Seven days into our time here in Kampong Thom, Cambodia, and I feel like it’s been an eternity. That’s to say it’s been beyond wonderful. The children, our host, our ministry, and surprisingly even our most difficult English lessons have been joyful. We’ve tried strange fruits, built a fire pit, landscaped a garden, taught the children several fun party tricks and games, and we even replaced electrical poles in a rice field across from the orphanage. In Cambodia, everyone is an electrician.
The thing that has stuck out most to me is the children. Who they are. What they do. How they do it. It amazes me. If you knew me at all, you’d know I go out of my way to AVOID children and yet here I am living at an Orphanage loving, playing, and teaching children. After seven short days, I can already feel my soul being changed by the hearts of these little ones. I’ve grown sincerely attached to many of them, as they have latched themselves onto me like small little monkeys. Through all this, I never once thought of them as ‘orphans’ but rather just as children, laughing and playing, simply unaware of the strife going on in the world and the tribulations that await them. There’s something so pure about that, a child’s heart.
“Children are the hands by which we take hold of heaven”
Henry Ward Beecher
I find it so hard to look at these children of God and dare think of them as ‘orphans’. I can’t bring myself to do it. They have a family in one another and the people that look after them. They are the most joyful children I’ve ever seen, and I only hope to spread that same joy in my own life.
These children remind me that we are all one body in Christ. Through them, I see more of the Lord every day. His love resonates with them through pure and gentle grace. Before this trip, a speaker at Training Camp said something along the lines of ‘preach the Gospel always and sometimes open your mouth’ and that has stuck with me. I understand now what he was telling me. These children are great imitators, and I want to give them something great to imitate. Therefore, I close my mouth and begin to preach the gospel in ways I’ve never done before: By playing duck-duck-goose, thumb war, tickle fights, piggy-back rides, holding sweaty hands on walks through rice fields, throwing the children in the air and catching them, and simply holding them in a tender embrace. These are some of the things that I have done to share the love of Jesus, though I am not perfect, I’m at peace knowing that He is perfect and that He will guide me.
“And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God.”
Colossians 3:14-16
As of now we only have two more weeks here in Kampong Thom, Cambodia, and I feel those days ending quicker with each soothing sunset. I pray for peace, that God continue to be glorified in our remaining days. I pray for love, that the heart of Christ will be shown through my team and I as we pour our love into these children and the host family. I pray for wisdom, that we’re given the proper words to speak and things to do, and for discernment between God’s words and our own. I pray for goodbyes, as I know my heart will truly shatter not just break in our final hours here.
Last weekend, we went out for an adventure day into town early in the morning and returned later that night. The host family joined us on our day off, and the wife jokingly told the children that we were all leaving for a full week. Just one week. We came back that night to children with waterfalls of tears in their eyes, and we were told that they’ve been praying for us to return since we had left. The wife of the host laughed as children ran all around to hug us with the tightest hugs in the world. To her it may have been a playful joke, and there was something to laugh about in it, but I pray Lord give us and the children strength and tender-hearts for the day we actually leave for good.
I pray for the individual children. I pray for God to give them strength to grow into admirable adults. I pray for God to give them wisdom to learn and to adapt to the ever-changing world. I pray for God to give them love unlike any other, and for Him to continue to be with and pursue these children through all things. Finally, I pray for God to give them a bright and joyful future. A future worth more than the world, wherein no tears are wept and no anger ensues. A future that is full of love, joy, and peace. I pray these things for the children, and for the host family, for they have all taught me much of what it means to be one body in Christ, together, forever and ever.
“Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will not enter the Kingdom. Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven.”
Matthew 18:3-4
