Expect the Unexpected

First day of stretch and warm-up practice in Phnom Penh

When I came to Cambodia I 

came with a heart to serve saying to the Lord “I’ll do whatever You ask me to and go wherever You ask me to.” I had ideas of what that would look like, but the one thing I didn’t expect was to be coordinating 40+ Samaritan’s Purse Cambodia staff to run in a half marathon / 10K.

After Tricia and I had been in Cambodia for a month we recognized the need for exercise, but didn’t have many alternatives. It is hot and humid here and after a full day of work you don’t feel like getting out in the muggy climate to make a trip somewhere to exercise. And, I guess I should mention that quality exercise facilities are not readily available. I was looking for options for staying healthy, but wasn’t prepared for what God had in mind.

One day I read an inspiring story of an SP staff member in Liberia who encouraged the staff in her country to run a marathon with Team Samaritan’s Purse. I was touched by the story and told our Country Director about it. The next day he came and asked if I would organize a run for the SP Cambodia staff. I have ministered to people in many different ways and spent much of my time developing leaders, but had never inspired anyone to run in a half marathon or 10K, especially myself. The last time I had run long distance (2 miles was long distance for me) was on dirt road course during high school. My idea of maintaining my health in Cambodia had not included getting up at 5:30am every morning to run before work. It appears God had other ideas.

I took on the challenge and our staff is going to run in the Angkor Wat International Half Marathon in Siem Reap, Cambodia on December 4th. I began travelling and communicating with our country offices about joining in the race. Cambodian’s are amazing people who work extremely hard, but running long distance is not a common sport here. My initial expectations were that 20 to 25 people would join in the race. As I talked with the staff about the race several themes began to emerge. The staff saw this as an opportunity, not just to get healthy, but for the country staff from all different offices to be together showing their unity and love for one another and for Cambodia. It was seen as an opportunity to have fun together, an opportunity as a group to be a witness to the love of Christ for the nation of Cambodia, and as an opportunity to tell the world Cambodia’s story and raise funds through Team Samaritan’s Purse for all the projects we are involved in. We even set up a website for people, civic groups and churches to hear the story and support us in our run:

Read our story and see how you can help!

Poipet staff and friends at a recent run

I was blown away by the amazing response. On registration day 44 of our staff, from every SP field office in Cambodia, registered to run. That morning our Asia Regional Director, Kerry Dodson, was with us in Phnom Penh. She delivered the devotional for the day. Her scripture reference was:

“Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.” (Hebrews 12:1-2 ESV)

This timely devotional reminded us all of the Christian value of perseverance, reminded us that the world is watching us run our “race” and challenged each of us to keep Jesus at the center of all we do. 

Once again I am reminded God will call us to do the unexpected, so He can do more through us than we could ever expect!

Family On The Field – Compassion makes the difference

Tuk-Tuks are our family's mode of transportation

When we decided as a family to accept an internship with Samaritan’s Purse and move to Cambodia we knew there would be some major transitions. Tricia and I had traveled to places like Cambodia, Guatemala and Haiti before, but our 3 boys had only experienced their comfortable West Texas life. How could we prepare them to move from the land of Ford 4 wheel drive trucks, flat screens and bean burritos to the land of tuk tuk’s, rice and mosquitos?

While we tried our best to prepare the boys, nothing could get them ready to face the new sights, sounds and smells they would encounter. Sitting in an open air tuk-tuk surrounded by loud Cambodian traffic just isn’t the same as being inside dad’s air conditioned pickup.

The first couple of weeks were pretty tough. Everybody was having a hard time. The first week of school wasn’t much better. Everyone at their new school spoke English, but it was accents from 27 different countries from around the world!

Thank goodness Kyler began to show signs of adapting. Being the youngest, after a few monkeys and a new friend from Holland his age he was set to go. Micah was the next to decide he liked his new home when realized he could bike to the corner and get his new favorite dish of rice and chicken. But Reece has been our very unhappy hold out – at least until last week!

All the boys had been a little intimidated by the new people they were surrounded by every day, but Reece was especially scared of Cambodian people. He would yell and cover his eyes every time he saw a Cambodian child playing outside without any clothes. We had been here 8 weeks and were starting to get a little worried. Then we went to our local market.

