Gecko Tales

A friend recently sent me Jim Elliot’s famous quote which I read years ago, and which I often stumble across.

“He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.”

It reminded me of another pithy statement I read a few weeks ago but I can’t remember where but it went like this, “

“Many Christians today invest most of their time and money into making sure they have a comfortable death and in the process, they miss most of life.”

Here in Cambodia, the hot season has arrived in full force and we are all wilting. River levels are really low and hydro-electric power is at its lowest. Because of this, the city cuts off electricity in certain districts on a rotation basis. In hindsight, it would have best to have rented a house near a high ranking general or politician-they rarely lose power. Last night we lost power for 6 hours from 6-11 p.m. and it was hot. Lying there in the heat, I had some time to think about the life of Jesus, and how he became human in an era where there was no electricity, no air-conditioners, speedy transportation, paved roads, friendly skies, fans, screen doors, indoor plumbing, heating, sanitation, modern health services, vaccinations, and skilled doctors who can heal us, etc. Lying there I could imagine Jesus and his band of rag tag followers on bitter cold nights and during the hot dusty days along the roads of Ancient Palestine-being anything but comfortable. I imagined the blistered and dirty feet of Jesus, insect bites on his arms and legs, and his sweat mixing with the windblown dust. Jesus, as a carpenter most likely worked with construction gangs on Herod’s grandiose building projects with no port-a-pots, and a bunch of surly characters coming in hung-over and boasting about their exploits with local prostitutes. Jesus was no stranger to dangerous work and the ways of hard living men. I imagined it would not be comfortable for anyone of humble means to live in such an era.

Jesus and his disciples walked over all Ancient Palestine so they must have had plenty of time to discuss and reflect deeply on Jesus’ life and teachings. They had little to distract them other than wondering where their next meal was coming from, where they could relieve themselves, or when they could rest from their daily journey and wash their dusty and calloused feet. I wonder how often they counted the cost, and wondered what they had gotten themselves into, especially during the time of Jesus’ arrest, beating, and crucifixion.

I have been teaching teen Sunday school at the International Christian Fellowship and we have been finding metaphors for the unique person God created us to be, the Church, for Christians, and Jesus. Metaphors or words to describe who the earthly Jesus was that don’t readily come to mind were; exile, refugee, expatriate, homeless, radical, revolutionary, political, servant, suffering, sacrificing, risking, existential, irresponsible (staying at the temple, turning over the tables), out of the box, nomadic, counter-cultural, outcast, ostracized, confrontational, broke/poor, rural, peasant, heretic, change agent, and a boat rocker.

It came to me that Jesus didn’t just come and take on the nature of us humans to simply experience human existence, but freely agreed to become all of the earthy Jesus metaphors above in order to fully experience the breadth of the human existence, the depths of the worst of the human experience, and the demonstration of new paradigm of living for God’s new multi-racial family.

Metaphors or words describing the earthy and earthly Jesus show me that Jesus intentionally placed himself on the margins of society in order to identify with outcasts of society, and from that status and position the bulk of his public ministry took place, even as he dialogued with Joseph, Nicodemus, Zaccheus, the Rich Young Ruler, Pilate and the Sanhedrin. One of his last conversations on this earth was with a thief.

And in his last few days on this earth, he not only expressed it verbally, but he modeled to his disciples through the washing of their feet, and the breaking bread together with them, that the way he lived, his teaching and his death were examples for us all to follow. As I considered this, I began to see how God had shaped my life from the beginning, never allowing me to become an expert in any one field. I was always being thrust into new learning experiences (student, forester, surveyor, Christian educator, student, arborist, missionary and student) where I would have to start at the bottom of the ladder as learner again. On the bottom rung of the ladder there are always outcasts, those who had born into dysfunctional families or into adverse situations, those who had no encouragement, no advantages economically, socially or educationally. They are the grunts of society, of whom I have shared a deeper sense of community because of the risks we took together in the type of work we did. As I meditate on the life of Jesus, I see how far down the ladder he climbed, and this is the example he left us. I find myself gravitating toward climbing up the ladder but as I follow him, I always end up on the bottom rungs, again and again. What does this mean?

Early this Saturday morning I was off to team-teach with Seila at our Diamond Project 2 class. We enjoyed 4 straight hours of power. When I got home at 12:30 pm, the power in our house immediately went off. More time to meditate on how uncomfortable the heat, sweat and noisy building projects (building huge house only meters away from ours) made me. I can’t imagine how uncomfortable God was in our skin. Hot, dusty, sweaty, itchy, ragged, tired, sore and irritable at times. There was no doubt Jesus was physically uncomfortable in many instances during his earthly life, but he was also uncomfortable with sin; especially the effects of sin on powerless people such as widows, orphans, aliens, slaves, and the working poor. The majority of Jews living in Jesus’ time were working poor with no clout or power to protect them from being fleeced by the powerful elite. Jesus looked on these sinners with compassion and the sinners using the religious, economic, and state apparatus to oppress others, with contempt.

