So tonight is our last night in PP. Xave, after a later night than usual, has crashed. But I am still up, having one of those times when you swim in thoughts and questions. I'd love these to be questions Christians ask more often in missions or compassionate work. I wish they were things I had more answers to, but I just seem to have questions. None of them dim my belief that God has called us into this, or make my heart weaker. Maybe they just sharpen it because they are the hard details of help which actually helps.
firstly: what do I as a non Khmer have to offer? I mean in terms of cultural understanding, or even being able to say more than " hello! Thank you!" Too quickly the answer comes to my mind as money- but i know how money has the power to help and hurt, and has often done more harm than good to these communities, breeding unhelpful dependence structures. So what are we being asked by God to offer?
secondly: how do I avoid a Hollywood style tendency (which I will admit I get at times) to want to come and rescue the world?
There's a lot more swimming round my head. For those of you who are in our community, I'd love you to think and pray on this. If you are readers, grab a copy of "we are not the hero" or "when helping hurts". If you are not readers, at very least have a think about what the Bible actually says about helping people outside your direct community. I'd love your thoughts on this.
for those not in the church on the hill community here would be a great space for you to share some ideas. I think it is totally worth thinking through how to engage BEFORE we jump in and form a partnership of any sort with someone overseas. I need to repeat really, these things these thoughts are really about sharpening the convictions God has placed in our hearts, not losing them. I have met a good swag of people who have stopped engaging in compassion projects because they were not able to maintain what Martin Luther King Jr called a "soft heart and hard head". The complexities of this issue either hardened their hearts a bit, or fried their brains so the gave up or disengaged in part or in total. This is not our path, this is not the ending God has in mind for us. So it is time to pray, and ask hard questions and wait for the answers He will give us.
Thanks eveyrone one doe journeying with Xave and me these last 2 weeks. It has been such an adventure, and a treasure for me as a dad which I will keep with me for a long time. We love you, we have needed and felt the blessing of your prayers. And we will see some of you in 2 days!
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