Trying to Make Sense of it All

Greetings from Cambodia

Today was the first day of the last week here in Cambodia for the Westhills team of twelve. Over the past three weeks the team has been stretched by God in many different directions. At times they have been laid out by illness. At others they have been stunned by the stark reality that life in America has been sheltered to say the least and insulated by materialism and the lie we call the American Dream for sure. At still others they have been stopped dead in their tracks, faced with suffering humanity, both past and present, so stark they have no categories for understanding or dealing with what they have witnessed.

By God’s grace they have also tasted the joy of fellowship in the Spirit of our Living God as He has encouraged them, under-girded and empowered them, held them up when they wanted to lie down, caused them to think when they wanted to just shut down, drawn them by His loving-kindness to rely and depend upon Him and taught them about Himself and therefore themselves and others. He has used them to shine for Him in the lives of so many from loving, caring for, teaching, singing and playing with precious little children living out in the destitution of provincial Cambodia or in orphanages taking in the multitudes whose parents have been killed or just can’t take care of them to high school age students from a variety of backgrounds whose lives have been ravaged by war both physical and spiritual. They have roomed with them at bible camp, led small group discussions with them about fighting for joy in Jesus, shared their faith in Jesus with them in the wee hours, listened to their stories with rapt attention, given their own testimonies, gone to church with them to worship God together, broke bread with them in the friendships that have developed, played games with them to the glory of God, befriended them and forged bonds with them, some of which will continue to prosper both our team members and their new found friends in Cambodia on into the future.

We have had to come to grips with the spiritual reality of this land and its people which is dark and evil. Buddhism, monks who take money for blessings and kharma, Hinduism and 1,000′s of gods, animism and worship of evil spirits inhabiting the creation, ancestor worship with spirit houses where family make offerings to dead ancestors in order to appease them so they don’t come back to haunt and do harm to them, the largest religious temple complexes in the world built in honor of men who would be gods, and a people and the oppression of a culture held captive to do the will of the evil one for all of the history of their existence.

All to say they have been very busy and have not communicated as much with friends and family back home as you all might expect due in part to the fact that they are just beginning to be led by God to gain some sense of why God brought them here in the first place, what He has been showing them while they have been here, and very importantly, what He wants them to do with their lives when they get back to America in view of all they have experienced and are still learning here in Cambodia.

We had a three hour time of contemplation, discussion, worship in song and bible study this morning. During that sweet, sweet time, God began to point out to their hearts and minds that in a week they are going back home. As well, He  poured out His Spirit on them as they proceeded to think out loud together led by God around the table as a team to some conclusions individually and more questions both individually and for the team as a whole. To our great God and King be the glory for He is faithful to show Himself to us, to grow us and draw us closer through the testing of our faith as we take steps of faith like living in Cambodia for 30 days. What an incredible experience each one has had. Same, Same, but different (common Cambodian saying that is so appropriate). We appreciate your support in every way more than you can know. Please continue to pray for the team. They do have another week to take more in and process through it with one another and with God who brought us here. They are trying to make sense of it all.

Know that you are loved and missed by us all.

Pastor Bob

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