“For Christ is our peace, who made all believers into one, breaking down the dividing wall.” Ephesians 2:14
It was the defining ministry trip of my life. Along with Pastor Mike Hudgins, Kent and Keitha Russell and Tom Ravensberg, I traveled to Thailand, Malaysia and Cambodia in 1999. While in Phnom Penh, Cambodia’s capital, I daily attended a 6 am intercessory meeting located on the second floor of a large building. I remember walking from the hotel to the meeting, staring at buildings riddled with gunshots from the Vietnam War, a conflict that had spilled across the border into Cambodia.
The prayer time was electric. The leader, a woman named Deborah, would point to a city or province on a large map and the well over 100 Cambodian men and women present would raise their hands, crying out to God for their beloved country and interceding with unbridled passion. This went on for over an hour with many weeping and shouting and imploring God to pour His Spirit out upon Cambodia.
At the end of one meeting, Deborah instructed us to pair up and pray for each other. I suddenly found myself face to face with an elderly man, long deep wrinkles etched into his leathery face, a stringy goatee, dark, piercing eyes, tattered clothes and worn out sandals. I sat down across from him, cross-legged, our knees almost touching.
In a brief, awkward silence we just stared at each other. I then smiled and said “hello.” He smiled back and nodded his head. Then the Holy Spirit gently settled down upon us and I looked at him again, suddenly feeling deep emotion. I couldn’t hold back the tears and began to weep, as did he. I finally managed a simple prayer in English. He prayed in Khmer and when he finished I reached out and took his hands, gripping them tightly.
There we were. Two men who lived almost 10,000 miles apart. We couldn’t speak the same language. Lived in completely different cultures. Looked nothing alike. He was Asian and I was Caucasian. He was near 80, I was 57. Yet we were one in Christ and we knew it, and rarely have I felt such joy.
Add a long goatee and this is what my Cambodian friend looked like.
Prayer Focus This Week – pray for two young men, Wes and Addison, both battling to regain health, Wes from a serious fall and Addison, suffering from four concussions, struggling with headaches, dizziness, and ultra-noise sensitive.
From John Bunyan, writer of the classic “The Pilgrim’s Progress.”
Though the hill is high,
I still desire to walk it.
I don’t care how difficult it is,
Because I understand
It leads to the way of life.
Pastor Jay