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A gentle breeze stirred through the sanctuary; a simple relief in Cambodia where the humidity can be so unforgiving. It was 7:30am on a Sunday morning, and the church was alive with singing, the strumming of the base and the crashing of drums as the worship band played.

Sally, the pastor’s wife stood in the middle of the stage, singing into a headset and waving her arms to the motion of a Khmer worship song. Her singing voice and her speaking voice were so similar, that when Sally spoke to you, you could assume easily that she was a gifted singer. Her long black hair flowed in a long pony tail down her back, and her face dotted with perspiration, also shone of a radiance that undoubtedly came from within. It’s difficult to list all that this woman has put her hand to, surely clutching the hand of Jesus in her other. Aside from being Pastor Keat’s help mate, and co-director of this ministry, she is also the principal of the New Hope School for children. She has trained her own staff, as well as people from the country side so that they may plant their own Christian elementary schools. Every morning at church, she calls the children to come on stage so they she may teach them. The rest of the congregation just sits and listens to her message as the kids gather around her, like chicks around a hen. She is a mother, but not only to her own children. She has a tender heart and a transparency that I admire so much. She is ‘the hidden person of the heart, with the imperishable quality of a gentle and quiet spirit’ whom the apostle Peter speaks about in his letter. She is precious in the sight of God. 
 
  Students trickle up the stairs as the service is about to begin. Although about ninety of them are already seated, many are absent. Since it is a holiday, many students take the opportunity to visit their family in the country side. I ran to the door beside two of the Khmer staff, to greet the last few groups of students, with my hands pressed together in a ‘sompah’ and the formal hello ‘joom reep sooah’. 


 Since we can’t understand Khmer yet, Josh and I bring books to read during the service. Josh paused from his ‘Facts about Luther’, and I put down ‘The Pastor’s Wife’ to join the church in taking communion. As I watched the plate of crackers and platter of grape juice go around, I saw that many took communion, but many didn’t. Such is the reality in a church where over 50% are unbelievers.

Today, a guest speaker preached instead of Pastor Keat. I scanned the congregation. There was a fine mixture of students, who attend the English school and pay for their classes by church attendance, and then those who are staff and those who make up the body of believers. A group of elderly women sat together happily clutching their Bibles, reminding me of church life in Canada.

At the end of the service I sprang into the crowds of youth, speaking with some of my students and trying to also meet  new faces. When you have white skin, it seems that there are those who run to you and those who run from you. Some of the Cambodians are confident in their English speaking and want to talk, while those who are just starting out in the ‘intro class’ are too shy and often watch from afar or duck past you,hiding in between their friends.
The bubbly girls who flocked around me were my Bible study students during our last trip to Cambodia. Some of them had even sent emails to me while I was in Canada. They were the faces of some of the youth who came here to learn English, and to their surprise, met Jesus. 
  
Today, I took out my laptop and showed a few of them how to sign up for their own email account. Josh and one of his students ventured off the compound to have lunch  at USA Donut, a small restaurant known for its delicious hamburgers and American food. 
  
Upon saying goodbye to the girls and heading into the house, I thought about how even life in Cambodia becomes normal. Before my first trip to Cambodia, I didn’t know that familiarity, routine and normality could exist for me in a third world country. But you’d be surprised by how you get know people, and could even become regulars in a store and restaurant, and then it feels just like every day life with all of it's familiarities. 
  
This morning I told Josh about a dream that I had the night before in which we left Cambodia for a short time and found ourselves back in Ontario. I described to him how upset I was in the dream, and how I worried about affording an apartment, and getting a job to pay for our ticket back to Cambodia where I so badly wanted to return to. Josh nodded as I told him this, smiling softly and then he said, I think to himself as much as to me, “We need to be content wherever we are.”
 
I nodded in return. We need to not be too quick to even claim Cambodia as our home, lest we are called by God to pick up and go. We do plan on settling somewhere to do long-term ministry but so far, we’re not ready to say where that is. While our focus is on Cambodia right now, we must be on guard that sentiment doesn’t come and hinder us from hearing the voice of God. For even Cambodia could feel like home where you have your friends, your favourite store, your kitchen and your little things. 

 I kicked off my sandals before entering the house. As I closed the door behind, me I contemplated what  I would do that afternoon. I could prepare my lesson for English class, work on the school’s website, begin learning the Khmer alphabet, and if I let myself add on, the list would grow and become more daunting. 

And then there was a relief that came just like that gentle breeze; I have a savior who lives and as He has brought me here, He is with me here. I owe nothing but to give myself to Him, and we shall see what is accomplished.
My home is in Jesus.
 


Comments

Cheap Air Jordan link
03/13/2011 19:56

What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies with in us. Do you agree?

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