Today I am in Mindanao, Philippines. If you mention Mindanao to any Filipino, they will shudder. Today’s paper read “21 bodies found”. They were all journalists and politicians who had been executed to intimidate others.
It seems interesting to me that Mindanao is far more dangerous than Cambodia. From 1975-1979 the Cambodians killed up to 3.1 million people, a massive 40% of the population in its genocide. Mindanao has had ongoing war for well over 100 years.
Cambodia is about 80% Buddhist, even if they are nominal. It has a large growing Christian population and a strong government. The Philippines has about 90% Christian (mostly nominal Catholic) population and a small muslim population. Their government: Comedy. A famous boxer is running for congress (I think he finished 5th grade). A drunk actor who was given life in prison for corruption is running for president. The current president, ignoring the constitutional term limits, is wanting to be president for life. . . utter chaos.
The Philippines has far more natural resources than Cambodia. They also have far more educated people and a huge English speaking workforce. So what is the problem? It is not religion. It is not necessarily politics. I would say it is clearly a problem of the heart.
Any country where greed, hunger for power and sin are dominant will not progress. If we can change people’s hearts toward righteousness, I think there will be hope for Mindanao!
A few days ago our children’s center in Kracheh, Cambodia got broken into. They stole all the clothes from more than 40 girls which were on the clothes line. We warned them about putting their clothes out at night, but it has been so rainly they didn’t have much of a choice. The next day the girls were pretty unhappy, but they carried on as usual. Having more than 80 kids in the center, we do not have a lot of extra clothes because it is very expensive to clothe that many people. The kids run in ages from 6 years old to 18, so there is a big difference in sizes too. The only reason that someone would steal old warn out kids clothes is because of their poverty.
Well, those who lost clothes share with those who had extra and they just continued back to school as normal. Another day went by. The following morning, there was a surprise waiting at the gate of the center. It was a big rice bag. The kind which can hold 80-100 kilos of rice. Inside of it. . . all the girls clothes, neatly folded.
Our kids are quite well known in the community. Just a few months ago the center was given an award from the government for being a model of morality to the community. The kids are all very poor and many are orphans, but they are know for being exceptional kids. I am sure the thief knew about the kids and their reputation. I wish I could have seen his face as he folded and packed up all the kids clothes and planned to sneak back onto the property to deliver the clothes.
For many years Malaysia has been a favorite destination of our family. It is the people of Malaysia, our great friends, which make it so wonderful. Generally, every Malaysia is friendly, generous and willing to take any amount of time to build a stronger friendship. Though it is a modern urban country, they have not forgotten the importance of relationships with people. It is a beautiful country with a beautiful capital city with the pictorial twin towers (formerly the world’s tallest buildings) as its showcase. It has amazing beaches, great shopping and incredible food. Food is the cornerstone of Malaysian hospitality. Every day I am there, I can count between five and six meals per day, every day! Let me describe what I ate:
Breakfast 8:00 AM
Coffee is a must. Malaysia has one of my favorite coffees which is called Ipoh white coffee. Its roasted beans from the northern town of Ipoh have a fantastic flavor. If you ever come to Malaysia, you have to try Ipoh white coffee. Mee Char (Fried Noodles) is a common Chinese/Malay breakfast. Many times they will also have Kueteau (thin noodles in broth with pork balls and such). The coffee is perfect with its Ipoh roasted beans. They also have the ‘long Chinese doughnut’ (cha kwie). It is a light oily doughnut like bread which can be dipped into the coffee and eaten. It is pretty good. If you dump a bunch of sugar on it, it tastes just like a sugar doughnut at Krispy Kreme.
Brunch 10:30 AM
More coffee and curry puffs. Yumm! At this point, your stomach is already full, but the temptation of a Malaysian curry puff is almost too much to bear! Then after one curry puffs comes another and another. Curry puffs are my Achilles heal. They steaming potatoes, egg and curry paste just call to me. The taste is addictive. Once you have one, a real good one, you can never quit. Oh, my mouth is watering as I write about this delicacy. I know that this is only the second of six meals, so I should pace myself, but I just can’t resist the curry puff!
Lunch 12:30 PM
Now I am getting bloated, but still there is so much to try. For lunch we are off to a hawker center where it is kind of like fifty restaurants in one! They have all kinds of food, mostly Chinese, but will have many different varieties of Chinese food to chose from. Usually, our Malaysian friends are such good hosts, they won’t let you order, but they will order a bunch of food for you. I love hawker centers though because you can pick a couple of dishes for little money. For lunch I had Thai style pineapple fried rice (served right inside the pineapple). They called it a “recycled dish” being that it wasn’t actually served in a dish, but in a pineapple shell. I also ordered lemon chicken. It was chicken and rice served on a tangy lemon sauce. Amazing flavor. Now I am really stuffed, but with such variety of food, it was making me more curious to try more different kinds of food.
