When Net was first invited by his friend to join Project Fit Gym, he wanted nothing to do with it.
Though he was assured the gym offered healthy community and friendships, he did not want to be part of something that would require him to wake early to work out.
“You want me to come here to die every day?” he replied, incredulous. “All right, you go die yourself. I’m gonna stay in my own life. Do not mess with me.”
As a Thai local who worked as a life coach, he read countless self-help books in hopes of improving his ability to help those in his community. Eventually, he decided to try a new approach introduced in a recent read: a form of mediation proposed to teach oneself to speak to a spirit. Net began to train his body, mind, and spirit in meditation.
It wasn’t long before he heard the echo of a voice. Amazed, he began asking the spirit questions during his meditations. The responses seemed wise beyond his own knowledge. With his business in mind, he researched commonly asked questions in hopes that the spirit could provide revelation. He recorded the answers for his audience on TikTok.
“[The] spirit gave me back all the advice,” he later said. “I made a video and all the followers just raised up. . . . I had 100,000 followers on my TikTok account, and all my videos got a million views.”
Through the words of the spirit, Net gained the things he most desired. His following was growing, he was helping people, and the spirit never ceased to give him answers. But, deep within him, Net recognized that no part of his success was due to his own work, and this deeply bothered him. He relied on the spirit for everything, and, in some ways, his life was beginning to resemble that of a spirit medium more than a life coach. So Net cut the spirit off, ceasing all communication with it.
Net thought he should feel free and unencumbered, but instead he began to drown in shame. The spirit had not only answered questions for him but had imparted a great and incredible love for him. Net couldn’t understand it, but he knew that his decision to leave the spirit was wrong.
Net’s feelings of guilt overwhelmed him. His life began a downward spiral, and he lost everything that had given his life meaning. Drowning in shame, he turned to his friend who had invited him to the gym.
“My life is so bad right now. What should I do?” he pleaded.
His friend’s response was clear: “Come and join a community of good people.”
Net began joining his friend for workouts at Project Fit Gym. Directed by ABWE missionaries Tim and Laura, the gym wasn’t just focused on working out or winning competitions. Each workout includes an intentional time for short, biblical lessons and discussion questions. The spiritual focus, as well as the transparency and commitment of the staff, has fostered a deep sense of community among gym members. And that community would change Net’s life.
As one of the owners and his wife got to know Net, they asked about his story and listened compassionately as he shared about the terrible guilt and shame he wrestled with. When he shared about the spirit and exactly what the spirit had told him, they both interrupted him: “That’s God.”
Confused that God would speak to him, Net began reading the Bible to see if it aligned with the voice he had heard while meditating.
The conclusion was indisputable. The great love of the God of the Bible so matched the love of the spirit he had spoken to that he knew it was the same. Yet, with this realization came immense grief. Now he knew he had not merely abandoned a spirit, but God.
Although he didn’t yet tell anyone, he prayed to God, addressing him directly for the first time. That same day, he attended the evening service at the Project Fit church plant and heard the parable of the prodigal son. When he heard of the father running to welcome the son who had previously spurned him, Net saw himself in the story and cried out in his heart, “I’m so ashamed I have done this to you, but I have no place to go. . . . I’m going to come back to you and just live.”
He sensed God saying to him, “You are my son.” That very night, he accepted Christ as Savior.
From that day on, everything changed. Net finally understood the immense love of God which causes him to run to us even when we have rejected him.
Net now serves as a coach at Project Fit and is working toward becoming a co-owner. In the same way he experienced God approaching him in love, he seeks to run to others and share the truth of the gospel so they too can know him.
Project Fit isn’t just a gym; it’s a community of people standing together through joy and grief. It is a ministry where lives are changed and Jesus’ love is made known to those who have never heard of it. Their mission isn’t just to strengthen physical bodies but to run to the lost and welcome them into the Kingdom of God.