After we had finished shopping for the day and came out to get in a tuk-tuk to go home Reece encountered 3 kids his age who were dirty, in torn clothes and looked really hungry. They just stared at our family and then said hello to Reece. Normally Reece would have turned away, not sure what to say or how to handle the situation, but that day was different. He reached down and pulled a small toy out of his pocket and handed it to one of the kids. They shouted with joy and a smile grew across Reece’s face. When we got in the tuk-tuk to go home, instead of scuffling with his brothers, Reece stopped and bowed his head, closed his eyes and folded his hands together and began to pray. It wasn’t a 3 second prayer, it was a long sincere prayer leaving Tricia and I with our jaws dropped open and tears in our eyes. Something from that moment on changed.

Reece has been full of joy this week. He’s like a different person. We looked outside one day and he, Micah and Kyler were in an empty lot next door teaching the neighborhood Cambodian and foreign kids how to play baseball. Where mom and dad’s attempts at using material comforts or more hugs and kisses to make him feel better didn’t work, compassion for others had transformed his little heart. 

School boy at a school where SP provides
school feedingand clean water access tanks

This was big reminder to me that God created each of us with hearts of compassion. My mistake as a parent was focusing on trying to raise a comfortable child instead of engage with a compassionate child. We have realized once again that God sent us as a family and our boys just want to share in what God is doing.

Micah, Reece and Kyler all decided this week they would join Team Samaritan’s Purse and run with Tricia and I in the Angkor Wat 10K and 3K family fun run in Siem Reap,  December 4. They are going to run to raise money for Samaritan’s Purse projects that help children and families in Cambodia. You can check out their story and fundraising page at http://www.firstgiving.com/fundraiser/micahreecekylerhester/micahreecekylerhestersfundraisingpage

What does a love story have to do with church history?

I have had many new experiences during my time here in Cambodia. One of my most recent and memorable was attending a funeral. While funerals are often very tragic events I felt the story I heard of God’s faithfulness and the power of love needed to be shared, especially given it’s historic significance. I think most of you will understand why I haven't posted any pictures on this blog out of respect for the family.

The Ministry Team with Samaritan’s Purse Cambodia received a call notifying us the mother of one of our young Cambodian staff had passed away. The team here at Samaritan’s Purse is very close and cares for one another, so the Ministry Team prepared to travel to the next province to attend the funeral. Since I am working with the Ministry Team, I was asked to be a part of the delegation going to visit the family.

I wasn’t sure what to expect when we arrived at the funeral. I knew that funerals in Cambodia could last for three days or longer as the family waits for relatives to make the long trip from other provinces. One thing I definitely wasn’t expecting was to see old friends! When we arrived at the funeral and stepped out of the truck, we were greeted by the son of the lady who passed away. Moses was not only a Samaritan’s Purse staff, but a friend I met over four years ago on another trip to Cambodia. I was so surprised and excited to see him, but instantly deeply saddened to find it was his mother who had passed away.

We hugged and talked and spent time getting caught up on personal news and life happenings and then Moses invited me to go with him to see his mother. Funerals here take place at the family home, which in this case was a traditional Khmer wooden house on stilts. We climbed the stairs to the one room house and went in to see his mother, who was lying on her beautifully decorated bed.  Moses’ brothers and sisters were decorating the casket next to her bed with beautifully colored, decorative material. Moses then introduced me to his father, Witsah.  Witsah greeted me as if I were a member of the family and asked me to sit with him and talk. I wasn’t prepared for what I was about to hear.

As the conversation went on I asked Witsah how he met his wife. He described her as a “first generation Cambodian Christian” who owned one of the first translated Khmer bibles. This means she accepted Christ as a result of the first indigenous churches established after the introduction of the Gospel by foreigners in Cambodia in 1923! They actually met just as Pol Pot and the brutal Khmer Rouge regime had taken power. This is of great significance because being a Christian and especially one with a bible was an instant death sentence during the regime! To understand how significant this was you need to know that after the Khmer Rouge regime killed somewhere between 2 and 3 MILLION people in Cambodia, there were only 700 known Christian believers left in the entire nation!

