You only get one chance to make a first impression. My first impression of Cambodia was not what you would call ideal. The first blog I had decided to write about Cambodia was basically blowing off steam and venting about our travel from Thailand into Cambodia and the craziness that ensued at the border. That was about 3 weeks ago and needless to say I am glad I did not dwell on my first impression and allow it to leave a bad taste in my mouth affecting the rest of my time here. You see, one of my hopes and prayers since the beginning of the race has been that I make the most out of this experience. I have noticed in myself a lack of patience that I didn’t really want to accept. I have also noticed that the barbs of pride are imbedded pretty deep within me as well. I finally came to the point where I could admit that these are things I struggle with and want desperately to break off from my life. I have prayed that God helps me in this. That God gives me patience as well that I walk in humility and dependence, not looking to myself and believing in my own selfish pride to get where I want to be. I think it’s in the move “Evan Almighty” where Steve Carrel is talking to Morgan Freeman who is playing god and the conversation is something similar to “If you ask for patience, does God give you patience, or the opportunity to be patient?” Well the Lord has definitely given me the opportunity to grow in both of these things. At one point when we were at the boarder I was at my limit with patience. I was pretty much done being polite and understanding of differences in customs and cultures. Grace was not in my vocabulary or thought process and this point. I was called back to the squad by a squad mate, Courtney and she as well as the rest of the squad were praying and worshipping while some frustrating things were going on. She pulled me to the side and prayed for me. Her prayer was a reminder to me of what it means to bring Jesus to the nations. To always show grace to others, whether they are people in need or whether they are trying to rip you off and take advantage of the fact you are foreign and don’t know the laws of the country. It was a reminder that we represent Christ every moment of every day, and because of this we need to show love and preference to our friends and enemies. It was a tough pill to swallow in the moment but God definitely showed up more ways than one that day to get us where we needed to be.
Even after that experience I was still bitter about the course of the day. I really did not want to be in this country if that was how the month was going to go. I thought Cambodia would be filled with people who wanted nothing more than to take advantage of us and get as much money out of us as they could. Again I let my pride take over; my thought was that I wasn’t going to let anyone take advantage of me. I thought this month would be a constant battle of not letting people rip our time off. At this point I had already almost completely checked out of Cambodia spiritually, and this was day 1! I couldn’t have been more wrong about the people of Cambodia. They are some of the most loving and humble people I have ever met. Yes there are a few bad eggs, but they need love and grace just as much as everyone else, if not more.
