Jack-in-the-Box Wind Up

Jack-in-the-Box Wind Up

    Jack-in-the-Box: a child's toy of a clown's head in a box that when completely wound up will suddenly pop out of the box giving the child (or others) a shock (my definition).

    At the Singapore airport, my sister Nikki declares, "A.J., I got a vision for you during lunch."

    I respond, "Cool!"

    A little bit later, while waiting outside the gate to our plane, Nikki tells me, "God showed me you being a Jack-in-the-Box with Him winding you up and at the right moment you will burst free from the box forever."

    I responded with, "That's awesome!" (Probably not the exact words, but pretty close to it.)

    Fast forward through the first part of this month as we have taught English, songs and dances, played games and have had story times (I've now played Dan with kids and with the youth to Sunday, April 10th, 2011. ——————————————————
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    On this morning, Lindsay shared the Word with the youth about encouragement, then had us all get into groups of five to six people. The idea being for us to go around and say encouraging words to one another.

    So, here I was with four youth in my group–Veassna, Chiv, So Khon, and Som Nang (all between 16 and 18 years old).

    Here is what they told me (after Vuthy translated their words for me, of course):

    Veassna~ 'A.J., you are handsome, you play around with me, have a good smile, and you love Cambodian people and children.'

    Chiv~ 'When I meet you for the first time, I am so glad. You are a good man for me and you are the only son of God (he sees Jesus in me). You are good.'

    So Khon~ 'You are handsome, gentle, and quiet (he will probably change his view of that after the 17th when I preach).'

    Som Nang~ 'You are the only on who is special for me and God will be with you everywhere, forever.'

    These words…wow…these words filled my heart with joy and gave me an unquestionable love and passion from God for these young men, especially Vuthy's brother, Som Nang.

    Basically, I could feel the Lord's hand cranking the lever on me, the Jack-in-the-Box. Stay tuned for the next blog about the explosion.