God shows up in the killing fields
Renee Padgett, a racer from my son’s team wrote me this morning in response to my post about the Cambodian holocaust. In it I described a documentary that explores about the Khmer Rouge killers and the theme of man’s inhumanity to man. The Khmer Rouge still live in the killing fields, surrounded by the buried bones of their victims and dangerous mine fields. They are outcasts shunned by their countrymen.
Renee recalled meeting a man who God called to that very place.
Our
friend Vanny was my age during the Khmer Rouge, and his family spent
most of the war in Thailand’s refugee camps. Vanny began to trust Jesus
here, after Christian missionaries shared food, shelter, and Jesus’ love
with him and his family.When the war ended Vanny and his family
returned to Cambodia to begin a church and an orphanage. Vanny travels
around from village to village preaching and teaching the other church
pastors.He
told me of one village in particular that he went to visit
this year – the Khmer Rouge village. This village is made up of
ex-soldiers and Khmer Rouge leaders, who have sort of been exiled to a
northwestern village where landmines still dot the territory. The locals keep
quite a distance. So when Vanny heard God telling him he needed
to go and tell this village about Jesus, everyone told him he was
crazy, but he went anyways.With lots of prayer and a racing heart he
marched into the Khmer Rouge village and obediently preached the Gospel –
God allowed Vanny to find favor with their leaders and was not only
welcomed but also asked to come back. They seemed to be starving for any
contact from other people – and eager to find forgiveness for their war
crimes.
Don’t you love to see God’s redemptive plan taking on the worst that evil can do and winning? I thank God for heroes like Vanny who listen to God’s voice and then dare to do what he asks. We are all capable of such heroism if we’ll just take the time to listen to him and hear his heartbeat for even the most wretched of men.
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This is so inspiring…and the faith I yearn for is like Vanny’s; to have my heartbeat in sync with that of Christ as one. I have made some major life shifts to clear the debris and noise from my life so I can more clearly hear HIS voice. And then obey…looking forward to commencing one of the listening prayer groups soon. The book is on its way. Peace.
I DO love this! Thank you so much for sharing! & that is one of the reasons our God is so awesome.
“So when Vanny heard God telling him he needed to go and tell this village about Jesus, everyone told him he was crazy, but he went anyways.”
I pray that we would always go anyways, even when people say that we are crazy.
Love it….. what a testimony to the power of redemption.