I have always wanted to be a regular.
Ya know, like one of those people who can just walk into a coffee shop or diner and the waitress knows their exact order and brings it out to them while greeting them by name.
Well in Cambodia this has finally happened to me.
Eating on the race is always a different experience every month. Sometimes the host will cook food for you, sometimes you will cook all of your meals over a fire, and other times you have no kitchen at all so you have to eat out for every meal. All while staying in the $4.00 a day food budget. This month my team and I are eating delicious Cambodian street food every day.
Every night Dillon, Daniel, and I go down the street to a small tent set up with plastic chairs. It has no name but it has delicious noodles and the friendliest workers.
The first time we were there we ordered our food by pointing at another customers’ noodles and asking for the same thing. We talked to the waitresses about themselves and Cambodia throughout our meal and they responded in the best broken English that they could. We paid for our dinner and said thank you. It was nothing out of the ordinary. But we continued to go back to this same noodle stand every single night. And every single day I would get excited about dinner because that meant that I got to see my friends. I’m not even sure how we became friends with the entire family who owns this food stand. It just happened. It happened because we were consistent.
Consistency in relationships is something that I really value. When I think of my closest friends and family members I know that they are so dear to me because they are always going to be there. They are people in my life that I can count on and rely on with anything. Even when things are crazy and changing in both of our lives I can be confident in our relationship enough to know that they still care even when we can’t be together or talk as much as possible.
It’s hard though. Because a lot of the time life isn’t consistent. And change and disorder can be stressful. Maybe you’re living in a different country every month for a year, or you just started a new job in a new town, or you have a house full of children to care for and life feels like mass chaos and nothing seems familiar.
When your life is full of disorder and confusion and unfamiliarity sometimes the only thing you want is something recognizable. Whether that be a person, place, smell, experience or whatever it is for you that you need to feel at home in a place that doesn’t feel like it. And while we can always go to our closest friends, family, or comfort food at one time or another these things will unfortunately fail you. Sometimes we put a lot of expectations on people and end up getting hurt or disappointed.
I’ve learned that Jesus is the constant in my life- the one constant that will always be there and never disappoint or make me feel emptier than when I first started.
Seasons are constantly beginning and ending. People are coming in and out of our lives. Things suck and everything seems to be going wrong. When everything you have known for a year and even longer ends and life starts to look different Jesus is going to be the one thing still left.
Jesus isn’t going to leave you. He loves you and even if you don’t feel close to Him. He is there. If you feel distant from the Lord ask yourself if you have drifted from Him or Him from you? Because I promise you that He is where He was always been. Waiting for you. And just wanting a close relationship with you. A friend. Father. Provider. Protector. Whatever you need. He can give that to you, if you give yourself to Him. He will be the one and only thing constant in your life when everyone and everything else changes on you.
By the end of the month saying goodbye to Sonin, Fire, Sequoia, Oun, and their parents was one of the hardest goodbyes I have done on the race yet. It wasn’t the noodles or the tea that I was going to miss it was the people. The relationships that I had built throughout the month. Knowing that I could always count on seeing them every single night and talking about our day and they could count on me to eat their noodles and give them a hug every night.
There are seasons for a reason. Change is a great thing. But if you’re struggling and trying to find consistency in your life, give the big guy upstairs a chance. Let Him into your life and see how He can bring order to chaos.
