Grateful

This is from Gena, based on her recent experience in a rural area of Cambodia.

I found myself standing in front of a small simple hut outside a village with a group of others under the intense afternoon heat of a Cambodian dry season day.. A man stood before us with his hands tucked self-consciously out of sight. I stood in the background as my traveling companions and the pastor of the village engaged in conversation. “Did you receive the medication? Have you finished the course of treatment? Tell us more about your situation…”. All this was in a language I did not understand although some of it was translated into English, but I watched as the man responded, slowly bringing out his hands which were missing almost all of his fingers with only stubs in their place. He is a modern day leper living in a world where treatment through medication can totally heal a person suffering from this disease. And he is connected to a village, a community, families bound together by location, living, working, rejoicing, suffering, together trying to make sense of this life we have been given. Conversation went back and forth and I could see the frustration on the faces of the pastor and my companions. Some of the details were filled in later for me…this man had begun treatment (which had noticeably helped him) but ran out of medication and for a variety of reasons had not continued the treatment. this man had adult children living in the village who were not proactive in helping to care for their father, the pastor felt frustrated that his attempts to help were not met with the follow through and help of others, and many of the villagers were afraid of catching leprosy and do not want this man to move back into the village even if he was completely healed. And the man himself caught up in all these thing commented, “Now many people bring me what I need…who will care for me if I am healed?”

I was only an observer. I was traveling with my colleague Aimee Cima and three other Cambodians to watch and learn from their work using CHE (Community Health Evangelism ), a Christ based community development training method, in a remote village in the province of Ratanakiri. Aimee and her team have been doing work in this particular village for some time now offering training and education to help bring transformation within the community. CHE strongly advocates for change that begins with and is sustained by the people of the community, not an outside organization. It is an exciting model that I pray I will be able to utilize more and more during our time in SE Asia. It is a model that I believe brings lasting change and genuine hope.

But, in that moment, outside a leper’s hut under the sweltering sun, my heart only broke for what seemed the impossible, total and complete healing, not only physical for the leper but also for the many complex relationships within this small dusty village, a place so vastly different than the places I have called home and yet so much the same. As our group closed our time with the man in prayer, I was reminded of Jesus’ words to the invalid at the pool called Bethesda, “Do you want to be healed?” (Jn 5:6). And what was the man’s response? A resounding ‘YES!’ ? No, the man replied, “Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the pool is stirred up…” (Jn. 5:7) He didn’t really answer the question, he instead pointed to why he wasn’t healed. And Jesus knowing allthings, knowing how prone we humans are to accepting status quo, to throwing up our hands in disbelief, making excuses and usually blaming others for what isn’t in our lives, this Jesus heals the man…”And at once the man was healed…” (Jn. 5:9). Not based on the man’s correct response or actions that proved his willingness, not based on the people who surrounded the invalid. Nothing but Jesus’ love and mercy. And as I stood with bowed head outside the leper’s hut, God lifted my gaze to Him and I could see with renewed eyes His profound love and grace that make all things possible. I could notice how God’s love was already at work in this small village, bringing hope and life through a pastor’s concern, through a team determined to find a way for a leper to access medical treatment, through curious children observing care for a man who is an outcast in their village, through the dedication of the new CHE committee volunteers of the village who want to see change and hope in their community, through a simple meal of fish and rice shared between all of us who gathered on that hot dusty day. God is so good. And I am so grateful for the opportunity I had to witness God’s continuing work in another part of His beautiful world.