#14 - Six Months: Beyond the comfort zone

Vol.14

Six Months

Mark 4:35-41(NIV) 35 That day when evening came, he said to his disciples, “Let us go over to the other side.” 36 Leaving the crowd behind, they took him along, just as he was, in the boat. There were also other boats with him. 37 A furious squall came up, and the waves broke over the boat, so that it was nearly swamped. 38 Jesus was in the stern, sleeping on a cushion. The disciples woke him and said to him, “Teacher, don’t you care if we drown?”39 He got up, rebuked the wind and said to the waves, “Quiet! Be still!” Then the wind died down and it was completely calm.40 He said to his disciples, “Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?”41 They were terrified and asked each other, “Who is this? Even the wind and the waves obey him!”

At my six month mark here, this is the Scripture that spoke the loudest to me: 'He said… let us go over to the other side.'

God said to me, 'Vidya, let us go to Cambodia.'

He did not say, you go, but He used ‘us’.

Such a small word, two letters, yet so powerful and so comforting. I am not alone, the great I AM is with me.

And then it gets better in verse 36, it says …they took him along. 

I am here. You all are with me in my journey. I have this picture of you in boats coming alongside me, rowing with me. 

And, yes, the best part of this verse, … just as he was! 

God wanted me in my imperfect state to do His will. From conversations I have had with some of you, I got the impression that some people think 'Oh! God is using Vidya because she is super spiritual. Look! She was on the prayer team… she was working with Pastor Sam (!)… etc. She has her act together…(Wait one moment as I collect myself from laughing!)

I want to let you know that He uses people who are struggling and broken. He wants all of us to be on His team. He wanted me to move now, not wait until I was ‘perfect’ (for then I would be dead!).

When it is time to move, you have to move. God was and is calling me to a new level of faith. Am I willing to exercise that faith, to leave my comfort zone behind? God may not be calling all of us to physically move from one place, but I know He is calling all of us to exercise that new level of faith. He is ‘upping the ante’, so to speak. Am I going to leave my comfort level of faith and go for it? There are greater things on the other side.

There is an anointing when I allow my faith to be exercised. Learning to sing praises even BEFORE going through a trial. Singing or in my case, dancing, brings down the strongholds. I CAN be in the boat with Jesus and yet not go to that different level of faith. I can move physically to where He wants me but still stay at the same level of faith, still in my comfort zone of faith.

But I want to go to the other side, I do not want to stay in Ch. 4 but I want to move to Ch. 5:1 …they went across the lake..

Thank you all for going with me across the lake, praying, interceding in the battle with me; sending me cards, phone calls, emails….visiting. I miss the intimacy of praying with others onsite. I am very grateful to have had the experience of being able to pray with those who have come to visit, on Skype and on the phone. My prayer life comes alive when I, too, can intercede for you, the cord of His Holy Spirit bringing us together.

What keeps me going?

Mark 4:38: (Allow me to paraphrase this) I picture my students asking me this, “Cher (or vidya cute girl) , don’t you care if we drown? Why are you not giving your best to teach us, why are you NOT doing what He has told you to do?

HE has given me so much: His life; His unconditional love; He has asked me too as in verse 40: Why are you still afraid to venture out and do what I ask you to? HE just has to speak and the winds quieten down. What assurance and, yeah, what power.

...Some people have asked "What are you doing?", just as they did to the disciples when they were asked by God to untie the donkey and bring it to Him (Mark 11:5). All I know is that God does not need me to fully understand what I am called to do, He just calls me to fully obey, that is why I am crossing over to the other side of the lake with Him, in Him and with you. ....
I serve a God and a King who is alive.

Gems:

• Being able to Skype in and see Ken and Christine Kho get married. Highlight for me was seeing you all; and the highlight for Wayne Deering, who made it all possible by his expertise, was that he was finally able to mute me! Yes, you heard me! He has done what you all may have wanted to do at some time: press the mute button and I was silenced! (Not really! I was singing up a storm and yelling like crazy when I saw you all and Chris and Ken saying their vows!)
•   Getting to Skype and say Happy Thanksgiving to my sis, and nephews!
•     Phone calls and hearing your voices.

Weeping and gnashing of teeth:

Since Channak and Pastor are with the tour group in Canada, one of my unexpected duties is discipline. 
The other English teacher knew there was a possibility that the kids would be misbehaving in one class so I told her to dismiss the ‘good’ ones early and keep the unruly ones back and I would come into the class to talk to them. I forgot about this and I was passing by the class when I heard kids crying and was wondering what was wrong. There were 4 kids, three of whom were sobbing their hearts out and one was just sitting there! 
They were told I was coming and before I came the crying started! 
I, then, in my mind, resorted to my Trini mindset (or West Indian!), thinking seriously. I was exasperated, thinking “I will give you something to cry about!”…“Why are you crying?”… to another thought, “You are not crying about anything, SO, I will give you something to cry about!”