Tea Break 3:30 PM
This former British colony still has many residual British cultural practices left over, the most pronounced being a daily tea break. Of course you have to have tea, and the British drink tea with milk, so the Malaysians came up with “tae tarik” (pulling tea). Tae Tarik is a national tea which is mixed in dramatic style. It is a blending of milk and tea, but the blending is done in a large pouring motion. Of course, no tea is good by itself so it must be enjoyed with biscuits. British biscuits are simply American cookies. Shortbread is common and delicious. They will also have a few other snack dishes also which include sticky rice wrapped up in banana leaves, or other kinds of rice and coconut milk dishes. They are all usually light on the stomach, so you can keep throwing them down and eating more! It all tastes so good.
Dinner 6:30 PM
Garlic and cheese nan (bread) cooked right in front of you. Indian flavor and fantastic taste. To wash it all down a mango special drink. It is a mango shake mixed with a few other fruits like lychee. Yummy. They also ordered three or four other dishes, but I was focused on the nan. It is a rare treat for me to eat this wonderful Indian bread. They nan comes with three kinds of bread dipping sauces. One is fish curry, my favorite, but a second is a little strange. It is sweetened condensed milk. The third is the ever present dahl which is always present with Indian dishes. The dahl is a bean dish which can be eaten with bread or rice. Indian food is one of my favorites, because even though most of it is vegetarian, it has so much flavor and spice, you don’t miss the meat. You would think that I would be bursting at the seams, but they space the food out just enough so that your stomach can rest between feedings!
Supper 11:30 PM
This is the final and sometimes biggest meal of the night. Tonight it is a steaming clay pot buffet. Every kind of seafood, clams, mussels, and leafy vegetable you can imagine. They also added Australian beef, thinly sliced that you can cook into your pot as well. You pick yourself and then cook it in your choice of plain broth or tom yam flavored broth right at your own table. Eat and eat and eat. I like noodles, so I had added noodles (one of six different kinds) to the broth, but my Malaysian friends quickly scolded me. They said that noodles filled you up to quickly, so they recommended me not eating any noodles or rice and focus on the seafood and other goodies (the expensive stuff)!
Malaysia is not really my favorite country in the region just because of the food. In Malaysia you never eat alone. In fact, at almost every meal, we have to connect many tables together so that all of us can sit together. Food is fun, but it is far more fun to be with friends. You see, Malaysians understand that people are most important. Food is just an excuse to spend more time with friends. Malaysian hospitality, it is second to none. Great food and greater friends!
One of my favorite things to do is get my car washed after a long trip. Usually I am off road and so I really get the mud caked into every part of my car. I love going to the car wash and getting such good service. The owner usually offers me a seat in an air-conditioned lounge. He regularly gives me a coke or a bottle of water to sip on. Some days he will offer me my favorite drink: Green Tea with Pomegranate juice.
Outside dozens of his workers are scrubbing away. Climbing all over the car with high pressure hoses and rubbing down all the parts. They spend a good deal of time on the under-carriage and will even grease it for me. All I do is still and blog while they work. After they wash it, the pull the car into the dry zone where twenty to thirty girls are waiting to dry the entire car by hand. It takes them a total of ten minutes to wipe down every inch of the car, including the engine parts.
While everything is getting dried, the vacuum and polish crew go to work inside the car. They clean off every speck of dirt, remove every fleck of garbage and polish the leather seats. It comes out smelling like a new car every time. Another guy is checking all the engine fluids and will top anything up that needs to be topped up. If it is time to change my oil, they can do that too, in ten minutes. They always clean out the air filters and unlike those “Jiffy Lube” guys, don’t recommend to every single woman to change the air filter once a week. They just clean it out and put it back. They also shine all the wheels with armor-all to make it look sharp.
Once I have had my fill of Green Tea with Pomegranate I return to my spotless clean car where they are waiting by the door with my car key in their open hand. I get in, where they usually hand me another bottle of water for drive back to the house. Total time: thirty minutes of pure luxury. I am happy, my car is happy. I then hand them the payment: $3.00. I love Cambodia!
Today I was walking by a rice field in Northern Cambodia. It is awe inspiring to see millions of acres of rice all planted by hand. Soon it will all be harvested by hand as well.
A cool wind is blowing out of the north, moving in waves across the heads of grain in the rice field. Wheat and rice look quite similar and have similar properties. Another unique aspect is that both wheat and rice have counterfeits as well. The “tares”. In the Cambodian language it is called “song-gnie”. It looks very similar to rice when growing, yet when it turns harvest time it is more than clear what is rice and what are tares. One you can eat, the other has no nutritional value. One has value, the other is worthless.
Matthew 13:24-43 talks of the parable of the wheat and the tares. In Jesus’ story, tares were put there by Satan. So what about ‘song-gnie’ (Cambodian tares)? I asked the farmers how they got there. They told me tone of two ways: First, they were left over from last year’s crop. When they prepared the soil they were not careful to remove the tares and other weeds, so they keep growing. Secondly, they come from buying cheap or bad seed which is not pure. Both ways of getting tares in a field, are completely preventable.
