I spent twelve days living in Phnom Penh and Svay Pak Cambodia serving God with seven close friends brothers and sisters. During that time God taught us a lot of things, and as I reflect on everything that we did and saw, He continues teaching me. I kept a pretty detailed journal while I was abroad -- I filled up about half of my notebook -- and I want to be able to share everything with everyone! That's why I'm making this blog. I want to tell everyone what we did and what we saw; but more importantly, I want to share what God did and what God taught us.
I'm at school right now, and I don't have my journal, but I wanted to share something God taught me, just as an overall theme of the trip. God isn't big in America. God is HUGE in Cambodia. Now, before anyone starts yelling at me, let me rephrase. The way we see God in America is microscopic compared to the way the believers I met in Cambodia see Him. We don't see our need for God. We don't see God's blessings and provision. We don't see God's compassion. We don't see God's forgiveness. We don't see the need for prayer... I could go on indefinitely, but I'm going to stop there. It's gross to think about.
I left America thinking, subconsciously or not, that I was doing alright spiritually. Obviously, I knew that there are always areas to work on and things I could do better, but overall, I felt like I was really seeking after God. Let me tell you, I didn't even know what seeking after God meant before this trip.
Interjection: It's so funny. We go on mission trips to serve, to be a blessing to the people we meet, to share the love of Jesus, to encourage God's workers... I really feel like we were served, we were blessed, we were shown the love of Jesus, and we were encouraged by the followers we met in Cambodia much more than we ever could have done for them. But, I digress...
Where was I? Oh, yes! God is HUGE in Cambodia! Want to know how I know? Evidence: 1. What do Cambodian believers talk about? God. 2. What do they spend ALL of their time doing? Serving God and learning about God. 3. What do they ask us about? How we came to know God. 4. (Here's where it gets real) In whom do they place all of their trust? God. 5. What is the #1 thing I saw them doing all the time? Praying to God.
How many American believers do I know that do all any of those things well?
Reminds me of a story. (FYI: What you are about to read is my highly paraphrased version of Matthew 19:16-28)
One day Jesus was teaching (No surprises there). A rich, young man approached him and asked him, "Teacher, what good thing must I do to get into Heaven?" Jesus answered him with a question (something He is famous for!), "Why do you ask me about what is good?” Jesus replied. “There is only One who is good. If you want to enter life, keep the commandments."
The man questioned, "Which ones?" So, Jesus began rattling off the ten commandments that every Jew knew backwards and forwards, "You shall not murder, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not steal, you shall not lie, honor your father and mother, and love your neighbor as yourself.." The young man started feeling pretty good about himself. He'd never killed anyone. Check. He'd never stolen anything. Check. He tells the truth. Check. He says yes ma'am and yes sir to his parents. Check. He hosts dinner with his neighbors. Check. This guy is doing allllllright! (Sound familiar yet?)
Just to make sure he's covered to get in to Heaven, he tosses in a quick, "What do I lack?" Here's where Jesus throws down the hammer: "If you want to be perfect,
go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me." WHAT? This young guy is freaking out. He has to sell everything? Everything!? Did I mention this guy is rich? This guy's everything is a lot! So, he marches off with his tail between his legs. He was actually sad when he left. He wanted to get eternal life, he just wanted his money a lot more.
After he left, Jesus said this famous line to his disciples: "It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God."
So now I'm thinking about Texas, the greatest country in the world! They say everything is bigger in Texas. Bigger geographical size, bigger attitudes, bigger trucks, bigger population, bigger people, bigger everything. And BIGGER is better (At least that is your opinion if you are a Texan).
But is what counts really bigger here? We have everything we need here. And we have enough (and even too much, in some cases) of everything we need here. That's good right? Well, think about the story I told you... "It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God."
We have bigger stuff. We have bigger pocket books. We have a smaller God. So, when I said God isn't big in America, what I mean is, God isn't big to Americans. So, yeah we have big stuff; this time, I am saying that bigger isn't better (and I'm a Texan). We get so distracted by the bigger stuff here in Texas, we get distracted from the better God.
At the beginning of this post I said today was my first day back to real life. I wonder, though, if real life is what I just left instead...
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