About thirty minutes out of Phnom Penh the streets turn to orange dirt. Three hours on those dirt roads and you’ll come to Kampong Cham city. About thirty minutes later, you’ll find narrower dirt roads that will take you to Sanker village. And there in Sanker village is a children’s home run by A New Hope for Orphans here in Cambodia.
This is where we’ve done ministry and life this month. These kids adopted us. We became part of their family. Our small team was adopted into a community that loves children and Jesus, and understands that these children have the power to save a nation.
Meeting these 36 children you wouldn’t assume they didn’t have a home or have parents. These children embody the Spirit at such a young age, leaving none of them as orphans. Being filled with joy and love for one another. These children are each others brothers and sisters. These children take care of each other and love each other and include each other in everything they do. They love each other in a way that they can go from playing Uno to praising God together.
They laugh with each other but they also tell each other when they’ve been hurt. They teach each other manners and nurse each other back to health when the flu comes around. They mediate each others fights. They dance and they sing. And soon I realized that these children ranging from three to 18 directly represented what the body of Christ should look like.
Though it feels like I’m a galaxy far, far away. I know that this is where God has brought me to show me His love and His hope for those left without an earthly father or mother. He’s used Cambodia to show me the power of a child.
I was skipping around through Ezekiel and at the end Ezekiel has a vision of the new temple God promises to the Israelites. A big bronze guy leads Ezekiel around, showing him the gardens and the buildings. Which is exactly what Vandy, the house parent, did our first day here. At the end of the book of Ezekiel, at the end of this tour, it says, “And the name of the city from that time on shall be, The Lord Is There.” That’s exactly what I feel in this place. The Lord is here and He isn’t leaving anytime soon. Especially if these padawans have anything to say about it.