This parable is just as poignant today as it was two thousand years ago. How we share the gospel is just as important today as it was in Jesus’ day. I have come to see it is not very important to see how much seed was sown, but the resulting harvest is the whole purpose of sowing seed. In clear terms: the seed is the gospel; the harvest is transformed lives. Yes, we need to sow more seed, but we need to have a much better quality harvest. Much of the resulting harvests of immature believers or believers which do not follow the Bible are completely preventable.
Note: This is my first blog written on a cell phone.
Westerners thought the idea of the golden calf as a deity died out with the Egyptians of old. Boy was I surprised that the golden calf (Preah Ko) is a worshipped today in Cambodia and has been worship for thousands of years already. In Cambodia any animal which is born with a defect is automatically worshipped as divine. They believe that worship of a calf will bring prosperity and peace. This calf had thick, dark, scaly skin like a crocodile’s, and legs with odd markings.
Cambodia's Dead Divine Calf
A defect calf was born in the remote village of Damnak Sangkie in Pursat province. It was born on Tuesday and died on Thursday. Villagers in this poor community live hand to mouth, but many sacrificed their food money to help pay for a funeral for a three-day-old calf with a dark, reptilian hide that many believed was holy. The villagers believed in the calf’s divinity because there had been a drought in the area for three months, but it rained the day after it was born.
Hundreds of villagers flocked to see the animal, lighting incense to pray for its well-being and collecting its saliva which was believed to cure illness. The flood of visitors panicked the cow’s mother, affecting her ability to enough produce milk to feed the calf, and it died. But the faithful were undeterred. The calf’s corpse was placed on a plastic sheet, and people washed water over it in the hopes of making the liquid holy.
Srey Nak, aged 72, said that when some was applied to her joints and teeth, long-standing pains and aches went away. She said, “But I am very upset that the Preah Ko (divine calf) came to live with us for just three days and has now died,” she said. “If she stayed longer, then many sick people could have been treated.”
Stories like this emerge every day in Cambodia. It makes me sad for two reasons. First of all, it makes me sad that Satan has so blinded people that they would worship a deformed calf. Going to the extent they do with the calf’s bodily fluid is not only sickening, but it highlights the desperation of the people. Secondly, it makes me sad because in a world of 2.2 billion professing Christians no one had shown them the true power of Jesus.
People all around us are searching for supernatural power, yet they are not finding the supernatural power of Jesus. Today as you go around, try to be observant to people around you. The Lord will probably show you someone. Why not ask to pray for them, no matter where you are, and ask for the supernatural power of Jesus to transform them.
Do you know how they treat poor people in Cambodia? They give them a bottle of soy sauce and take their picture. I am not sure who is supposed to be the one feeling blessed, the photographer or the impoverished villager. Let me tell you how the communists get votes in Cambodia. They drive in a multi-car convoy into an area. Body guards, military and local leaders have already prepared the people. They all sit orderly in rows, on the ground, in direct sunlight. If they are lucky, it is an overcast day and only 90 degrees outside. Normally it is piercing hot and 105 degrees. The big shots sit on cushioned chairs in the only shade there is. After a lengthy speech on whatever they are selling (politics or propaganda), the people bow as they each receive a little rice, some noodles and a bottle of soy sauce.
Do you know how much a bottle of soy sauce costs in Cambodia? 700 riel or $0.30. They always give them the cheapest food money can buy. Rice that is normally fed to animals, noodles made in China or Vietnam [the delicious ones come from Thailand] and the most pathetic soy sauce they can buy. The total donation, per person, is less than $5.00. Fuel for the multiple Lexus SUV’s, $600. Lunch for the officials, $450. The people usually have to stand in the sun for 3-4 hours to wait for the donation. Everyone is photographed and their pitiful faces put on national television that night with the full text of the speech. They clap on cue but never ever smile. Why? They are only getting a bottle of soy sauce and some other stuff. In a week it will long be forgotten, and totally consumed. Everyone knows this is political persuasion. No one present could tell you what the politicians said twenty minutes later.
So why are they there? Simple. They are poor. A bottle of soy sauce is better than no soy sauce at all. If they were not poor, they would not be there.
What disturbs me most is that Christians play these games with Cambodian’s and other poor countries. Why would Christians play political games with the lives of poor people? Most just want to look good or feel good. They want to promote their own ministries and raise more money for themselves. They desire to get elected to national Church positions. I am hopeful that most do it out of completely ignorance and simply they are doing what has been modeled to them. Certainly this practice needs to be re-evaluated in the church.
Donation Lineup
What does the Bible say about giving to the poor?
Do you know that Jesus specifically told us how to give to needy people. It is so clear, it does not need anyone with a theological background to interpret it. Jesus said:
“1 Be careful not to do your ‘acts of righteousness’ before men, to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven.
