We Ten Went

A year later reflecting on the mission trip to Cambodia.

Alert:  Random thoughts coming up!

I am amazed at the missional mindset of so many people at church.  The willingness to either go or, if not go, then support those who go in prayer and financial generosity.

The link with Cambodia came through a tenuous family link with an Australian church.  We piggy-backed their magnificent endeavour over the years to support the church in Cambodia and see the Church be a blessing to the people of Cambodia.

The friendship strength of the two teams that straddled the globe was quite something (although, I would have loved to have been there a few extra weeks to see what psych/ego dramas played out – but that’s a speculative unknown!

I loved the team we were part of, and the country we were in.  It has left an indelible(?) mark on my heart and mind, and I’m sure I speak for the team!

The reflection of our brief time there is a continuation of our physical time there.  There is a gospel-logic to going, and there is a gospel logic to processing and thinking about what happened there!

It was a busy time; a chalenging time; a hot time; a thoughtful time; an unusual time; a playful time; a significant time.  The time was right, to talk with who we talked with, to preach to who we preached to; to give to who we gave to; to bless and be blessed by those all around; to live and learn another people and place; to pray and share and witness and eat and laugh.  We did it all and more.

The tuk-tuk’s were great fun, especially in a team of so many, chugging along throught the streets and traffic – sweet.

But the pepper.  Oh, the pepper, the Cambodian pepper:  Sell everything you have and buy some Cambodian pepper – if you like your pepper, you will love this pepper.  Sometimes I have a dinner with my pepper – it is the fragrance of heaven and the taste of the Kingdom!

(There is Cambodian pepper in Heaven – of that be assured)!

But the pain, oh the pain.  Cambodia is a young country, robbed of its heritage, history and all that is in the past.  If Jesus can pray as he’s being nailed to the cross, “Father, forgive them, they don’t know what they are doing!” We can only surmise that the madness of Pol Pot was another evil manifestation of what a particular human being did not know what he was doing…did he know?  Probably….but so did the Roman soldiers.  They knew they were nailing Jesus to the cross, but they didn’t know what they were doing on a cosmic soteriological level…..how could they?  They were just following orders!  But Pol Pot and the apocalypse he unleashed of the evil hoardes was quite something!  To stand in the Killing Fields and read, watch, walk and feel, breathe, smell, think!  That is agony enough, but it isn’t enough; it is never enough!

The Church in Cambodia:  young, energetic, hopeful, faithful, fruitful.  Lord, bring it to completion.

Hidden pain, despair, degradation, women, men and children, lost to the demonic world of prostitution, but not lost to the love of God, never!  Mercy will triumph over judgment because mercy does triumph over judgment….always……forever…..!

Lord, just say the word, and we/they will be healed….