It is ironic how Jesus was comfortable eating with sinners and tax collectors whose personal mores were a mess, but rather confrontational with those who maintained high outward morality while bilking the powerless through the economic, religious and state systems. It is ironic because we would rather have Jesus be uncomfortable hanging out with ‘bad people’ because too many Christians live comfortably earning livelihoods from institutions that profit off the poor and powerless (Now Watergate does not bother me. Does your conscience bother you? Tell the truth).[1]

I have no trouble believing in the Resurrection, but the bottom line is that Jesus makes me uncomfortable. His teachings make me uncomfortable. His call on my life makes me uncomfortable and the metaphors or words that we found above that describe him make me even more uncomfortable. Why? Because they describe the type of follower or disciple he is recruiting. Jim Elliot lived out the truth of his famous quote. He gave up what he could not have kept to gain something he couldn’t lose. The issue isn’t whether we believe the resurrection is true or not, the issue is how we believe it is true. Do we believe in it in such a way that it makes us uncomfortable with the sacrifices Jesus calls us to make in our way of living and being, or have we become adept at building a theological house of cards that can temporarily support a rationale for a life void of the gritty Jesus Metaphors while claiming that the Resurrection makes a difference in our lives?

What claim does the Resurrection make on our lives

March 8^th, 2008

By Hourn Kim Suong (male age 26)

Two years ago I heard on VOA about the forced eviction of the squatters in ‘Sambok Chap’ on the riverside area of Phnom Penh, and about then their dejection and loneliness after their resettlement in Andong, 20 kilometers from their former homes. This made me upset and but I was far away in Banteay Meanchey province. I made an effort to listen to radio reports about ‘Sambok Chap but after a while I lost interest. Later when I became a Diamond Project 2 student, we went to Andong Resettlement Village for an exposure trip to interview the villagers about their lives and hardships in their new resettlement location. God refreshed my heart and touched my spirit again, in order that I might reconsider the plight of these people. God gave me a new opportunity in seeing their squalid living conditions with my own eyes. God gave me a second chance to consider what God he had placed on my heart for these people two years ago. Upon seeing their living conditions, I felt sad and empathetic. Their houses were all made of thatch and placed so close together they looked like bananas in a bunch. It reminded me of how when it rains mushrooms appear very quickly, just overnight. Buildings in the city grow up quickly as well, but are made of solid building materials. Sambok Chap squatter’s houses are more like soft and fragile mushrooms because they are little temporary shacks like the ones that a farmer lives in to guard the rice fields during harvest time.

The smells of the muddy open sewers running down the paths between the rows of houses from this village are hard to stand for more than a short while. My female DP 2 partner ended up getting sick into the open sewer outside of the house of the family we were interviewing, because the smell of the open sewer was too much.

I asked myself, “Is this a place where people should live? How long can they put up with living in these conditions? How do they live in these conditions? What hope do they have at all? What about their health in the future? Who cares about these people?”

When we entered the village, and then the house of the family we interviewed, there was a five month old baby girl who was sleeping in a hammock. After that, a 30 year old man came in and he greeted us in the traditional Cambodian way. He asked us to sit down a bamboo bed and make ourselves comfortable. He told us his name was Bontheun and he owned the house. He told us his wife was very sick and he did not have the finances to help treat his wife’s ailment, but his brother in law helped take his wife to a far away province for treatment. He was left alone with his 5 month old baby daughter. It has been three months since she left, and since then has heard nothing from her. He waits every day for his wife and is diligent to take care of the baby, buts hopes his wife will return soon. Other people have offered to take his baby girl to raise for him as they have seen his predicament. His biggest problem is not being able to leave to go work and earn an income because he is busy watching his baby daughter. Ever since they were evicted from the riverfront, they have been miserable without have water for bathing and sanitation. Bonthuen has been able to catch some fish nearby to sell in order provide him and his daughter with some food. No one from the government has expressed even the slightest interest in them.