2 “So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets [microphones], as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. 3 But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, 4 so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.” (Matthew 6:1-4)
Why take pictures?
Cameras are everywhere nowadays. Why take pictures? The excuses are too many to list:
- “The donors need to know that I have faithfully given what they sent to us.”
- “We want to make the most of the opportunity to share the gospel to a captive audience.”
- “Their weathered faces help remind me to pray for the poor.”
- “The people like to have their picture taken.”
Do you feel sick to your stomach? I do. When you see politicians doing such despicable things we just get angry, but when Christian do such things it really makes me sick to my stomach. What has happened to the Church that we stoop to the level of corrupt politicians? Why, in light of very clear teaching directly from Jesus Christ [the red letter stuff] do Christians still engage in such humiliating practices. My guess is it has much more do to with self-righteousness, pride, and feeling superior than it does with the needs of the poor.
Please, enough soy sauce. It is not even healthy and causes high blood pressure! If you are helping the poor don’t do it for your own agenda. Don’t take pictures. Don’t make people sit in rows in the sun. If you want to help the poor, make a lasting difference in their life: Provide education them and their kids. Take them into your home. Help them start a viable business. Feed them from your own table. Build a relationship with love. Truly invest in their lives and create opportunities for them.
Give them a bottle of soy sauce and keep them dependent to the poverty that continues to entangle them.
While I was in Bogota there were three moments of deep spiritual introspection which culminated in a fantastic week in Bogota, Colombia. I was scheduled to be at a conference and so I purposely went a day ahead so that I could see the sights and sounds of the city. As I studied a little about the history of Bogota I was most intrigued by the chance to visit some of the cathedrals. I was told by all that the best place to visit was a centuries old church on the top of a mountain overlooking Bogota called Monserrate.
Monserrate:
The first exciting part was getting up the mountain. In 1928 they built a “funicular” which is two train cars attached by a cable that go nearly straight up the mountain side. It was shocking, breathtaking and awe-inspiring all together just on the journey up the mountain. Inside the church, they had hourly mass with people coming and going freely. Some worshippers and tourist intermingled reverently in the majestic sanctuary. A single priest sung Gregorian chant as well as modern Spanish worship choruses. The melodic resonance filled the cool mountaintop air. At the front of the church was a statue of Jesus. It was a statue of him lying on the ground as he suffered under the weight of the cross and weakened by the pain of the whipping. Seeing Jesus’ face reminded me of the sin that I had in which he chose to suffer for my sins in such a way.
Cathedral of Bogota:
A few days later I happened to walk by the open doors of Bogota’s central cathedral. The acapella music coming from within beckoned me to go inside. As I entered the brilliance of the chandeliers and the massive height of the gothic style cathedral were inspiring. At the very back of the church several hundred people gathered to worship the Lord. It was an odd hour on an odd day, but these churches in Bogota hold services constantly. Again, they had no trouble with a respectful “tourist” like me in their midst. Most of the service was music. Again the music resonating from the pipe organ or the choir was nearly beyond description. As the service closed I bowed to pray and a priest sung “Amen, Amen” just like we do in any other protestant church. The reverence and awe of the presence of God nearly brought me to tears as I held a bag of groceries and a camera while standing next to business men and women in suits. Many were kneeling in prayer as well.
Communion:
The third event, brought the other two moments into a culmination of humility before the presence of God. Several hundred leaders gathered, worshipping before the Lord in multiple languages. We had just sung praises to God in Indonesian, Arabic, Spanish and English. The presence of the Lord was strong among us. We took communion together as all part of the Body of Christ. Ethnic background did not matter, language did not matter, denomination or doctrine was irrelevant in our worship of the Lord. It is about who he is, not us, that gathers us together.
A leader prayerfully read, “This is his body, broken for our sins. . .”; “This is his blood, poured out for us. . . “. I could see his face. The face of Jesus I had seen at the Monserrate church. The suffering he took for me. The grace he has given for me. Tears streamed down my face as I raised my hands and heart to him in humility and honor for what he had done. I have taken communion hundreds of times, but this time was different. I was impacted by the face of our Lord in that old church on the hill. As the service concluded we all joined hands and worshipped the Lord together. Many hugged each other in a great bond of unity in the body of Christ. Our hearts sang out, just as I had experienced in the Cathedral a day before, “Amen, Amen”. As his presence enveloped us we thanked God for his amazing grace that would bring us to Bogota, Colombia. Thank you Lord Jesus.
As a Christian, who travels extensively for ministry to many countries I have always been amazed at how complete strangers can become best friends in moments. Today, I sat in the Bogota, Colombia airport at about six in the morning and a guy came up and taped my shoulder. He saw me at a conference, but we never talked. Without conference ID’s we all just looked like any other business traveler. He introduced himself and since we have more than two hours before our flights we had some coffee and chatted. Within an hour the two of us were crying as he shared how his brother whom he ministered with died, and was probably martyred, in Egypt. I shared how my father was martyred in the Philippines. We both shared how on many days, the shock and horror of it feels just like it was yesterday. We were complete strangers one moment, and share our hearts as close brothers in Christ the next. This has been my experience in the global family of Christ.
