This is Sopaeak (pronounced So-pay-ek). He is 11 years old, and his favorite color is blue. He loves to play soccer and constantly asks to watch movies on my laptop. He runs around and plays with all the other kids, but he isn’t really like them. Sopaeak is amazingly gentle and has a peace about him that’s beyond my understanding. His father is not in his life and his mother is dying of HIV/AIDS, but you’d never know it by the joy that overflows from within him.
On one of our first days here at NHO (New Hope for Orphans), our team decided to worship down in the courtyard of our lovely home. We all started out sitting around the table, singing songs of praise to our wonderful God.
As we continued to worship, me and a couple of my teammates stood up. As I stood there, little Sopaeak came up and stood next to me. He closed his eyes and swayed to the music, fully entranced with God. He probably didn’t understand any of the words we were singing (his English is pretty limited), but he fully understood who we were singing for and that he wanted to be a part of it.
As I watched this precious little boy standing there worshipping God with a bunch of strangers, tears filled my eyes. He didn’t allow the fact that he didn’t know any of us or that he didn’t speak our language stop him from responding to the pull he had to come over and join us in praising God. I was struck with the realization that this is what God wants from all of us; it’s what He wants from me.
“And he said: “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, whoever takes the lowly position of this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.” – Matthew 18:3-4
God calls us to be fearlessly and fully in pursuit of Him even when it’s intimidating or we don’t understand. We are called to have faith in Him through the good and bad and praise Him as we do it. We are called to humble ourselves under His sovereignty and trust in His plan, even when it’s scary.
On that day, seeing the way Sopaeak revered God despite the many reasons he has not to reminded me of what my own personal walk with God should look like, and I’m so thankful.