Then we went to visit another family’s house. We met another 30 year old man named Sophoin. Even though he greeted us with a big smile, we knew he was suffering on the inside. He told us he could not do manual labor because he recently broke some of his ribs, and he was a construction worker. When he lived in ‘Sambok Chap’ village on the Phnom Penh riverfront area, he was the one who provided for his family of nine. Now this burden has fallen onto his wife and his oldest daughter of 17, to be the bread winners. “My wife sells clams in Phnom Penh, and my daughter works in a garment factory.” Back in Sambok Chap, at least he could make a living, and in Andong during the rainy season the whole place floods and is always muddy. During the flooding his wife was having a baby and he told us that their roof leaked and they were miserably wet until some Christians came along and built them a new thatch house which has helped their health situation. “If the Christians didn’t help us, we don’t where our health and sanitation problems would have led us.” We talked with Sophoin until a 50 year old woman came in and began to talk with him. She was a widow neighbor by the name Kun Seng who sat down next to Sophoin, and she told us she her living situation was destitute when she was first evicted and plopped down in the rice paddies now called Andong. It is very difficult to sell her cakes in this area as opposed to in the city where she used to work before being evicted. She takes a motorcycle taxi back and forth to the city but the traveling expense eats up all her profits. She also said that she has received a lot of help from Christians; a new thatch hut, food, mosquito nets, and blankets, etc. If Christians did not help, she would be so much worse off. “The government threw us away like a bag of garbage into this dump and it is affecting our health and livelihood. If there were bathrooms, a good well, and opportunities to learn skills, it would really make our lives much easier.

The difficulties I have faced throughout my life in mind seemed like big ones, but compared to the people living in Andong, my problems are miniscule. When I experience problems, I am discouraged, but I can only imagine how these discouraged and depressed these people are. This experience of interviewing these two families causes me to think about them a lot because I have always had enough to eat, and a decent enough place to stay, etc. I also think about those in power, are they able to help these people and how? And why aren’t they helping? Are these people who are in power my neighbors? When I entered this village of the ‘poor in spirit’ I was sort of embarrassed and hesitant because I did not have even a little gift to give them. I felt bad when I saw their condition and how they needed help. I did not look down on them, and I also felt that they were not seeking power but to just improve their living conditions. They were out of hope, and not having much food to eat. I saw the children outside the resettlement area appealing for food from the pre-existing villagers but they did not help them, but instead looked down on them. The pre-existing villagers abutting the Andong resettlement village built high brick walls, put up concertina wire, and erected big signs that said, “Do Not Enter, Danger.” The existing village rejects them and does not want to help them at all because they bear the stigma of being poor. These people just need someone to help meet their basic needs of food and health, teach them some life skills, and help them income generation projects.

I did not think of them negatively, for what would I do if I were in their place? One question I asked myself; “Is God working here or not?” Psalms 146: 7-9 says; “God will mete out justice for those who are oppressed. God will give food to those who hunger. God will release those who are captive. God will open the eyes of the blind. God will lift up the humble, and raise them up tall. God loves the righteous. God protects and lifts up the aliens, orphans, and widows, and God will destroy the way of the wicked.”

What I have seen with my own eyes concerning the villagers according to this verse is that they are able to receive true hope that comes from God. I have learned about God’s compassion and mercy toward the poor and oppressed of Andong. Even though a number of them do not yet know who Jesus is, God is using the good deeds of his servants working in the village who help them when they have no hope. When society rejects them, the Christians serving here care. That shows that God accepts them and this gives them hope. They can see the character of our God which is displayed clearly among them through the good works of his servants here. I have heard them say, “Christians are the ones who have helped us, they have built houses for us, given us food, they have come to visit us; all this showed me that God is working among them through the various means of his servants there. Even though they lack a lot of things, they have received a special encouragement from God. One person told me with a smile that things have changed for the better since he first arrived. He now has a new thatch house, encouragement, and people to come visit him from the group of servants of God in the village.

When I left the village, I knew that Jesus’ presence was there, and that he was fulfilling his mission there. Jesus is with those ‘poor in spirit’ people. I want to take a part in helping the villagers of Andong. Although I do not live near their village, the work of what God is already going on there. My broken heart for them, my prayers, and helping those who serve God there, helps me have a part in God’s work there, even though I have no physical resources to help them. Most importantly, do I have compassion toward them? Will I pray for them? Can find some help for them from others for both their physical and spiritual needs, especially for helping them find ways for the children to study and go to school? Can I find help for the children that they can be lifted from the emotional burden of what their parent’s dysfunctional living situation has put upon them?

Therefore, from now on I will start to strengthen my personal spiritual formation through adding the element of compassion that gives my service to God more potential and more effectiveness. Feeling empathy for them makes me want to be more involved in their lives. This is one way for them to see the love of God through action and mission. Though I have no physical resources to give, I can help through the capacity that god has given me by telling others abut the needs of this poor group of villagers in Andong.

I know that God truly has a plan for the former people of ‘Sambok Chap’ who are now living in Andong. This plan starts with me, then my brothers and sisters in the faith, as we partner together to fulfill the mission has been started in Andong. We especially need to make a concentrated effort to gather together and pray regularly for Andong Village through an enduring heart of love.