After a Facebook status update looking for information on Bogota, Colombia a friend of a friend from twenty years ago introduced me to Natan and Nicholas, a pastor and son. They spent an entire day taking me around Bogota so that I would not be alone and I could experience their city. By lunch time we were holding hands in the center of Bogota praying for our respective ministries, families and countries. I believe we were both blessed by our family reunion, even though we had never previously met.
Part of the Global Family in Colombia: Natan and Nicholas
The following day a fantastic family, again one I never previously met, took me to church, out to lunch and visiting around Bogota as well. I felt humbled when they shared about receiving Christian singing star Steve Green, evangelist Louis Palau and evangelist Nick (an amazing quadriplegic). Through their efforts and testimony more than 27,000 people have recently come to Christ. What an honor to ever meet such a devoted Colombian family, much less by served by them. Who was I? I was nobody. Yet, in our global family of believers I am one of the family.
This week I met parts of my family I have never seen. I met family members from 59 nations. I hugged my brothers from the Middle East. I prayed for a dear friend in Uzbekistan. I joked around with a young Ecuadorian and encouraged a Mexican family who is ready to move to Cambodia as missionaries. After I got a tour of Bogota, I was able to take two other great family members, this time from Indonesia, on a tour of the city. It is amazing how much Spanish one can pick up in three days! Oh, what a wonderful family we have.
No matter where I have gone, whether it by my honeymoon with my wife in Israel, or a trip into the steppe of Mongolia or anyone of the other 36 countries I have been to, one of the greatest things I always look forward to is meeting other members of our great family and becoming best friends with amazing servants of God. This was my first time to ever visit Colombia, and like most, my idea of Colombia was a dangerous drug infested country. Now that I have met my brothers and sisters in Colombia I am proud to say my impression of Colombia is forever changed. This is the most polite and friendly nation I believe I have ever encountered. What a lovely people. Yes, there are signs all around that it is a dangerous place, but when you are with family, I am certainly not worried.
The apostle Paul describes what our global family is like when he says, “1If you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, 2 then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose. 3 Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. 4 Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.” (Philippians 2:1-4) That is a good description of our global family.
Under Jesus Christ, we have the best family anyone could ever have. Jesus showed us incredible love and grace by allowing us to carry his gospel throughout the world. While it is hard at times, the blessing of fellowship and having reunions with members of our global family energizes me constantly.
Yesterday I met a good friend of mine again after not seeing each other for several years. It was a great re-union. He is a servant of the Lord who is starting new churches in Indonesia and going to other countries to share the gospel similar to what I do. He is from the country of Indonesia, the largest muslim nation in the world. I think it is better I not tell his name nor where he works specifically.
Anyway, he operates in the boldness of the Lord and constantly lives by faith and the constant guidance of the Holy Spirit. He told me a story which was very surprising, shocking and interesting all piled into one. He and his team was working to reach a village in Indonesia which was 100% muslim and never before had a Christian witness. They were there because they had been victims of a natural disaster and only Christians showed up to help them. For a few months they helped the people in the village with the Love of Christ and several families wanted to believe in Jesus. They faithfully worshipped the Lord and the new believers shared their faith. For most, they were neither aggressive nor angry, but in Indonesia they have seasons of burning out Christians. In fact in the last decade more than 10,000 churches have been burned down in Indonesia. While it has a large muslim population of more than 150 million people, it also has some of the biggest and vibrant Christian churches in the world. Some of the churches are as big as several hundreds of thousands of people in a single congregation!
One day they heard rumors spreading around the village that soon they would be burned out and chased out of the village by a militant group in the village. They got together to pray, fast and to seek God in what they should do. This was praying for their very lives. The pastor was frustrated. After so much work, effort and love shown to the people, why would they try to burn him out. As he prayed, he became more and more bold. He felt he heard from the Lord so he asked the people to consider his idea. He told them, that they needed to stand strong for their village believers. I want you all to go and pray with your families and consider going with me to confront the militants and government leaders directly, but you need to pray and ask your families because he told them, “it could go quite bad for us.”
The next day, all the men who were the new believers in the congregation came and said, “we will stand with you and our congregation.” So they all went together to speak to the head of the village. When they spoke to village leaders he found himself saying, “If you burn us out, we will burn you out of your office too. And, once we burn your government office, we will burn your house down too.” After that comment, there was no going back!
The leaders of the village quickly apologized to the new believers, in fear of getting their own office and homes burned down. They also gave written permission for the Christians to work in their village. They still have a vibrant congregation in that village today.
