“Cause if you never leave home, never let go
You’ll never make it to the great unknown…”
-Needtobreathe
This past weekend Emily, Alany and I went to a church of a pastor that we recently met. All we had with us was a small backpack for an overnight stay. Our plan was to travel with the pastor in a cramped, small car to visit his family in the countryside. The drive was about 4 or 5 hours long and his brother-in-law had an orphanage out there with about 10 children. The pastor told us that his brother-in-law had no help and he had sacrificed everything to take care of these children; children without any home, food, or family. Half of my team decided to take the trip to bless them in any way we could and perhaps send a World Race team there in the future!
When we arrived to the church ready to go to the countryside, we met an older couple in their 60’s. Uncle and Sharon are what we call them. In their 20’s, they moved away from Cambodia and traveled to the United States. Four years ago, the Lord called them back to Cambodia to be missionaries. They too sacrificed everything they had in the States to bring the Gospel to Cambodia. They understood our culture, language and our hearts. The moment we met them, they said they wanted to bless us by taking us to the orphanage in their van and also bring us back. We were supposed to travel by a small car there and then pay for a bus back to the capital. This couple, without hesitation, took us under their wing and God provided through them.
The pastor and his family, Lena, Uncle and Sharon.
We set out. Sitting comfortably in the very backseat of our van, I listened to the laughter of this beautiful Godly couple with their friend Lena, who also came with us to the orphanage. Lena turned to me and said in broken English, Lynda we are something called “Professional Eaters” so be prepared to stop a lot during this car ride. I just giggled, shook my head and sat back with great expectation.
They weren’t kidding. I’m telling you that every 30 minutes, we were pulling over to stands on the side of the road for them to get their little fingers on fresh corn on the cob, passion fruit, hot bread, and more. I mean, I wasn’t complaining. Alany, Emily, and I just laughed and tried everything we could to keep up with these women and their eating skills.
Seven hours later…. We finally arrived to the orphanage. It was dark but when I stepped out of the van, I looked up to see a bunch of little eyes come forward under the moonlight. My heart literally cracked in half.
These children had lost everything.
But the smiles on their faces when someone just gave them something as simple as a high five was if they had been given a million dollars.
Sharon leaned in and began to whisper in my ear. “Lynda, do you see that boy and girl standing near the slide?” Yes, I said.. They are beautiful.
She continued, “Their parents were sick and went to the hospital. They passed away in the hospital and then were thrown back into woods, because the villagers didn’t know what to do with them. Someone found the two children picking insects and ants off of their parents bodies, because they didn’t understand that their parents had died. The two little ones lived in the trees until the brother-in-law took them into the orphanage.”
As she told me this story, I couldn’t take my eyes off their shadowed faces.
I thought back to the car ride and how I listened to the Needtobreathe song about leaving home and grasping the great unknown… If you never leave home, if you never let go, you’ll never make it to the great unknown. Keep your eyes open my love.
The whole ride I never slept; even despite the comfy air-conditioned van and my full belly. My eyes were glued to the window, trying to take in all of the villages of people who lived with nothing, and who worked days on end on farms and in the fields. I looked out to see a place filled with poverty and brokenness. However, there was so much beauty in the simplicity of this life. Life lived in raw form.
I’m thankful for what I’ve been given. I’m thankful for God taking us to this small orphanage where we had the chance to play games and teach them songs about how God is good and how Jesus loves them. I fell in love so fast with these children but getting to spend just one day was better than never seeing them at all.
Everyone has a story and everyone has a journey. I’ve gotten to collide my journey with amazing people like Uncle and Sharon who live their life to serve the Lord. Even through trials, they find simple things such as the taste of a piece of fruit to be cherished. These orphans, the farmers, the poor Cambodian people are all a part of my story now. I left home to grasp the great unknown… That unknown always being God’s greater plan. However, if I kept my eyes closed, I could still “go” and never grow, learn or see all that the Lord has to teach me.
It’s difficult sometimes to keep my eyes open and to see the raw life, because that is not the life that I know. He is teaching me so much that it is allowing me to take bigger steps of faith, to go further and to grasp more of His great unknown.
