No matter where you go, there are always people in need of God’s love. At the core of who we are, that is one of our greatest desires. To be seen, known, valued, cherished, adored, and loved.
I didn’t have to travel to the other side of the world to learn this foundational, yet all-encompassing truth, but that’s the way God wanted to teach me.
Right now I sit in the middle of the jungle on the Mekong River in Stung Treng, Cambodia, 8,500 miles from home. But where is home anyway? This side of heaven we’re all just sojourners, traveling life wherever God takes us, if we’ll let Him.
Last week He took us to the soccer field to watch a soccer game where the boys and men of the community come to play together. It’s just an open grass field with a net, and they all play barefoot. Nothing fancy, yet everything they need.
I was just a mere spectator of the game, talking with several of the junior high and high school girls that attend the English class we teach each evening, when she walked up. I’m not sure of her name, but I’ll call her Tin.
Tin quickly stands out from the rest of the girls her age, being the only one who has her head shaved. It soon becomes apparent she doesn’t know English like the rest of the girls, in fact she makes no sounds at all.
Immediately the Lord reminds me of a lesson from training camp some six months ago now (has it really been that long?!). Mama K spoke on how to seek God’s Kingdom and listed three ways in which to do this. In a crowd, or just in living daily life, look for: the least (of these), the lowest position, and the last place.
As I watched Tin try to interact with those her age, hearing that she is not their friend, and not being wanted in class, I recognized her as one of the least, the lowest, and the last in this community, and one God wanted me to love.
So we held hands, took a walk, and smiled for photos together. My teammate and I sang children’s Bible songs to her and at the end of our walk Tin started making verbal sounds for the first time that night. I knew Christ’s love in us was reaching Tin.
That was a hard night for me, seeing and experiencing that anywhere you go, in any community, there are “the least of these”, those who don’t quite “fit in” that most people want to ignore or choose to avoid. God reminded me that oftentimes those are the first ones He wants me to go to in love, with open hands, full of acceptance.
I may have found Tin in the jungle of Cambodia, but I know she is back in the States, too. She is the girl next door, your family member, or co-worker. If we’re honest with ourselves, she’s us, too. We’re longing to be seen, noticed, chosen. And the best news is, we are.
2nd and 3rd photo credit: Elizabeth Bacon
