What if you applied for the World Race for August 2011?
What if you got accepted?
What if you went and spent that Christmas in… Cambodia?
Instead of watching a heavily decorated giant evergreen tree light up in Rockefeller Center in New York City, what if you visited Angkor Wat, one of the seven wonders of the world?
What if the lights you saw were not wrapped around a tree but were flashing neon in the red-light district of Phnom Penh?
What if you weren’t listening to sleigh or jingle bells but the gongs of a Buddhist temple?
You may not see Santa Claus sitting with children on his lap, asking if they’ve been naughty or nice. But you might find a way to bring dignity to street kids who are forced to beg not for themselves but someone else. You might give them the gift of education by teaching some English; then you might have a chance to explain what brought you out to Southeast Asia anyway.
You might tell them a story about a baby who was born to save the world, and how that baby was born in a stable not unlike the ones you’ll spot in the country.
You might go on to tell them how this baby grew into a boy who was wise beyond his years, and how this boy became an adult who went from place to place to heal disease, to free people from spiritual bondage and to proclaim the coming of God’s kingdom.
You might tell them that this man did all this, but the real reason he came was to die.
Then you might get to tell them that he’s actually alive. And that he loves them.
Apply for the August 2011 World Race and spend your next Christmas in a different way.
