Focus!

Now that our Bible college days are over, and there is no one to ask, "Did you do your devotions today?", it is vital that we keep our focus on what God has called us to do. Below are the elements of my life that I am asking the Lord to help me stay focused upon:

1. My walk with Christ- without this, going to Cambodia is futile. After taking Homeletics, Eschatology, Ecclesiology, Theology, Harmotiology, Anthropology, and Greek in Bible college, I have learned something that is far more important than anything I gleaned from these subjects: if I don't walk with God, nobody is going to do it for me.

***This first focus is directly linked with a passion for souls. When I am walking with Christ, a fruit of that relationship is a passion for the lost and hurting. But, when sin hinders my relationship with Christ, that passion really cools down. "And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold."

2. My walk with Linda. I have learned that if I am not right with Linda, I am just not right. God, help me to be the husband that you have called me to be.

3. My walk with my children. I have been taught that it is never too early to start building a close relationship with your children. God, I cannot in my flesh meet all the requirements that are involved with being a father. Give me the wisdom, discernment, love, patience, and character to be the father that You have called me to be.

4. My walk with my family. I praise the Lord for my parents and my sister with whom we are living right now. I also praise the Lord for Linda's family. Lord, help me to be the son, son-in-law, grandson, nephew, cousin, and brother that you desire for me to be.

5. My focus on the field. This involves deputation, of course, but more importantly for me is the keeping of the commitment I have made to the Lord to GO! And while I am preparing to GO, I am asking the Lord to help me be a light in Loganville, Georia. I praise the Lord to witness to several people over the past few weeks. "The light that doesn't shine in the America won't shine in Cambodia."

There are probably other things I need to mention, but those are the "Big 5" in my life right now. Lord, please help me in these things.

Opportunity of a Lifetime

Pictured above are some of Linda's relatives in Cambodia. Next to me stands Boo Pan, Linda's uncle; in front of him stands Jing, Linda's cousin; to Linda's left, holding Elisabeth, stands Ming Chea, and on the end is Ming Chea's husband, Boo Tap.

Linda's parents escaped Cambodia in 1980, and eventually found refuge in the United States. The people pictured with Linda and me, with the exception of Jing, were some of the survivors of the Killing Fields. Boo Pan was just a boy, Ming Chea and Boo Tap were teenagers. Because Linda was born in the States, she never had a chance to meet her family in Cambodia, until 2006.

In March of 2006, Linda, along with her mom and sister, Dena, took a month-long vacation to Cambodia. For the first time, Linda was able to finally meet her "distant" relatives (distant geographically, not biologically- it's a pun). Linda's mom was reunited to her mother, brothers and sisters for the first time in nearly 30 years. What an opportunity it was for them to see each other again, espcecially considering that the last time they saw each other was during the Killing Fields.

Linda and I also have the opportunity of a lifetime. We have the opportunity to introduce Linda's family to the King of Kings, the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ. I have already witnessed to Boo Pan and Ming Chea. Please pray that we will have the opportunity to "reunite" Linda's family with the God from which we were all alienated from at one time, until someone shared with us the glorious gospel message.

Much to Offer

I can usually handle horrendous smells. My gag reflex is pretty stable, and it takes something quite putrid to cause me to lose control of myself. However, the Phnom Penh city dump actually pushed me over the edge. As soon as I stepped out of the truck, I nearly "lost my cookies" all over the place. And that's when I looked up and saw these two girls digging through the very source of the stinch that was abusing my senses.

I gained control of myself, and felt compelled to meet these two girls who were burrowing through the mountain of waste. I asked them their names ("Bpa-own ch'mooah aye?"- "What is your name?" in Khmer, when speaking to someone younger than yourself), and asked them what they were doing. They were, in short, supplementing their parents' income. These girls were so poor, their Goodwill was the city dump.

As I continued talking with these girls, I realized that I was still holding on to the doughnut I had just purchased and had not yet taken a bite from. I gladly offered it to them, and they jumped at the opportunity to eat some "American" food.

No doubt these girls were craving for something to eat. But they were craving for more than food; they were craving for love, significance, purpose, peace, security, and most importantly, truth.

I wonder if we are as ready to provide people with the truth of Jesus Christ as I was to offer those girls that doughnut. The funny thing is, they had to split that doughnut, because I only had one. Doughnuts run out. The temporal things of this life that we are glad to offer people will fade away. But the love of Christ is limitless in abundance, and there are billions waiting to receive it. We certainly do have much to offer.

Killing Tree, Living Tree

In the fields of Choeng Ek, Cambodia, just a few miles outside Phnom Penh, stands a tree- probably more than one, but this one is forever embedded in my memory- that was used for something for which it was never created. From 1975-1979, because the Khmer Rouge did not want to waste their valuable ammunition on small children, this tree was used as a "killing tree."

The soldiers would grasp these babies whose parents had been executed in a nearby death prison and would beat them against the tree until they were dead. They would then toss the bodies into mass graves, often times filling the grave with thirty to forty little bodies.

Many Cambodians know about this tree. This tree represents brutality, hatred, sin, and death. But God has called us to tell the Cambodians of another tree- a "living tree"- that represents the love of God toward all of us. Yes, this tree was used to bring about an agonizing death to the One Who was nailed to it; but it has brought light and life to untold millions of people around the world.

Please pray for us as we tell them of this "living tree", for it is their only hope of salvation.

Also, check this out...

2009 Expository Bible Teaching and Preaching Conference
August 20-21, 2009
Vision Baptist Church
Thursday August 20th
12:30 Lunch served at Vision
2-5 pm I John with Bob Dalton
5:30 Dinner
7-8 I John with Bob Dalton8-9 II John and III John with Nathan Deatrick
Friday August 21st
8-10 II Peter with Nathan Deatrick10-12 Jude with Bob Dalton
12 Lunch is served
We will be glad to get housing for those that are coming in from out of town. I hope you will make plans to be with us!