For the first six months of my race, I did ministry in places that were primarily Catholic. In Ecuador, Peru, and Guatemala I never met a person who hadn’t heard about Jesus, regardless of whether they believed in Him or not. Cambodia is different.
Cambodia’s population is 97% Buddhist. This is the first place I have been where I have encountered people who have never even heard of the name of Jesus, let alone the good news about him.
May we never lose our wonder.
Often, I get wrapped up in the mundane aspect that is the story-telling of the gospel. “Yeah, I know Jesus died for me” or “I know He loves me”. I hear it all the time, I have been involved in the church since 6th grade. I know the stories; I know the good news.
I forget that people don’t have the luxury of knowing.
I have been working in a village for the past three weeks here in Cambodia. We take an hour tuk-tuk ride to ministry daily, and we spend our long days in the heat teaching English to the village kiddos and doing house visits/ house bible studies. We have pretty much gotten into a groove of where we go after we finish one thing or what the next task is for every day. We kind of operate on a schedule, well a loose one, but a schedule nonetheless.
On Friday, our plans got a little twisted up and we ended up at a house that wasn’t a regular. We did the standard introductions which consist of what our name is, how old we are, where we are from and we kindly let them know that even though we are “old” we are not married yet. After that, Sam asked us to share the gospel.
Jackie took the lead and explained in such a simple way of what the good news of Jesus was.
I’m not sure what happened but at that moment something in me switched. I became excited, and literally had tears welling in my eyes when she talked about how Jesus took a death He never deserved to save them.
To save me.
I was instantly reminded of the urgency of the gospel. We are literally saving people from an eternity in hell. There is nothing “mundane” about this story.
This is the story of reconciliation.
This is the story of hope.
This is the story of second chances.
This is the story of life.
This is E T E R N I T Y.
It’s too good of a story to be wrapped up in the fact that I have heard it a million times. Who am I to deny His children of getting the same opportunity to KNOW just because I have had the privilege of knowing for a long time.
I saw Captain Marvel in Cambodia on Monday. The most powerful hero in the Marvel universe.
I think about how the name Captain Marvel has probably reached the ears of more Cambodians than the name of Jesus has.
How do people know about superheroes? They learn about them and then talk. They talk about how cool their superpowers are and what they are doing in their worlds to help humanity. We have the opportunity to be that vessel of information about Jesus, the greatest savior of them all. We can marvel in the wonder of who He is and all He has done. When people hear about Him, they are going to want to learn more. They are going to want to talk about Him. We never lose the wonder of superheroes in the movies, when did it become so easy to lose the wonder of the story of the good news?
I pray I never take knowing for granted. I pray I will never deny others the opportunity to know. I pray that I see this story as make it or break it and have the desire to share it always because everyone has been given the opportunity to make it. This story is just as important to me as it is to the nonbeliever. I did not earn this, and HE gave it to me anyway. HE has given it to everyone, and sometimes people just haven’t encountered it yet. I pray that I am never the reason that people don’t encounter Jesus. I pray urgency persists in my heart forever. I pray I will never lose the wonder of the best superhero in existence. Thanks God for instilling in me a new sense of urgency and excitement for your very very good news.
On that Friday, the family that wasn’t in our schedule for that day ended up accepting Jesus. Every. single. person. in that family who heard Jackie talk about a savior that loves them decided to make a decision that would change their lives forever. They stepped into new life because Jackie was bold in sharing the good news. News that is too good to step away from.
May we never lose our wonder.