I am sure you are sick of hearing about Diamond Project Level 2 but I am going to go on anyway. Just to remind you, Diamond Project Level 2 has 23 students who have about an average of 5 years ministry experience. There are both ‘full-time” emerging leaders and those emerging leaders who run a ministry in their churches in addition to their work or studies. About one third of the DP 2 students are women. We meet every Saturday morning from 8 am to 12 noon. During the week, small groups meet for prayer and discussion of last week’s class or next week’s class. I have them meeting in coffee houses or tea shops, etc; so that they are taking the church to the people on the people’s own territory. People are already starting to take interest.

For the month of February, Rob, a former missionary to Japan, came and walked them through ‘Focusing Leaders’ which helped the DP students to examine their life histories to see how God had been shaping their leadership development in order help them gain a focused perspective of where and how God will lead them in the future (more about Rob in another letter). This first Saturday of March we began block 2, “Leaders and Personal Spiritual Formation.” Two vans picked up the DP students at our Teen Drop-In-Center for an exposure trip to Andong village which is about 14k west of the airport. I rode my dirt bike out there eating dust and dodging cows the whole way. It took me about 35 minutes from our house in Phnom Penh. Before I left, I had this conversation with Jordan:

Dad: “Jordan, wanna come to a village with me?”

Jordan: “How many days does it take to get there?”

Dad: “No days, just about 45 minutes by motorcycle.”

Jordan: “I’m already going to a village with my school.”

Dad: “What village.”

Jordan: “We are going to Kirirom and camping out with my class.”

Dad: “That’s a national park and resort, not a village.”

Jordan: “No, it’s a village.”

Dad: “Jo, it is place where people go to swim and hike in the forest.”

Jordan: “Oh, well….um, what village are you talking about?”

Dad: “This is a re-settlement village where there are lots poor people.”

Jordan: “Thanks dad, but I already made plans for today.”

I arrived about 45 minutes before the vans, and chatted with Pastor Abraham. The DP students arrived shortly and we had a short time of worship, and then Pastor Abraham gave his story of how God called him to minister to the poorest of the poor. He told us how that when he was a younger Christian, he was a part of Campus Crusade’s New Life church where he was in charge of a ministry to Executives and Professionals until he read James 1:27

"What God the Father considers to be pure and genuine religion is this: to take care of orphans and widows in their suffering and to keep oneself from being corrupted by the world."

This verse changed his whole philosophy of ministry, and shortly after when he heard about the plight of these squatters who were forcibly evicted from valuable riverfront property in Phnom Penh in 2006, and plopped down in a rice paddy 20ks from Phnom Penh with no water, sanitation, etc., far from their source of work, he made his decision. Eight hundred families were now living in shacks made of tarps and rice sacks. Abraham’s wife began to work for a Christian Dental clinic to support him as he went to minister among the evicted squatters.

After Abe’s talk on his calling and a history of Andong Village, I gave the DP students their instructions:

• Go two by two, each person interviewing an Andong villager.
• Do not preach, do not evangelize, just LISTEN and write.
• Come back to Abraham’s Church for re-hydration and debrief:

Assignment: Reflection Paper

• What was their story?
• What part touched your heart?
• What has changed in your life as a result of this experience?

Small group meetings this week

Discuss: “What does this interview exercise have to do with Personal Spiritual Formation?”

You may be asking what kind of missionary would tell his disciples not to evangelize. We should fire this guy!

It was a hot hour in the village and when we were done, I walked back a young man from Young Life who told me, “In 2006, when I heard on VOA what happened, I cried for these people and I prayed that someday I could visit and be able to help them. Today God answered that prayer.”

We met back at Abraham’s for a short debriefing where the students themselves suggested taking an offering for the children of village, which we did. I asked two people to share briefly about their experiences. Another young man gave exactly the same story about listening to VOA but he heard on the broadcast that there was a Christian presence in Andong so he rejoiced in that.

One young lady shared:

“I interviewed an elderly lady whose story was filled with struggle, sadness, and grief. She lived a life of hopelessness. When I was concluding the interview, she brightened up a bit and said; “But Jesus did build this here roof over my head for me.”

This exercise of finding the heart of God through listening to the voices of the poorest of the poor is more than an academic lesson in following all the right procedures for personal spiritual formation. It is a conversion. The DP students were converted by not-yet-believers! They were converted in a similar way in which Pastor Abraham was converted. God spoke to Pastor Abraham about his heart for the poor through scripture, and God spoke to the DP students about his heart for the poor through the voices of the poor themselves. Catching a glimpse the heart of God is powerful spiritual transformation. A.W. Tozer once said, “God speaks to the person who is listening”

Brian reporting live from Cambodia