Three Snapshots

I said these things at church tonight but I wanted to remember what I said, so I'm going to just add it here.

These are just three little snapshots that sort of stopped me in my tracks on the trip.

When we were in the school, all dark and crowded and hot with all 2233453 kids (it seemed) and basically NO ONE who spoke English (including the translators, it seemed), I was feeling pretty overwhelmed as I walked past one of the small groups, the music one. They were singing in Khmer so I couldn't understand any of it except one word: "Jesus". When they got to that word, for some reason, they sang it in English. And it really made me stop and think that no matter what the language barrers are, no matter how many different cultures are present in the world, we are all united in His name. Our common thread is Him and the love He desires to share with His people.

Our second location, Siem Reap, was extremely interesting. We were at an orphanage that had a real standing in the village. The village children attended the camp and the orphanage personnel explained to us that they reach out to the village children for a feeding program they do three times a week and a weekly service, as well as just allowing the children to come and go and play on the grounds. It is apparent from just being there a few minutes how entrenched the orphanage is in the community. The director told us that the villagers refer to the orphanage as the "Jesus House". The moment he said that, I immediately thought, "That's us! That's exactly what we are called to be! I'm to be the Jesus House to people. Our church should be the Jesus House in Cleveland!" Our pastor had mentioned three weeks ago (and again today) that our question should be, "If SCCOG were absent in this community, would our presence be missed?" That's exactly the point. Matt even told us a story about a night when something was on fire and it looked like it was the orphanage. The villagers ALL came out with a bucket, ready to put the fire out at "Jesus House". Wow. What a testament.

Last of all, it should come as no surprise to anyone who has ever talked to me, I teach about the Holocaust. I have studied the topic (and genocide) for over fifteen years. But for the very first time, I see it in a different sort of way. My theory on Holocaust education has always been that you educate the young in order to prevent it. I still see it this way, but I have been completely blown away by the fact that these genocides? They look the same. The accounts I read of the things that happened to Pol Pot's Cambodia could have been taken from the pages of the books my students read in Holocaust Lit. It doesn't matter if it's 1940's Poland, Austria, Hungary, Germany or 1970's Cambodia or today's Darfur and DRC... the face of evil looks the same. It does the same things. It has the same purpose. And you know the only way to counteract that kind of evil in the world? With the love of Jesus Christ. I had never made the connection between evangelism and genocide. I felt a responsibility to work for human rights in the world but, for some strange reason, I had never considered that a burden for Gospel to be shared with the world is going to be more effective against future genocides than anything else. When people love their fellow man with His love, they are unable to destroy families and murder children and rape women and imprison youth and decimate populations.

I'm sure more will come over time, but these three little snapshots are what I chose to share tonight with our church.