Ahjan
When I met Smit I was so taken with his energy and his smile. His cockeyed swagger, almost a limping shuffle carried with it a joy contagious to all coming in contact with him. As a career salesman in Thailand he spoke of people he worked with in a non-name dropping kind of way. Even though the names he mentioned were and are quite impressive. When dinner would come he would insist on me eating all of what was in front of. When the check arrived it was not up for discussion.
"You are our guest. When I come to US you can take me to dinner there."
Smit is in the orange short sleeve shirt helping Ken.
Smit told me about his time each Monday morning where he visits a women's prison to share life and love with these women who are incarcerated. He tells them of the love of God found in Jesus Christ. It should be noted that Smit himself was once an ardent atheist . So much so that when given a Christian bible he decided to use it as toilet paper.
I would sit and listen to his stories as he grinned from ear to ear sharing his love for the
Thai people and his desire to see them all come to the view of God he learned from Ahjan Ken. He would insist on calling me pastor but when I responded in kind he would quickly corrected me, " I am not a pastor, I am a business man. YOU are a pastor!"
I mean, THIS MAN IS IN HIS SEVENTIES!!!!
A couple of months before Ken (the man I am making a documentary on) passed away Smit traveled to Chiang Mai from Bangkok to ask Ahjan Ken to ordain him as a pastor. This seventy year old man had decided to retire from business and wanted to live out his days as a pastor, sharing the gospel with everyone he comes in contact with.
So, when I see him again I shall give him a hug and call him pastor and he will no longer be able to deny it.
I can't wait for that conversation!
Today I give Smit #thisiscrazylove2016