I don’t think that we should use violence for anything, however, I know that God lead them and God new the future. He knew they would not have to act on the threat and he knew they would be greatly strengthened in their faith. I am reminded of the words of Jesus when he said, “11 When you are brought before synagogues, rulers and authorities, do not worry about how you will defend yourselves or what you will say, 12 for the Holy Spirit will teach you at that time what you should say.” (Luke 12:11-12)
I wouldn’t recommend every trying that as a strategy, but it is a great testimony of how the Holy Spirit gave them to the boldness to stand up to those who wanted to persecute them and their boldness caused the militants to change their behavior.
We live in an instant high-tech age where ways of communicating and relating change rapidly and drastically. There are some interesting trends which have developed:
Just 15 years ago, I got e-mail. Do you remember those screeching sounds! Eeeeek Ahhhhk EEEEExxxx! From Cambodia it would cost about $0.30 per message to send. I remember when a friend of mine got an e-mail with a picture attached and she got a download bill for $140! Now I can upload a picture of a river crossing in the middle of the jungle instantaneously, from my cell phone to my facebook site for hundreds of people to see in real-time. And now it only costs about $1.00 per month!
A corresponding trend which has happened though is that some people only interact through a virtual world. Some have even become virtual Christians. There are of course benefits to the ease of communication and inter-connectiveness, but often there is a great disconnect between a virtual perspective and actual people.
- Some people become self-made “experts” on any range of subject, person, idea, or even country yet have never actually experienced it in the real world.
- Others have become “experts” on societal needs or politics, but are never engaged in their community nor ever voted or fought for an issue in public.
- How many millions of people do you know who have clicked on a facebook fan page on “against abortion”, yet have never done one tangible thing to try and stop abortion or help young pregnant girls in need. How many multiple millions have clicked on fan pages that they “love Jesus”, yet is has been proven year after year that 95% of believers never share their faith with anyone. Hey, clicking “confirm” is not evangelism!
- We see so many blog sites dedicated to doctrinal perspectives, church polity, yet many of these same bloggers have no real tangible “fruit” in their own lives and ministry. They just debate strange sounding idea with other virtual hermits from the safety of ambiguity.
- Even on my blog site, or through e-mail, I periodically come across these virtual “experts” in missions who criticize international ministries, or even my work in Cambodia, and speak with such virtual authority, yet do not even have a passport, nor ever studied a foreign language!
My conclusion is that obviously the ease of communication is good. I am a recent blogger who started my blog to try and inspire other people to do more for God, so obviously I see the value in it. We must always remember and even force ourselves to be physically, personally and intimately engage people in a real world. We are called to be agents of change, but transformational change, in the real world. That takes talking to people personally, helping people with your own two hands, giving of yourself for others, and honestly engage others for their benefit, not yours. Virtual Christians have little value in the Kingdom of God, get out and help someone, in the real world, today and make a difference.
Currently in Phnom Penh, they are celebrating the “boat festival” which for some reason westerners have consistently called the “water festival”. I don’t know why. Anyway, this festival is when Cambodians celebrate the end of the rainy season. They celebrate by racing long dragon boats which hold up to 80 people in a national competition. This year, they will still race but the rain has not stopped yet!
Well, unfortunately another Typhoon is bearing down on them. This one is Typhoon Mirinae. The country has still not recovered from Typhoon Ketsana and the NGO Oxfam reports, “The damage from Typhoon Ketsana runs to around 40 million U.S. dollars in Cambodia, according to the Ministry of Economy and Finance. The storm, which killed at least 30 people, affected about 6,000 families and destroyed thousands of hectares of rice fields, and local infrastructure such as irrigation systems, roads, schools and houses.”
One picture I shot shows how bad this year’s rain has been. This is a restaurant/ bar which has a waterfall coming out of the shop. Talk about cleaning house! Pray for Cambodia, there is just way too much water for the country to handle right now.
Waterfall coming out of the resturant
In Cambodia everyone knows the name Duch. He was the warden of the Khmer Rouge prison called S-21. From 1975 to 1979 Toul Sleng held 20,000 prisoners. All of them, except 7, were tortured to death. During the Khmer Rouge between 2 million and 3.1 million people were killed in Cambodia; a staggering 40% of the entire population. Duch became famous because he took meticulous notes of every person he tortured and killed. They bodies dumped in a mass grave on the outskirts of Phnom Penh, the capitol of Cambodia.
Duch, the torturer: An Unlikely Witness
He was found out by a reporter about ten years ago up on Banteay Meanchey province. He confessed everything. The foreigner reporter was surprised that a mass murderer would confess publically his sins. So he enquired why he openly confessed. His answer was, “What I have done on this earth is horrible and I should pay the consequences for what I have done. My soul, however, is safe with Jesus.” I think that comment floored the nation. As it turns out, after the Khmer Rouge were nearing a peace deal with the Cambodian government back in the late 1990’s, Duch had heard the gospel, believed and was actually planting church in northern Cambodia!
He was immediately arrested and held without trial, or charges, for more than ten years. He was recently brought to a special UN/Cambodian war crimes court. The proceedings were broadcast live on multiple channels across the nation daily. Nearly without exception, on every day, he would insert his testimony, the forgiveness of Christ and repentance toward the families of those he killed. At one point, the preceding judge commented, “Duch, if you have your way, we are all going to convert to be Jesus followers by the end of this trial.”
