I'm coming home...

(Hanging out at a small restaurant on the riverside 

enjoying some green tea and a warm breeze)

   The time for me to return home is drawing near. I’ll be packing up everything I own within the next few days. Then I plan on making a run over to Vietnam for about a week. On my way back into Cambodia, I’ll meet Tim Atchley and Jeff Kear at the airport before spending a week with them showing them around Kampot. After having given them the tour of the small riverside town that has been my home for the past two years, we’ll all be boarding a plane with Lewis Burke back to Knoxville, TN, my home sweet home that I have missed so much.

   I’m going to miss this time here. From where I am sitting, I can look out across the slow rolling river and to see the end of the elephant mountain range with the peak of Bokor Mountain resting right where the sun sets each evening. The breeze blows through my hair and carries the warmth of this tropical climate over me as the sun shines down on my bare-feet. I’ve got some Pandora radio (that I have to route through a proxy server because it’s blocked in Cambodia) in my ears bringing me the sounds of Norah Jones, James Taylor, and Michael Buble.

   I’m going to miss the people here. Their smiling faces, their peaceful demeanor, and laid back stance in all things. I have had many frustrations in my time here, but I would go through them all again because I know I can sit here with a great peace about what was accomplished here, and the direction things are going. God has been so faithful to me and the work we have been doing here. I don’t know when I will return here again, but I do hope someday to come back and see this place and these people once again. The work that I did here was not the kind that sees results in a few weeks, months, or even years. I hope that if I see this place in another forty years, I will be able to see the impact that the work of this ministry has had on this city and this nation.

   My time here has been everything I have expected it to be and so much more. It has been such an honor to have served under Lewis Burke here. I rest peacefully on the lessons and the values of ministry that he has shared with me in my time here. Day in and day out he has lived out his convictions and beliefs faithfully and gracefully. I have thoroughly enjoyed my time living with the Burke family. The boys have been a continuous source of amusement and companionship. And Lewis and Kristen have been role models both in ministry and in the home. I have been so blessed to have had such an opportunity laid at my feet. I would encourage any person of any age who is feeling the leading of God to do something to not let fear or doubt get in the way. God knows what he’s doing. I know breaking from the norm and stepping out of our comfort zones is not an easy thing, but believe me brothers and sisters, God does know what he’s doing. 

          The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.

                    He makes me lie down in green pastures.

          He leads me beside still waters.

                    He restores my soul.

          He leads me in paths of righteousness

                    for his name's sake.

          Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,

                    I will fear no evil,

          for you are with me;

                    your rod and your staff,

                    they comfort me.

          You prepare a table before me

                    in the presence of my enemies;

          you anoint my head with oil;

                    my cup overflows.

          Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me

                    all the days of my life,

          and I shall dwell in the house of the LORD

                    forever.

(Psalm 23 ESV)