The “River of Kings” snakes 231 miles through the entire heart of Thailand, 
including Bangkok, 
so after our morning of site-seeing (this is the famous “China House” restaurant)
we were treated to a cruise down the Chao Phraya River 
on our way to an authentic (and gourmet) Thai lunch buffet. 
We traveled in a flat-bottomed sampan. 
The sampans are everywhere 
and used by everybody 
both for transporting goods and passengers…
so we had to wait in a very long, hot line to board, 
although the line wound through stalls with all sorts of exotic items for sale that you really couldn’t get in America, so that was very…educational! 🙂 
Our river cruise took us by the Buddhist Temple known as Wat Arun, 
which is often featured in photos (but was being restored this spring). 
River life is fascinating…a world unto itself, 
but it’s a great way to get insight into the heart of a city and take its pulse. 
We saw lots of unusual but lovely architecture 
and marveled at the busy-ness and population density.
We saw beautiful government buildings and could tell they honor their royalty. 
We noted that there are not only many Buddhist temples…
but also a few churches. 
Like every city, there were not only amazing skyscrapers, 
but some old, run down buildings that needed to be restored or replaced. 
However, cruising the Chao Phraya River was a remarkably different experience 
in this one way: There is no bridge separating wealth and poverty.
Along the Chao Phraya River beauty and ugliness dwell side by side. 
Someone asked our tour guide why the poor people didn’t sell their homes; with the profit they could doubtless have much better housing somewhere else! 
However, the tour guide said the people have lived there for generations and don’t want to give up their land and lifestyle. 
I think my own heart is like the Chao Phraya River! 
I’ve surrendered my heart to Jesus, and there are areas where he’s made something beautiful of my life. 
But, there are also many places where I’m still hanging on to the way things have been done for generations…and I seem unwilling or unable to allow change. 
The Lord loves us so much that he gives us perfect freedom to choose,
and we may prefer running our own lives to risking change,
feeling like we’re already happy and content with our status quo life… 
and never able to visualize or believe that something even better could exist!
But, as for me, I’m ready to leave my comfort zone 
and let the Lord build whatever he wants in my life—
for his glory and the blessing of others. 
“He raiseth up the poor out of the dust, and lifteth up the beggar from the dunghill, to set them among princes, and to make them inherit the throne of glory: for the pillars of the earth are the Lord‘s, and he hath set the world upon them” (1 Samuel 2:8).
