Needs

I just feel like crying out..."I NEED COMPASSION LORD!" Guys, my flesh just sees what's before me, for me. I don't know what other people feel, what they need. How do I love the little child who lives next door who is being beaten by her mom right in front of our eyes? How do I care about the moto taxi drivers who work so hard to secure the job of transporting us, often receiving 50 cents pay or less for their efforts. Or tonight, as I left the supermarket, a little child and two women upon the steps, asking...I searched my bags and found 3 yogurts. Yogurt: so simple, so smoothe, something I really enjoy, esp. in the morning with muesli. But this cry for compassion has been growing louder each hour, and I think the Lord allowed me to taste the gift of sharing the yogurts I had just purchased. Not really much at all, compared to the needs present all around me and my own need to grow, to confess and surrender and be filled with satisfying life. But nonetheless, I feel like in the simple act I was able to experience deep reality. I want greater compassion. I know this is not found in me. Please pray that I would taste and see that the Lord is good, that HE IS MY ALL, that He has called me to obey and live fully. From the sermon this morning, "In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith - more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire - may be found in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. Though you have not seen him, you love him....I Peter 1:6-8

Tomorrow we're heading back out to the province (called Kompong Spew), probably for the last time this visit in Cambodia. Not sure if we'll stay the night or not, but if we do, we'll certainly heare the roosters around 4am! I will be spending time talking with Sonn, the Christian lady with the vision to start this kindergarden in her home village. I hope to learn about how God has brought her into His family when all her family is Buddhist and how He has called her to share the gospel with her community. My aim is to write a story that we can share with prayer warriors. This village needs prayer. They need to know the true life. Sonn needs strength for the upcoming battles. She needs protection, as the village can be a dangerous place. There are strongholds. But our God is Strongest! We have the authority of our Savior Jesus Christ. Paul urged us to "be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might." Ephesians 6:10ff - this will be meditating material over the next several days.

Jordan and I will fly back to Singapore on Thursday, have a few days there, and then head to Banda Aceh early next week. The "going" is good, and I see that there is purpose. Much around me is transition. I am uncertain about distant plans, and even things 'before' me seem vague. But shape is coming, and there is peace in the trusting.

Goodnight from Cambodia!