While in the States, I routinely shell out up to $15USD for a simple haircut. The other day I kidded my barber in Chiang Mai about his raising the price of my haircut from $1.30 to $1.60USD. What is interesting is that I could also get my ears cleaned in Thailand if I added just another dollar or two. Thai barbers seem more like a dentist when they pull out their arsenal of tools for a typical ear cleaning session. They use a variety of spoons, spades, hooks and feathers on their customers. I’ve read that you shouldn’t even push a Q-tip into your ear canal, so up to now I’ve deferred from having my auditory system scrubbed down to the eardrum. Yet many Thai enjoy the procedure and no doubt would claim that their hearing improved after just one session. I’ve often thought of how nice it would be if one could “clean out” the collective spiritual wax build up which have kept the Thai from hearing the clear message of the gospel for the past 185 years of missionary involvement in this country. Jesus quoting from Isaiah 6 commented on the Jews of His generation, “For this people’s heart has grown dull, and with their ears they can barely hear, and their eyes they have closed, lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears and understand with their heart and turn, and I would heal them’ (Matthew 13:15). Pray that Thai ears would be unstopped by the power of God’s Word and Spirit and that they would not only hear the message of truth but embrace and believe it.