Superstar evangelists have come and spent millions to try and share the gospel in Cambodia. Thousands of pastors and church leaders, along with hundreds of thousands of believers share the gospel every day in Cambodia. But the most wide-spread and compelling testimony for the saving gospel of Jesus Christ is clearly the jail confessions of Duch, the torturer.
When it came to the sentencing portion of the trial (which is still underway), Duch asked that he be stoned for his crimes. He reasoned it would be the only punishment fitting his crimes. Cambodia does not have a death penalty if you can comprehend that. In his final statements broadcast live across the nation the prosecuting judge asked him about his “religion”. What proceeded was the most amazing message of the love of Christ I may have ever heard. Let me summarize. All of his comments were in the Khmer language, so I will summarize what he said in English.
Duch said that many people consider that all religions say and teach the same things, generally that people should be good. He went on to explain the core teaching of Buddhism and Islam, purposely waiting for his comments about Christ till last. He was very fair and gave a highly educated summary of the foundational teachings of these religions. Then he concluded by saying, “Let me tell you why I chose to be a follower of Jesus Christ. Every religion teaches that you should be nice to your neighbors and friends. My God Jesus however, was a radical teacher who taught that you should love your neighbor, but he went further and said that you should love your enemies. Cambodia has been at war for so long. Cambodians have so many Cambodian enemies that our country has never been unified. I believe that the only hope for true peace in Cambodia is for the Cambodia people to accept Jesus Christ as their God because only through following Jesus will Cambodia be saved from itself.”
This unlikely witness brought tears to my eyes. I see every day the effects of the horror he and the Khmer Rouge brought to the nation. One of my staff member’s uncles was tortured and killed by Duch. My wife’s entire family, except one sister, was killed. Every grandparent, mother and father, aunt and uncle, cousin and nephew died under the Khmer Rouge. He will die in prison for what he has done, that is certain. Yet, this man, who faces a life sentence, is concerned for his nation and his people. He is a testimony of forgiveness. He has at times wept and nearly prostrated himself to ask forgiveness of those he hurt. He has asked the court to give him the death penalty, yet he clearly understands that apart from the grace and mercy of the Lord Jesus Christ there is not hope for anyone or any nation. God has used this witness in an amazing way, to share the gospel, free of charge to every home in the nation. If God can use his unlikely witness, don’t you think he can use you too?
Every day we meet people who give us the shaft. They use the words “it’s against our policy”. I have never been much for policy. The thought that always comes to my head when someone mentions a “policy” is, “well that’s stupid, why would you mindlessly follow a policy? And, if we were reasonable people, why would we need it?” Policies make people shut down and not think. We have tons of American workers who don’t think anymore. They just follow the policy so that if something does go wrong, they can just blame someone else. It is a pass-the-buck society that we live in. The problem with that is by reducing everything to the execution of policy, you forget people. I am going to limit my focus to “Airline Policy” in this blog, however, it applies across the board from business relationships to personal relationships.
Have you ever been on a flight where they tell your carry-on bag is “overweight” and therefore you need to take some of the weight out of the bag and carry it? It’s policy on several international flights. The policy says that a carry on bag should only be 7 kilos (14 pounds) or exactly what a computer, cords and bag weigh! So they have you carry it separate and sometimes will even tell you to not put it back into the bag, yet carry it on the plane. Ok, I know most people do not have a Ph.D., but if it is all still going on the same plane with me, doesn’t it together weigh exactly the same? So why annoy me? It’s policy!
Now in the US, they charge extra for bags; everyone except for the airline that actually makes money (Southwest Airlines). So what everyone does is to carry all their luggage onto the plane in two to three or even four carry-on bags. And surprise, surprise… it doesn’t fit on the plane. So they have to take an additional 10-15 minutes to load it under the plane for free. They said they charge for bags because the excess weight burns more fuel. Well, if people just carry everything on board and your plane get’s delayed, aren’t you losing more money. So why do it? It’s policy!
Don’t even get me started on trying to split a can of coke between four people. It’s policy!
If I get into the TSA procedures I am going to have a nervous breakdown, so I am not even going there. It’s all just policy! They are invented by a few “smart guys” in a room somewhere and forced to be applied by workers who have been trained to follow policy. You don’t even have to think, just make sure you follow the policy; that way, if something does go wrong you can blame someone else.
Are policies important? I think so; they can actually assist workers to have consistency in dealing with people. They could create better efficiencies. Many policies are created in a reaction to a problem which came up, or an abuse of a situation. But the collection of more and more policies is not the answer. Even Jesus severely scolded the Pharisees because they took the law of God and then added their own rules (i.e. policies). They created policies so bizarre it is almost impossible to follow them. This is what Jesus was against. They followed policies, not God. They didn’t have a living and dynamic relationship with God.
