Mennonite Church USA has called for a day of praying and fasting around the U.S. Elections on Monday, November 4th. We are currently participating from Cambodia – where it is Monday already – as Crystal and I set aside the moments opened to us by fasting for prayer. Personally, I am praying that God’s transformative…
Tag: Scripture
Reflections on breaking relationship and breaking bread together
I’ve been reading a book by J. Nelson Kraybill titled Stuck Together: the Hope of Christian Witness in a Polarized World. It’s a very inspiring book that speaks to the kind of presence I personally believe Christianity should have in the world. Nelson writes from a lifetime of experience and seamlessly weaves together contemporary real…
Let the meditation of my heart
After my Father died I went through a cycle of depression and anger. I wasn’t angry at God or even what had happened, I was just angry in general. My first internal reaction to most interactions was negative. I held on to uncharitable thoughts and petty grudges for no reasons. I knew this was a…
Elijah, Highs and Lows
When I’m low I often think about the prophet Elijah. Specifically, how he lived for three years on the run while drought and famine plagued the land, then how he confronted King Ahab and challenged 450 Prophets of Baal to a public contest on Mount Carmel. There, in front of a crowd of witnesses, Elijah’s…
25 years later, Prey Veng is landmine-free.
Last year, a new sign went up on the Prey Veng Waterfront declaring that the province was officially mine-free. Prey Veng is the third most populous province in Cambodia but lacks an urban center with the population spread among rural villages. The fighting in Cambodia came to end twenty-five years ago when the final Khmer…
Charlotte’s First Bible
The church I am a member of, Plains Mennonite in Hatfield, PA, has a tradition of giving every child entering first grade their first Bible, in anticipation of them learning how to read. Charlotte missed this tradition as we came to Cambodia during kindergarten an I did not give it much thought as she continues…
Visiting Sokhim’s Vegetable Garden
During my visit to Kratie in January 2023, I meet with a poor farmer named Sokhim who lives along the Mekong river in Kratie province. She is a recent widow whose husband passed away after a lengthy illness leaving her to raise five children on her own. Sokhim’s husband was building a new house for the…
Visiting Mok Samun’s Farm
Early this month we took an all-team trip out to Prey Veng province for the first time since March 2020. I think it’s very important for our short term volunteers in the city to understand what life is like for the majority of Cambodians and it means a lot to our Cambodian staff to see…
‘Make our own Khmer meal’ at the Welcoming Place
Yesterday we traveled to Akron, Pennsylvania for meetings at the MCC US office and spent the night at the Welcoming Place. We invited MCC Cambodia alumni in the area to meet us in the evening for a ‘make our own Khmer meal’. Many alumni are actually in Cambodia right now for a MCC International Programs…
Myanmar: Give the LORD no rest
The situation in Myanmar is getting worse. Now the power cuts are extreme and people are surviving without electricity most of the time, setting alarms for when the electricity comes on so they can quickly cook their food and charge their phones. Food and basic commodities are more expensive. And Omicron is blazing through the…