Yes, my mind worked that fast and I was about to smile when I remembered I was there to discipline! It was hard because these were the little ones, and the tears rolling down their faces, and the sobs shaking their bodies. (I know you are thinking ‘Oh Vidya, how could you!)

These are the same kids who refused to listen to their teacher and ignored her and, yes, they could do the tears like no other! 
Their punishment: no Thai movie on Sat. night!

I had asked you to pray for creativity when disciplining (also no work for me, correcting lines and essays is punishing ME!); and for one of my own students: he got to stay in his room with his English book as his only company! (He was reading a Khmer book in class and he is very social.)

It is late at night, and the internet connection is gone again and so my housemate Annette and I are going back out with our flashlights to check one of the rooms to see if the power is on. Yes, I am going back out even though a frog just jumped on my foot! And, nope, I did not scream. It is probably the same one that was in my bathroom this morning; not sure how that got in!

King-Father and the King of Kings

The Ex-King Norodom of Cambodia died two days ago in China. His body is being flown back here and for next 3 months will lie in state before the funeral. The older generation of Cambodians grieve for the loss of the king-father and one said, ‘He is loved because he did things for the country.’ He led to their independence and helped to build up the country.

I immediately think of our King, the Lord of all, and His death, and thankfully His resurrection, and the hope I have in Him, an ever-present, unshakeable, and enduring hope. He is the reason that I dare to go to the next level of faith, to go across to the other side of the lake, to not stay in Ch.4 but go to Ch.5!

Community
Shannon and Graham Erickson are here; an example of my community bringing in a care package from you, my community in Toronto. But having them here, in the flesh, talking and sharing, and praying together, is the most powerful gift. And we get to share that gift of ourselves with Pastor Sok and Savy. I have regretfully not been able to visit them since I have come here, so it is with great anticipation I look forward to seeing Tahas Institute and the kitchen which was just opened in 2009, and which you in Rexdale helped to establish (you see where my heart is!), and the library!

I am back in the city to finish this. I do apologize for not sending frequent updates, but with my laptop acting up and not having internet (but can Skype--go figure!) for the past 5 weeks since the group left to go on tour in Canada, it has been difficult to send things out!

I just came from breakfast, and as I was walking by, a group of tuk tuk drivers said to me, “thank you for honoring our King Father”. I was wearing the black ribbon pinned to my T-shirt and had forgotten about it. Wearing it has been a bridge with the hotel staff and the workers in the grocery, and now tuk tuk drivers. Prime Minister Hun Sen has declared seven days of mourning here, so everyone is wearing a black ribbon above the heart to show respect.

Last night I had an opportunity to take my 5 students who graduated to House of New Dreams in the city, (grade 11 and university) to see the Palace where the king’s body lies in state; to Night Market on the river side. I forgot that these kids, even though they are Khmer, have never been to the city, except to their house here or to go to New Life ( Khmer church) in a van from the centre. SO I was their tour guide!

Photo credit

You should have seen their faces, when they saw all the lights and water fountains in Independence Square, when they saw all the tall buildings, all the people out at night, all the cute girls (yes, they are all boys and kept saying, ‘Cher’ go make friends!'). They were quiet when they saw the hundreds of people sitting on the road in front of the palace, with the incense candles and hands in prayer formation, praying to the king. We talked about respect and honor but also we pray only to Jesus Christ. And I wanted them to look and see how many of their own people need Christ: we prayed that those who bend the knee there to the king would soon bend the knee to THE KING OF KINGS!

Then being boys and being me, we went to hunt for food! At Night Market, which is exactly what the name means, a market at night, with 2 exceptions tonight: it is usually quite noisy with the gambling calls and the entertainment on stage, but tonight, it is quiet due to the passing of the king. We walked and bought sugar cane juice, and sweet potato patties and sat on the mat, Khmer style, at the food area and just enjoyed being there.

I was thinking, “Thank you, Lord, for allowing me to be there with them for this first experience.” I was surprised by how excited they were when I got there with the tuk tuk from Rescue to take them out! They do not have the money to go into the city at night (they have bikes which they ride to school in the daytime) and it is about 20 minutes from their place to the city. So it was sweet to be there with them. They kept saying, “Thank you Cher, or vidya cute girl!”

I end this with a grateful heart that you, all my community, have sacrificed your time and your finances by rowing along with me. At times it has been very taxing, it takes a lot of energy to row, sweat pouring down our faces, yet how refreshing it is when the wind blows and He so sweetly speaks. I pray for the anointing of His Spirit on all of us.

I love you all.

Dancing with Him ever so much,

Love, Sister Vidya