Thanksgiving for the grace of God

Some of the churches organized special ‘Thanksgiving' Sunday worship services, including Phnom Penh  and Prek Thei.  In the beginning, I felt a bit uneasy because I thought they were just copying from the Western tradition.  However, I discovered that it is also a good tradition for Christians anywhere to observe - to count the blessings of the Lord in a specific season.  Actually from November to December, farmers here start to harvest their produce.   It's time to celebrate and remind us what God has done for us over the past year.  Our churches encouraged the members to bring some fruit to offer to God (probably the church in the village also brought more kinds of vegetables).  When I saw all the varieties of fruits put together, it made a very wonderful picture illustrating the abundance and beauty of God's creation.  May Glory of the Lord be exalted through our grateful hearts.

I also thank God especially for His grace that I have experienced in November:

Daniel's wedding

God is gracious in allowing us to see our ministry bearing good fruit for the Lord.  Daniel was brought up in the FMC since he was a child.  He has experienced God's grace in different stages of his life, such as studying at the Bible College, serving the church as a pastor, working in a Christian organization, serving the church fervently as a lay member, facing a crisis when his father was seriously sick, and now getting married with a Christian (Pastor Kung Thy's daughter) and building up a Christian family.  Particularly his wedding also became a blessing to the non-Christians in that they could see our God is trustworthy and gracious.  I know the new couple elaborately organized the program in a special way that also respected the Cambodian wedding traditions. For instance, they washed each other's feet, and their parents' feet to show mutual service and submission, just like when Jesus washed the feet of the disciples.  They put a stone under the feet to represent that the foundation was laid on the rock of faith in Christ.  I admire their hearts to witness to God's love in their wedding ceremony.

Flat Tire

The HK Medical team came for 10 days to serve poor people through medical service.  Sometimes I needed to help with transportation.  I knew my truck tire had a problem, but I had no free time to fix it.  As long as it worked, I figured I could wait until the team left.  When I drove back to the city after taking a doctor to airport, the tire suddenly blew out and dragged my truck to the right side of the road.  Thank the Lord for His protection because there were no cars or motorcycles passing by or next to my truck, even though it was the peak traffic time (around 5 pm).  Otherwise, I would have been in big trouble.  Furthermore, right where I stopped my truck was a car washing service shop, thus I could get help from them to change the flat tire in 10 minutes.  I realized that if the tire had blown out when I took the doctor to airport, or if there was no one to help along the road during busy hours, I could not imagine how bad the consequences might have been.  God is good and delivers me from accidents and trouble.

Pastors' meeting

Pastor Polly Ho stayed behind after the medical team left, in order to talk about some ministries with us.  There was an occasion to meet with our local pastors.  We had a wonderful time of communicating with each other, even though there were some differences in our mindsets.  However, we were able to clarify the issues face to face, instead of keeping lots of questions inside our hearts.  For instance, the pastors did not know exactly why we need to have a partnership with other denominations to build a school, or why we needed to sacrifice some of the land without considering the needs of our ministries there.  I think the most important thing is the willingness to express our ideas, rather than the differences in our thinking.  Praise the Lord because this kind of communication is not the way of their culture to handle conflicts or dissatisfaction.  May God grant us the unity to serve Him disregarding our cultural differences or personal preferences.

Prayer points

1. Praise the Lord that the new University students are getting sponsors

2. 3 more overseas teams will come in late December; may God grant us the strength to serve

3. Pray for the development projects at House of Love, House of Joy, Kampot and the mango field. May God guide us to work with the churches and centers effectively

4. Pray for our mission team in midst of busy schedules

5. Pray about the global economic recession which may have impact on the Cambodian economy e.g. investment, job opportunities, etc.

Psalm 147:11

Davis Lam

Cambodia Mail Address: P.O Box 602, Phnom Penh, Cambodia