Traveling in the Kingdom in December
Let’s start traveling along the month of December way back on Sunday December 6th. I promised you, our readership and prayer warriors, that I would be stepping back into December when all the traveling started, to dig out my journaling during that month. This is the first one.
We appreciate your encouragement, your prayers, and your love sent this way. I can hardly comprehend the days of Jesus when he walked so many miles to share God’s love people just like us. It was probably hot and dirty. Yet he persevered.
Some days during that month we all had to pull up our hip boots and persevere. As an example in the middle of a road between point A and B the car would stop and drivers would change positions. Most often the driver who switched out didn’t sleep but the stress of such and the responsibility played heavy on everyone to stay the course. Once or twice we landed for a bit near a river, stream, or pond to be quiet and relish the cool breeze and fresh air.
Anyway, this is the first episode in the series of the month of those road days. Yup, they are still titled as before ~ Traveling in the kingdom.
Psalm 67
May God be gracious to us and bless us and make his face to shine upon us, Selah
2 that your way may be known on earth, your saving power among all nations.
3 Let the peoples praise you, O God; let all the peoples praise you!
4 Let the nations be glad and sing for joy, for you judge the peoples with equity and guide the nations upon earth. Selah
5 Let the peoples praise you, O God; let all the peoples praise you!
6 The earth has yielded its increase; God, our God, shall bless us.
7 God shall bless us; let all the ends of the earth fear him!
Today’s message in church was about our trip over the next six days and related back to psalm 67. As I look at a map now I see our destinations are all north of Phnom Penh, up the middle, (Preah Vihear), then east, to Stoeng Treng and Ratanakiri. At least for this week. The last two stops we will be celebrating Christmas with these churches.
If you are reading this, I’m presuming that you are a regular here and you have heard us previously go on about the disintegrating roads and a gridlock transportation situation in the city. Today after church we’ve left that behind for my favorite part of this country. The further away from the hubbub you get, the more rural and somewhat ‘old type western’ you can feel. It’s a rough terrain from which juts out communities sprinkled around the rice fields, golden or nearly so as it’s harvest time. I never tire of the breathtaking scenery, not withstanding the red dust fogging up our vision on non surfaced roads. I’ve never heard anyone embrace city life as it is here. It’s just for some necessary at this point. As with most big cities of this nature, they are hot, dirty, smelly, and trashy.
Yet to step outside all of those modern conveniences in the city gives us the opportunity to do what God has sent us here for, to meet the masses in the villages, to share Jesus with them, and to encourage and pray with and for them.
We first need to get there, which will take us almost eight hours. There are two cars with bibles and songbooks to hand out, and our bags of clothes for the week. Even with the AC running as we travel, the heat and rocking motion lures us all in and out of dozing time during the day for short spells.
Daily life continues as we bounce thru the settlements. Cattle grass is being hauled home as feed by a pair of water buffalo or white cows pulling a cart. People are hosing down the dirt on the road in front of their home or business. Children ride their bicycles to and fro, carts and motos are laden with cargo and families moving along, motos are repaired on the side of the road. In the distances cows and water buffalo graze as folks hand harvest their rice fields and lay the rice on bags in front of their homes to dry in the sun, along side the hanging fish and the cricket traps (that are used at night). Trucks move thru the communities carrying their cargo. Clothes dry on fences, poles, lines, or the ground. To me this is Cambodia and what has brought us back here.
Today there were 25 present for church. While the locals sang in Khmer, we sang along with them with the same hymns tucked in our heads and sung for so many years. This church family has totally embraced our arrival far more than we could have ever imagined. While they are certainly not overbearing, they make sure we are safe and taken care of and have incorporated us into their lives to benefit the church family in so many ways.
Tomorrow we are going to a military base near the Thai border in Preah Vihear province. We are told the men will come dressed in their uniforms and will bring their families with them. This is a first time for this very occasion, that ELCC will have the opportunity to share the gospel message and the Christmas story and give them bibles to read all about our Jesus too. As I spoke with Dalis earlier, I shared with her how my heart was filled with so much excitement and humbleness because we were here in this time and place to witness the power of the Holy Spirit amongst these people. She graciously smiled and acknowledged my explanation to her. She too I hope will grow thru this experience to see what can happen. We all need to be there to see, hear, and feel. God is so good!
1-dry dusty roads
2-rice field
3-working duo
4-rice stalk stacked high
5-sugar cane juice
6-gas station restaurant for the locals
7-George and church planter Daniel with serene pond behind looking into Laos
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