Cambodia. It’s a country you don’t hear a lot about, and if you do you only hear about the Khmer Rouge, Pol Pot, and killing fields. Cambodia is hot, flat, and underdeveloped.
But that’s just on the outside.
We live at a YWAM base called Joy Community Center this month. It’s mostly just one building with a few different rooms to house our contact and his family, my team, and occasionally some youth from the village. Youth from the area come whenever they can to hang out, choreograph dances, study the Bible, learn English, and to help around the Center.
They are dedicated. And all these people are younger than 20 years old. They go to school, help their families harvest rice, attend extra English classes, and still minister to each other and the community.
Don’t get me wrong- they’re still teenagers, but they are on fire. They are hungry for God. And they hurt for their nation. Their love and dependence on the Lord is genuine.
There’s a young man from Phnom Penh who comes to help out from time to time. He goes to classes at a University during the week, plays drums at his church, yet has such a heart for the youth in this area that he skips class to come study the Bible with them, worship with them, disciple them, and encourage them to walk closer and closer with the Lord. We sat by him one day as he wondered out loud if he was doing the right thing by skipping class to minister to the youth in this rural community. He expressed a longing for a greater passion for Cambodia as well as concern that he likes what he does too much. He wondered if ministers, worships, and dreams for his country for the glory of God or for his own pride.
The other day I was washing dishes and I heard the youth group singing and worshiping with this young man. After being involved in numerous musical ensembles for over 12 years, you could say that I have an ear for good music. This out of tune, multi-key, unsupported, passionate singing was one of the most beautiful things I’ve ever heard. These teenagers didn’t care what they looked like. They didn’t care what they sounded like. They didn’t have a care in the world in that moment except to pour out praises to their Savior.
Why do I spend so much of my life tired, unmotivated, and numb? Why do I lose sight of the importance of reaching everybody with the Gospel? How can I live without deep, painful compassion for the lost, hurting people of the world- in the Nations as well as in westernized, developed countries like the U.S? How can I worship with thoughts of anything but the Lord on High, the Creator of the Universe? Why do I so often “settle?” Is it not worth it to push forward, ask myself the hard questions, and to “run with endurance the race that is set before us?” (Hebrews 12:1)
He is more than worth it.
