This past weekend, several of my teammates and I decided to use a couple off days to travel down to Siem Reap to explore the temples and experience more of Cambodian culture. We boarded a bus on Saturday for the 11 hour adventure. When we got our bus tickets, we saw that our seats were spread out all over the bus. I got settled in my seat and though there were only a handful of us on the bus at first, I knew it would make routine stops on the way and eventually this seat next to me would have someone in it. But until then, I made the most of the leg room and stretched out and closed my eyes. I prayed a sleepy prayer as the music in my earbuds began to carry me away: “Lord, put someone in this seat that I can share the Gospel with on this ride.”
Turns out The Lord is faithful to answer those sleepy, casually uttered prayers.
At the next stop, a petite woman in her thirties or forties sat down next to me with a small baby girl and a bag of bread someone had just given her. Of course, I began baby-talking and playing peek a boo with the child in her lap and before I knew it, she had sat the baby in my arms. She pulled back the babies pants to show me that she wasn’t wearing a diaper: a warning, if you will. Noted. The baby was fussy but adorable. I noticed strings tied through her ears and around her wrist, which I know from experience to typically indicate tribal protection from evil spirits. I tried asking the woman her name but it quickly became clear that she knew maybe 4 or 5 English words. But by Month 10, Racers have changed languages, cultures, and currencies so much, they’ve gotten pretty good at charades and reading between the lines to communicate. Though my new friend was chattering away quickly to me in Khmer, I was able to deduce a few things. One, the baby was not hers. Though she was nursing it, it wasn’t her child. She showed me paperwork that was all in Khmer and though I couldn’t read it, I figured she may have been adopting or simply caring for the abandoned child temporarily. I also deduced that she was taking the child to Siem Reap to go to a doctor because the baby had a heart problem. As I held this little beautiful fussy mess in my arms and the woman smiled and laughed and stroked my fair skin, I was having a battle in my head and in my heart.
I’ve just prayed for a chance to share the love of Jesus on this ride. And more than that, this baby has a heart condition. A HEART CONDITION! Any other moment in the world, I would excitedly tell this woman about my past heart condition, how Jesus healed my heart and made me well again, and how that forever makes me in awe of how He cares not only about my physical heart, but my spiritual heart as well when He took my sins, bore my shame, and died on the cross in my place. Words are easy for me, I love talking to people, and in that moment I had plenty of passion and boldness to share. But this lady speaks NO English at all! How am I going to have this amazing platform to share the Good News with her and no way to do it? I tried the typical World Race approach (speaking loudly, clearly, and pointing a lot) to tell her “I used to have a heart problem too!” but it was no use. She just grinned and looked at me in that “Wow, those are some cute noises and facial expressions you’ve got there, but they mean nothing to me” kind of way. I felt like a mute struggling to speak.
But I sat back and began playing with the baby, ticking and laughing and stroking her head. The woman talked away in Khmer (partly, I think, knowing that I didn’t understand and partly not caring). She smiled and laughed and held my hand. I gave her some of my crackers and a banana and she gave me some of her grapes. Since the baby had no diaper, when she peed it got all over her lap. I looked down at the woman’s pants and saw many stains from this reoccurring. She had one change of pants for the baby and she plopped the soaking wet child on my lap while she fished them out of her bag. I laughed and helped her change the baby’s clothes using my legs as a changing table. Within the next 30 minutes the new clothes were already soaked again, but this time with no spares to change into. The child began to get fussy and uncomfortable. At the next bus stop, a woman with a toddler that was also on our bus gave her a couple of pull up diapers. The diapers swallowed the newborn whole but my new friend was so thankful for them. I helped her put one on her little girl. Later in the ride I lent the woman my travel pillow to make her more comfortable and she and I sat sharing my headphones and listening to music (She really seemed to like Hillsong and Josh Garrels). Throughout our silent interchanges, I prayed for this sweet woman and the precious baby. I prayed that Jesus would draw their hearts to His throne, that He would use people to speak the truth of His Love into their lives, and that He would heal the physical and spiritual condition of this sweet little one’s heart.
As I was sitting there, laughing and playing with them, I felt like The Lord was stirring in my heart and saying to me, “Bre, you ARE sharing My gospel.”
That day, Jesus taught me a really important lesson. Sharing the gospel doesn’t always look like how I think it might. Though we are undeniably called to speak the Gospel with words, sometimes our words just won’t work. Sometimes sharing the Gospel looks like kind smiles, warm hugs, slipped money for diapers, and heartfelt prayers. Sometimes sharing the gospel means being with people, loving them where they are, and trusting Jesus with the rest.
I think Christians can often hide behind an excuse of “sharing the Gospel with their lives” in order to avoid taking the uncomfortable step of striking up a conversation and breathing the Gospel. But this day The Lord showed me just what He can do through a long bus ride and pants covered in pee for the sake of Love. Today, in word and deed, look for ways you can share the beautiful story of love and grace poured out for you on the Cross. Don’t get so caught up in the brokenness of the world – of poverty and sickness and loss – that you don’t see the people in those situations who just need some love. Borrow Jesus’ eyes today. The world looks different through His heavenly lens. Love you all!
Bre
