At 6:57 a.m. Eastern Time on Friday, March 28, I got a message from Acharn Soonthorn Soonthorntarawong with an appeal to me saying; “Please pray for us. Today, the earthquake was quite strong (7.7) for us. Our 2 children’s buildings have cracked which is quite dangerous if there are to be aftershocks. We asked the engineer and our maintenance to check and fix them. We are all safe and we stayed on the ground level for safety.”
Roughly more than four and a half hours earlier (my time) the 7.7 magnitude earthquake shook both Thailand and Myanmar. I was fast asleep in my bed but heard the news at dawn in Richmond, Va.
Texts began to come in from friends from all over the world. Earl Bridges, my cohost on the national Public Television docuseries, The Good Road, sent me a note as he is currently traveling in Southeast Asia. We both worried about our mutual friends in Thailand and Myanmar. Earl and I have covered both countries extensively and have made many dear friends through our work.
Craig Martin
But I couldn’t stop thinking about a man who I dearly love, Acharn Soonthorn.
If you ever want to know a true man of God, talk to him. I have known him for decades because he worked to start the prison ministry in Thailand with my father, Jack Martin. Like Dad, Acharn Soonthorn has spent a life in service and sacrifice to Thai prisoners and their families. The difference between him and my father is that my dad doesn’t really even recall he has done that work. At 90 years old, Dad suffers from dementia here in a nursing home. I am his go-between in communication with Acharn Soonthorn.
I enjoy updating Dad and telling him stories from his 36 years of service as a Baptist missionary in Thailand. My mother, his coworker, passed away several years ago, so my siblings and I share with him those memories that are tucked away somewhere in his mind.
I am the communication connection between an organization called The House of Blessing (led by Acharn Soonthorn) and Dad. It’s a ministry they started together. The organization provides housing for prisoners who have been released and are transitioning back into Thai society. They also teach them vocational skills so they can find jobs. In addition, House of Blessing educates the children of the formerly incarcerated and offers assistance to the spouses of inmates. Earl and I took our crew to film there back in 2020. And I can tell you that it is a truly special place, full of joy and God’s love.
My note from Acharn Soothorn on Friday had been preceded two weeks earlier, almost to the hour, by this message from our family friend. He wrote this to me; “Please (help). … Now it’s very hard taking care of the budget for our ministry. Please pray for us. I really miss Jack; he is the first guy and only him who inspired me and brought me to this ministry until today.”
“The stress of the news here made my callous heart almost numb to the massive earthquake in a place I cherish.”
That message came after I sent a video recording of Dad passing along our well wishes and love from Southampton Rehabilitation Center.
At this moment in our American church and national history, with all the news about the dark and wicked things being done by our government, I have noticed we are hyper-focused on ourselves. The stress of the news here made my callous heart almost numb to the massive earthquake in a place I cherish — a place filled with people I love. Irrational and immoral political elites fill my head with concern while the narrative should be flipped.
I shouldn’t spend my time stressing over the decisions being made for me from a government I don’t support. I should channel my energies toward doing something to help people halfway around the world who are working really, really hard to make the lives of “the least of these” better.
In a book I am writing about artificial intelligence, I recently wrote that intelligence should lead us to faith. Faith should lead us to truth. And truth should lead us to practice.
What are we practicing at this moment? I like to think I am mentally focused on my faith, which is grounded in two commandments given by Jesus Christ: Love your neighbor as yourself and love your enemy. Guess what, there is nothing in either of those commandments encouraging us to accumulate wealth or propagate national pride. There is not a bloody thing in those commandments to do such, yet that is where many in the church spend most of their time today.
People watch as rescuers search for survivors trapped in the collapsed Sky Villa Condominium building in Mandalay on March 29, 2025, a day after an earthquake struck central Myanmar. (Photo by SAI AUNG MAIN/AFP via Getty Images)
I want to ask these two questions: Do we matter? Are we matter?
Yes to both. We matter and as any scientist can tell you, we have mass and we take up space so we are matter. Our crew from The Good Road, Earl and I spent time in Klong Prem Central Prison filming in jail cells. It is the second largest maximum security prison in all of Thailand. Prisoners spend every day from about 4 p.m. to 6 a.m. the following day jammed into cells shoulder to shoulder. Some are serving life in those cells.
These prisoners matter. Their families matter. And when the little space they have on this planet is threatened dramatically by a 7.7 magnitude earthquake, life can become unbearable. They matter.
“As Christians we are not called to just take up space. We are called to action.”
This morning at River Road Church, Baptist, our choir sang a song called “Greater Love Hath No Man” based on the passage found in John 15. Later reflecting on those words and the concept that Christ loves us and motivates us to love others, I began to write this piece.
Do we matter? Yes, we matter, and so do they, those affected by the Thai and Burmese earthquake. As Christians we are not called to just take up space. We are called to action. We have spent enough time preaching what we say we practice and not enough time practicing what we … well you know the rest.
I’ve heard enough preaching for the day and so have you if you’ve read my poorly worded missive. I hope I have not rattled you with my pontifications. OK, so I hope I have rattled you a bit.
It’s time to go to Southampton and update Dad on the status of things in Thailand and at the House of Blessing. They have truly been rattled, both by the earthquake and the lack of economic help in accomplishing their mission. Perhaps I can rally some support for the work of my good friend Acharn Soonthorn. Lord knows I don’t need to waste my time posting on social media about “signalgate.”
Craig Martin is a documentary television and film producer and co-host on the PBS docu-series, The Good Road. He is a member of River Road Church, Baptist, in Richmond, Va., and serves on the board of Baptist News Global.
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Faced with a frightening dream, my father with dementia showed me the way | Opinion by Craig Martin