapping this picture with me standing on a mound of dirt. I've never looked so tall.
His name is Ajahn Norman. Norman is Ken’s son but he is so much more than that. Norman, along with his wife Debbie, have given their lives to the work of God’s love for humanity to the Thai People. More specifically over a great many years he has worked tirelessly with the Karen Tribe in northern Thailand.
All the years I would meet with Ken he would speak of his eldest son as if he were Ken’s hero. He would tell stories of Norman’s work almost like a child bragging about why his dad was the coolest guy on planet Earth.
Norman with his teammate, partner and wife, Debbie. They were both so gracious to Antony and me while in Thailand.
When Antony and I went to Thailand to finish shoot our documentary we spent a god amount of time with Norman. It was through conversations there and the hours of reliving those moments at my computer that I came to truly appreciate all the hubbub from Ken.
Norman, growing up as Thai as he did American, is able to see things from a perspective his father never could. His ability to understand and share with people of the Karen tribe is a beautiful thing to watch.
I could go on and on about things I sort of understand about all the work and all the years he has given of his life’s work but the thing I want to share with you is from our days there in Chiang Mai.
As a missions pastor for several years I understood pretty well the burden of having people come to visit and need driving around and translation. It is a difficult to add this extra work to the day’s already jam packed work schedule. On top of this, he and his wife had just recently returned to Thailand after a trip to the States. Then of course add to this his father moving back to Thailand and having a need for immediate medical attention as a result of congestive heart failure coupled with a trip ‘round the world.
What Norman did for us in those few days of travel through Northern Thailand was more than Antony and I could ever repay. He was a true gentleman seeing us around, giving us pointers, doing interviews and providing translation as well as giving us the Thailand experience. Today’s “thisiscrazylove2016 goes to one of my hero’s heroes.