Oh, the empty idols we serve.

NEWS FLASH: I’m not great with keeping up at the blogs. Woops! It will get better (except during months where I don’t have Internet… sorry!) 

Being in Kalasin, it’s difficult for me not to think about idolatry. Our home is set between three large Buddhist temples and we see dozens of monks walking around town every day. Last week the Seeds took some time to do a prayer walk through some local religious hot spots, places that felt very heavy and dark. If you don’t know me well, I’ll tell you straight off that I have a history of NOT doing well in situations like these. Usually the heavy spiritual oppression manifests itself in physical sickness for me and I get very upset. This time was no different. Seeing the monks walk through the courtyards (boys as young as 8 years old) made my stomach churn and all I could think was, “God, why does this happen?? There are billions of Buddhists who have already died and they though that this was their only hope! Why do these people worship idols of nothing-ness? Don’t they see how empty their lives are without You? Why don’t you make them see?!” As my mind fills with desperate questions and pleas for God to show THESE PEOPLE something inspirational, He instead showed something to me (typical God, doing what I least expect but what I need the most).

God showed me that these people are simply placing something else in their life as more important than Him, and that that is no better or no worse than what I do each and every day. My initial reaction went something like, “Whiskey Tango Foxtrot, no way!”, but I soon came down off my high horse and saw the reality. How many times per day do I choose NOT to choose God? Sadly, almost every day for the majority of my life I have decided that something or someone else (a lot of times it was MYSELF) was more important to me than the God who created the heavens and the earth and who loves me with an unchanging, ridiculous, incredible love. And that, my friends, is not OK. I had to do some serious soul searching and lay some extremely difficult things down before the Lord. Sacrificing things that are of the utmost importance to us never FEELS good, but God uses the difficult times to grow our character and to speak into us with a voice that we otherwise may not have heard over the noise that we create in our cluttered self-centered lives.

So after being blown away by the realization of my own identity as an idolater, I was reminded yet again of the grace and patience of God. Even when I make the same dang mistake a hundred times, He is still there loving me, teaching me and picking me back up for a fresh start. A great friend of mine pointed me to this verse at a time in my life when I really needed to hear it, and it gave me inspiration again this week. 1 Timothy 1:15-17 “Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners – of whom I am the worst. But for that very reason I was shown mercy so that in me, the worst of sinners, Christ Jesus might display his immense patience as an example for those who would believe in Him and receive eternal life. Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory for ever and ever. Amen.” 

Beautiful!

I am soooooo glad you asked! We are leaving tomorrow morning (Thursday evening for all of you folks in the America’s) for Cambodia! This handy dandy map on the left (thank you Google) will provide an easy visual of “Asia so far” on my Race! In Cambodia we will be living outside of the capitol city of Phnom Penh working with Teen Challenge. Drug use has become an ever increasing problem throughout Cambodia and this program offers a year long rehabilitation program for men and boys who want a clean start for their lives. (READ MORE ABOUT TEEN CHALLENGE CAMBODIA!!) We will be assisting with teaching English, leading Bible studies, possibly teaching music and also encouraging these men and boys as they walk the hard road of recovery. Our home will be with/near a local pastor, approximately an hour car ride away from any Internet, we will enjoy up to one hour of electricity per day and our showers will consist of rain water collected in a bucket (IF it rains). I am surprisingly STOKED about this change of pace! They seem to be painting the picture of primitive for us and I know that it will not be easy but God will do some incredible things in, around and through our team this month!

Thanks so much for all your love and prayers! I’ll try to post a blog in Cambodia if we ever venture into civilization 🙂

Peace&Love

Brianna