After meeting, the couple decided to get married. Witsah asked the Khmer Rouge village leaders if they could wed. They were granted permission and were told when the next “community” wedding ceremony would be held. Nothing “individual” was done during the Khmer Rouge regime. On the evening of their wedding (weddings were not allowed during the day because everyone was required to work seven days a week) they joined 280 other people in the village center in the dark where 140 couples were married at one time. Witsah said “I looked so hard for her. There were so many people and it was dark. I was afraid I wouldn’t find her before the wedding was finished. But I did!”

With tears in his eyes he then told me how God’s hand protected this amazing lady throughout the reign of the regime. During that time Witsah and his brother Pitsah accepted Christ and subsequently accepted the call to pastor. After the regime fell both men planted churches where they still pastor to this day. Witsah declared the faithfulness of God as he shared with me how each of their children have gone on to serve the Lord in some form of Christian ministry. The miraculous life of a lady from a simple village has produced amazing fruit. I was seeing pioneering Cambodian church history right before my eyes!

As we concluded our visit Witsah asked that we continue to pray for him so he would have strength to continue the work of God. He said his wife had been a daily encouragement for him and on days where he did not think he could continue it had been her who had lifted him up and given him the strength to carry on.

This story is a bit longer than most, but one I felt needed to be told. No matter how hard any earthly leader tries to eliminate the story of Christ, God will always sovereignly protect a remnant. That remnant will often be a simple person who God will use to show His great love, wisdom and power through. I was deeply honored to be sitting in the presence of this precious family hearing their miraculous story. 

“When Helping Hurts“

Ever since I can remember I have had a passion for caring for the poor and marginalized and the sharing of the Gospel. It is just part of my DNA. Most of my major life choices have come about as an outflow of one of these passions. If you are reading this then more than likely you in some way share these as well.

The trouble I have always had with these inclinations is how to live them out responsibly and with an integrated approach. Should I give money to the guy standing on the street corner with the sign? How should I help the couple with two small children who have come to the church office asking for financial assistance? As a church committee or outreach team, how should we design our benevolence program to really help people instead of enable them to stay in their situation? Is our short-term mission team really helping the people we are going to minister to? And, how do we share the Gospel in an effective way when we try to live out the biblical imperative to care for “the least of these”?

For years I have seen people and churches wrestle with these questions. We’ve all acted and done the best we could, but there was always a nagging question of whether we were really helping people or actually hurting them by our actions. As I was preparing to come to Cambodia I was really looking for researched, proven guidance that was biblically based and theologically sound. That is when I found the book When Helping Hurts: How to Alleviate Poverty Without Hurting the Poor and Yourself. http://www.whenhelpinghurts.org/  Authors Steve Corbett and Brian Fikkert run the nonprofit Chalmers Center for Economic Development and also teach economics at Covenant College. In this book, they communicate both a sound, gospel-centered theology of poverty and the “best practices” of poverty alleviation. They have answered many of my questions with an approach that is academic but not heady, helpful but not condescending, challenging but not demoralizing. While this book may not be a choice for your daily devotional, it is a book Christians should read as we try to make responsible decisions to help people, both in our own communities and internationally.

The authors help us confront our own unrecognized “God complex” that often hinders our effectiveness. They introduce us to best practices like asset-based community development (those are just big words for deciding how to help by seeing peoples strengths and abilities instead of always seeing their needs and weaknesses). They help us recognize crucial distinctions (like those of relief, rehabilitation, and development). And they do all of it through a rich, gospel-driven perspective. They write neither as smug experts who have already arrived, nor as distant prophets who are content to point out our faults, but as humble practitioners who are learning what it means to seek for God’s kingdom to come “on earth as it is in heaven.”

They also take the time to show us why many well-meaning approaches to poverty alleviation – both governmental and church/private – actually hurt the very people they’re designed to help. And, if you are wondering whether to take that short-term mission trip or need some advice in planning your next trip – they have a chapter in the book just for you.

If you care about the poor… if you long to see the church recover a heart for justice… if you desire to alleviate poverty in ways that are truly sustainable and empowering… if you just want to learn more so you can participate intelligently in the conversation… or if, like me, you know you need to grow in this area and want a reliable tutor… you should buy this book!