Hi there! It’s been a little while since my last update because of lots of traveling last weekend, but I wanted to let you guys know that our team made it to Siem Reap, Cambodia last Monday. It is crazy how different it is than Thailand. We simply crossed a border, and it was a completely new atmosphere. It is much more rural, with lots of dirt roads and dust flying. We are staying about 15 minutes outside of the city at an orphanage called New Hope for Orphans. We are definitely getting the full experience with sleeping on the floor under mosquito nets, using squatty potties, taking those glorious bucket showers, and eating a whole lot of white rice. We are away from internet connection completely (I’m sitting at a coffee shop in Siem Reap sipping on some tea and writing this blog), which has been a beautiful way to completely unplug and be present. We are constantly hanging out with the kids, and it has been such a sweet week getting to know names and faces and stories. I have made so many friends here, and I have my own little Khmer (Cambodia’s language) tutors constantly helping me learn.
We have been given free reign of the kids in the mornings to lead worship for them, do devotions, teach them English, and play games before they go to school in the afternoon. I’ve already gotten the opportunity to teach some of the kids worship songs and dances that we do with my White Stone kids, and that has been such a fun thing to be a part of. The afternoons have been very slow paced, giving me lots of quiet time opportunities, time to reflect, and some time to play some intense volleyball with my team (I am undefeated, by the way). After dinner, we have been having another couple hours with the kids to sing, dance, and go crazy before bed. It has been an adjustment this week, and there have been some hard moments for me, but I also have loved getting to dive into this culture and country. It is evident that Cambodia has had a lot of hurt and still does, but there is so much beauty here. I love this country already.
In my last blog, I talked about how I really like analogies. I have been praying for God to show me more of these, and He does not disappoint. This might be weird, but bear with me here. I’ve also had some ample time to reflect, so here goes.
Last month in Thailand we had a set breakfast schedule at the hostel. Wednesday was cornflakes and milk day. Now, let me just say, you would never find me eating a bowl of cornflakes at home. They are the plainest and most bland of all cereals. There is nothing to them. Oddly enough, I found myself eagerly awaiting Wednesday mornings last month. I would get so excited for my corn flakes, and if you asked the people on my team, they would tell you the same thing. I have been thinking about this a lot here lately, and I think the Holy Spirit was using corn flakes to teach me something. What I landed on was this: that things in there raw and simple state are refreshing to us. Our Americanized lives are so “over the top” in countless areas. We add sugar to everything. We add marshmallows and huge amounts of cinnamon. We add artificial flavoring and food coloring. At the end of the day, we have something that is still cereal, but it looks and tastes nothing like the original. I think we have done this to the gospel. We have added so much of our own cravings and desires to Jesus’s already perfect design. We pretend it’s not enough by adding lights, building bigger and better sanctuaries, getting the top notch worship leaders and speakers, limiting the length of services, and making the main motive to do anything and everything possible to get people in the door and to satisfy their expectations. It seems like the power in the simple gospel is not enough for a lot of people anymore. The question that has been on my mind so much lately is that if all that other stuff was gone, would we be content with that simple bowl of cornflakes? This includes all the blessings we have as well. If all was stripped away, would we find ourselves content? Truth is, a lot of that stuff isn’t bad. But I think all of the added things have caused us to forget the power of the gospel message in itself. The power of what Jesus did for us and how much we desperately need Him often gets lost in our culture by the way we do things and all the things we have. But the gospel needs no help and no additions. Too much of our added features makes it harder to taste the goodness of the original. I tasted the joy of the unembellished in my Wednesday morning bowls of cornflakes. Not too much added, just cereal in its simplest form. I have experienced that in my quiet time over the past few weeks. Maybe that idea is what we need more of in America too. To stop trying to make the gospel more appealing to the masses and just advertise it for what it is. To stop thinking we need the perfect conditions, best worship music and devotionals to meet up with Jesus. He is enough by Himself. He prevails without all the things that we have deceived ourselves into thinking we “need”.
We are broken, hopeless beings. We are meaningless and a vapor of existence, here today and gone tomorrow. We have absolutely no purpose on our own. But God, who is so rich in mercy, gave His Son who knew no sin, to be sin that we might become the righteousness of God. We couldn’t be in fellowship with God on our own, but because of His abounding love, He has made righteousness available to all of us through our belief in Him. This changes everything! We now have meaning and are deeply loved and known by the Creator of the universe. We are not slaves to sin and forgotten the minute we die. We have hope in Jesus and so much reason to rejoice. That is powerful and raw. And all of that came from a bowl of cornflakes. I like Cinnamon Toast Crunch just as much as the next girl, but when we find ourselves worn down and not satisfied, we need to remind ourselves of the simple. Meet up with Jesus in your raw state, unedited, and rediscover how easy His yoke really is. We overcomplicate things all of the time. Don’t overcomplicate the love that the Father has lavished on us. Hang out with your Father, without all of those shimmering lights, and just experience Him for who He is. He is more than enough. He should be our absolute everything. If He is all I had, I would hope that I would still have the ability to see my cup overflowing. Thanks to the Holy Spirit and Kellogg’s Cornflakes for this message. Thanks for reading this lengthy blog!
Blessings,
Kayla