Ok, back to the airlines. Specifically, American Airlines. Do you know what they did to my bag? My bad that I paid $50 to check (I had two flights). Pictures are worth a thousand words…
LAX to DFW to CLT to the Dumpster
Do you know what they said about my bag? “I am sorry, it’s policy.” I got the shaft!
Two flights later, on another airline, another bag was broken. This bag only cost me $20 to check. The other bag was already in the dumpster. A wheel was cracked (i.e. not rolling) and the handle broken off and the straps that I tied around it were gone. I approached an unsuspecting employee and showed him. He politely had a look at it. Then he said the painful words… “our policy is to not to fix this.” Then he continued, “BUT LET ME TALK TO MY SUPERVISOR.” Five minutes later, people won out over policy. They gave me a brand new, better than the old, replacement bag. Thanks United Airlines! You are now my favorite US based airline. On that same flight they also gave me a bigger seat (which the policy says I would need to pay extra for). When you take time to care about people, you will make a difference in people’s lives and their relationship to you. They will actually like you!
It seems so many employees have forgotten about people and live for simply fulfilling policies. If policies lead to injustice: Break the policy. If policies lead to broken relationships: Break the policy. Policies are only someone’s idea. Don’t forget about people. Someday you are going to need people, and you better have some friends around.
“Our Policy, Your Problem.” My solution, my blog!
When we think of foundations, unless you are a builder, you probably don’t have a clue what that is about. A foundation is a massive structure which has to support the weight of the building. A small building needs a small foundation. A big building needs a big foundation. Construction of simple homes in America have weak foundations because they support houses which are very light weight. In Cambodia, for example, a simple one storey building will have a solid concrete block at every corner and spaced at intervals of about 12 feet which are 3-4 feet deep and 3-4 feet across. They need bigger and stronger foundations because we use heavy concrete, stone, bricks and concrete tiles in our construction. In America, because homes are made out of lightweight pine, dry-wall and shingles they do not carry much weight so they often just pour a thin slab which is actually not anchored to the ground, but just sitting on it. My house in Cambodia (made to be strong) has multiple pilings which go into the ground about 15 feet at every corner and load point and each piling can support 160,000 to 200,000 pounds. Because the foundation is strong, it can support a much taller building (my house/ hotel is 4 storey’s tall. It is tall, but quite narrow).
Do you know that after a building is built you can’t even see the foundations? It takes 30-40% of the time to build a house just to make sure the foundation is right and strong. Yet, it is something you will never see. Recently in China there was a demonstration of the importance of foundations. One day in June when there was some strong wind and an entire 13 storey building just fell over. It was a new development for poor people (project housing).
Building Collapse in China
When it fell over it was easy for them to find out why it did so. When the building collapsed the foundation was revealed. The foundation of my house is stronger than the foundation that went into that massive building. The contractor tried to cheat knowing that no one would be able to see the foundation. He underestimated the importance of a foundation. This twelve storey building actually stood for a while and it is surrounded by more buildings which are still standing (and likely do not have a strong enough foundation). No matter how nice the building looks on the outside, it was doomed to collapse.
Inferior Foundations
When I think of nations, I think of foundations. America thinks that they had a strong foundation, yet it is certainly changing rapidly. What was righteous and proper before, is now opposed and just considered a new opportunity to expand personal freedoms. America was founded in 1492, yet has only been a nation since 1776. Cambodia officially became a nation in the year 802. Since it was founded, there is been massive changes. On several occasions the entire nation has changed religions: from animistic, to Braham, to Mahayana Buddhist, to Theravada Buddhist, to Atheist and more recently large numbers of people are converting to Christianity. There has been political upheaval and genocide several times in their history. Why? The only thing that I can determine is that this is part of their “culture” and “worldview” which comes directly from their foundation. The United States’ foundations are being tested every day. It is a very young country and may not survive. The building looks impressive. We are the richest nation in the world by far. But just like that 12 storey building in China, if our foundations are not correct, or they become destroyed or eroded, when a strong wind comes the building will collapse. What value is a 13 storey building laying on its side? Worthless. In fact, everything that was put into the building, the millions of dollars spent, the thousands of working hours are all for nothing. What was once an impressive structure will only be demolished and used for filler material on another building site.
I am not an expert builder, but I think we have to be sure we always build our nations, our lives and our families on a solid foundation. That foundation must be a foundation of righteousness, holiness and obedience to God’s commands. No exceptions. We wouldn’t want our nation to fall over like that building in China.
“10 By the grace God has given me, I laid a foundation as an expert builder, and someone else is building on it. But each one should be careful how he builds. 11 For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ. 12 If any man builds on this foundation using gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay or straw, 13 his work will be shown for what it is, because the Day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each man’s work. 14 If what he has built survives, he will receive his reward. 15 If it is burned up, he will suffer loss; he himself will be saved, but only as one escaping through the flames.” (1 Corinthians 3:10-15)
