It has been an amazing month for me here in Cambodia.
It is such a blessing that God has taken this broken vessel and allowed me to witness for Him and be a witness to His amazing powers.
God broke my heart in january 2009 for the people of Dey Krahorm and continues to do so daily. At first a broken heart seems just to painful to be thought of as having any benefit or purpose other than bringing pain. This is so far from the truth.
God has used this broken heart to share with me the things that break His own. He has allowed me to enter into an intimacy with Him that goes beyond calling out to Him with my wants and needs and troubles. He has let me see a small fraction of the world through His eyes. The atrocities in this world do not just pass God's eyes like a CNN newflash but enter into His heart to be consumed by Love.
I am in no way pompous enough to say I see the world through His eyes but what I have witnessed here in Cambodia has entered into my heart and what I can't handle has flowed out of me as tears. These tears are the fuel which drive me forward regardless of the consequences to self. I step out daily not knowing what God has in store for me here how He is going to use me and how my heart will be in pain yet again. You can get numb to the pain as I have noticed with my various ailments since my motorcycle accident but pain that comes from your deep love for those society has cast away does not.
The pain was lessened this month a reprieve from our loving God.
I was able to witness hope come alive in a community that has been beaten,robbed,abused ,displaced,hurt,ransacked,dispersed and all but forgotten.
Our Heavenly Father has not forgotten.
The story of Leakhena's mother and fathers love for her and her siblings in the pouring rain has reached beyond the few emails I send out. It reached the ears and heart of a brother named Dennis in Australia who came here to witness himself the slum relocation site.
Hope invaded this village .
Leakhena and I have been praying and God has led us to commit to this community with all the love that God has can fill us with. After we are married we will move to this community at the bottom of Oudong to share God's love for the poor and their high place in His upside down Kingdom.
Hope came from God when we had a visioning meeting with the community and listened to the needs of the community from them. When you barely survive each and everyday it is hard to think of a future beyond survival. We gave them a chance to stand up and be heard and did they speak !They spoke of a community not unlike the community that God wants us to live in...one where they work together for the common good, respect each other, share there resources and give of themselves instead of taking. We so often forget when we give to the poor that we can do it in a way that gives them no self esteem...that steals their dignity...that leaves them more deflated than before we tried to help.
There are basic needs in this community that are not being met ....housing ,food,clean water, lack of employment etc.
But the community has a plan that they need help in getting started.....I will share more about this in the next few weeks as I spend more time listening to the community and seeing how we can come alongside them to help them become self-sustainable.
We built a few houses this week ..actually 8 of them but what was really built was the start of the vision and more importantly hope for the future. (For those who have Facebook, click here to see an online album of photos from this project.) There have been many questions of why I am there and they are all answered by me saying...the love of Christ.
God bless
Kevin
