On a Sunday in Cambodia our squad was encouraged to pray & ask the Lord how we could bless people in whatever ways He revealed to us. We were staying on the outskirts of Siem Reap, a tourist’s dream city, bustling with street vendors, coffee shops, massage parlors, & an endless market of bartering merchants all selling the same elephant patterned clothing.
We stood outside on the busy streets & prayed for the Father to reveal to us whom He wanted us to talk to or where He wanted us to go.
We heard nothing so we just started walking in what we thought was an aimless direction. We didn’t have a plan, but He did.
The Lord divinely lead our steps into an enormous Buddhist pagoda with towering temples & vibrant statues, littered with tourists clicking selfies in front of Buddha figures & monks walking purposefully to & from their classes.
Jon & I sat down on a bench & waited.
After a few minutes, that specific ‘plan’ God had in mind was introduced to us. His name was Alex & his signature orange robes marked him as being a monk. As he walked by us we asked him if he spoke English.
“A little,” he said as he voluntarily sat down next to us.
The conversation was simple & choppy but ironically substantial as it led to sharing the gospel with him. We eventually asked if he lived at this pagoda & if we could see his home.
“Of course! Follow me,” he said enthusiastically with a smile. I’m guessing he hasn’t experienced many foreigners who were eager to invite themselves into his house.
The physical surroundings were ragged, simple, & resembled more of a dark 10 by 20 foot jail cell rather than a house but the willing hospitality of this young man was vast, warm, & humbling.
The discussion led to every American’s favorite topic: food. When we were told he had never eaten at any of the local restaurants in the area because he didn’t have any money, the same idea sparked in both Jon’s & my mind uniformly.
Jon spoke out the exact words that were playing on my own tongue.
“What if we took you out to lunch tomorrow? Will you come with us?”
Unexpected tears immediately flooded our eyes when the biggest smile I had ever seen lit up Alex’s face as he excitedly told us he would be waiting for us to come get him the next day.
So on Monday afternoon, we followed the road that had led us to the pagoda the day before & found Alex outside his home waiting for us in anticipation.
We walked to a nice Khmer restaurant that served the classic dishes of Cambodia & sat across from Alex at a table of four with one chair left vacant next to him. Alex’s eyes darted around the large dining room excitedly like a child experiencing Disney World for the first time.
We ordered our lunch & filled the next two hours with conversation & laughter.
“This is the first time in my life ever coming to a restaurant. You have made me so happy!”
The sincerity & joy when Alex spoke those words caused my heart to swell & my pride to squirm with discomfort like a slap in the face. Knowing that this one simple act of kindness meant so much to this man repositioned my perspective of how blessed I truly have been my entire life on this earth. I felt overjoyed at the opportunity to bless Alex but at the same time I also felt uncomfortable with myself & how arrogant I can be towards my own life.
Throughout the remainder of our meal, he had told us four different times how happy he was that we took him out to lunch. We were able to bless Alex because of how much God has blessed our lives but what he didn’t know at the time was that Alex had completely blessed us through this process.
As I looked across the table I realized that the empty chair next to him wasn’t vacant after all. Jesus had been sitting next to Alex the entire time.
I’ve never believed in coincidence & I know us meeting Alex was divinely ordained by the Lord. What we did was plant seeds in his life & because seeds need to be watered, we introduced him to another World Race team that was staying in Cambodia for the month after we had left. This team will continue to pour into Alex during their time in Siem Reap & we will continue to pursue him through prayer & the blessing of technology!
Oh, and through the power of prayer, we were finally able to find a Khmer Bible to buy for Alex to read in his own language!
It was our way of saying goodbye but Christ’s way of saying hello.
