While living in Kampot Village, Cambodia, I met a young man named Sopan. The first time I saw him was on a Sunday morning at church. He was standing on the stage, front and center, with a microphone, leading the church in worship. He had a huge smile on his face, and it was clear from the look of his eyes that he was blind. I didn’t actually get to meet Sopan the first time I saw him, but met him about a week later in his home.
My team’s morning ministry consisted of walking around the village and visiting locals in their homes to talk with them, pray with them, and share the gospel. Sometimes we would meet with church members, other times we would meet with people who practiced Buddhism or ancestory worship, and had never heard of Jesus before. During my month in Cambodia, I was reading through the book of John, and on a “random” morning, I read the story of the blind man in John 9.
The first house we stopped at that morning was Sopan’s house, and I quickly realized that my reading of John 9 earlier that morning was not random at all. During home visits and evangelism, I tend to be more shy, and I usually wait for someone else to lead the conversation. This morning, I jumped right in. I crawled into the bamboo hut and sat down right next to Sopan and starting talking with him. He shared that he has met previous Racers, and that every once in awhile, people from the church will come visit him in his house, but since he isn’t able to go out into the village or to visit anyone by himself, he can get lonely. Through his mother, and the translator that already knew his family, I learned that Sopan has been blind from birth. I thought, “he’s been blind for his whole life, but he doesn’t have to be blind for the rest of it.” I asked Sopan if I could pray for him, and I heard the Holy Spirit say “pray John 9 over him.” His voice was as clear as day, so I opened my bible and began to read the story.
“As he went along, he saw a man blind from birth. His disciples asked him, “Teacher, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” “Neither this man nor his parents sinned,” said Jesus, “but this happened so that the works of God might be displayed I him.” As I read the first few sentences of the story, I began to cry. I felt the power of the Holy Spirit inside of me, and I knew that the same Spirit that healed people in the Bible that I was reading, was the same Spirit that was in me. I felt the significance of the moment, and believed that God could actually heal this man, right then and there. So with shaky hands, I held my bible and the power that came with it, and I kept reading.
Sopan wasn’t healed that day. But, the life-changing Word of God was read over him. The Word was brought to him, and he was interceded for. We pleaded with God to heal him, believing that He could, but also believing that He was still good even if Sopan was never healed. As John 9 states, Sopan doesn’t remain blind because he or his family did anything wrong. Sopan isn’t cursed. Sopan remains blind because God still wants to display His glory through that part of his story. Sopan has chosen to follow Jesus, so he has chosen to make his life a display for God’s glory, whatever that may look like.
I saw God’s glory through Sopan that day. I learned that when you speak God’s own Word, when you pray His words back to Him, they are powerful enough to change an atmosphere, to change the makeup of someones body, to put broken things back together. “For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edge sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow…” Hebrews 4:12. Scripture isn’t outdated, it isn’t old, and it isn’t boring. It is alive and active. Active. Active isn’t outdated, old, or boring. It is moving, living, the very breath of God himself. Here. Now. ABLE.
I went back to Sopan’s house a few more times, and I would bring him iced coffee from across the dirt road. Since his mother worked, Sopan would often be home alone during the day. As I walked up the pathway, I would announce my presence by yelling “Hi Sopan! It’s Kathryn!” And he would start laughing and say “hiiiiii” back. He would take a sip of coffee and say “Mmmm, cold!” And start laughing all over again. I don’t know if Sopan will remember me in a year, but I pray that he will. I pray that when he remembers me, he’ll have a reminder that God loves him, because someone delighted to be in his presence, someone chose to come to his house just to see him, read to him, and pray for him. That someone loved to hear his laugh and told him what a great smile he had. I pray that he’ll be reminded of those memories and think “God loves me like that.”
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Thank you to Zack and Brittany Thurman, who gifted me with a portable printer for Christmas just before going on the Race. I was able to print photos for Sopan’s mother so that she can remember the time that we spent with her and her son.
