Cambodia Day Four

Today was a lot of fun in Svay Pak as I became more accustomed to the medical lingo. My team is calling me Dr. B now which I'm loving:)! Our team is already working together so well. It's wonderful, but not surprising because we've been asking God for that very thing.

During our lunch break everyday we are visiting 9 local brick factories where entire families live and work. Most are indebted to the brick factory owner and barely make enough to eat, let alone pay back their debt. While there today Pastor Chantha shared the story of one of the families. The husband died and left his wife and three children. She didn't have any money to bury him, so the brick factory owner took his body and threw it off the property onto the road. Devastated, the wife came to Pastor Chantha and he provided funds to purchase a coffin so they could bury him with honor. But the family was still in debt. Their debt meant a life sentence at the brick factory because they owed the owner $507. A debt they would never be able to pay.

Pastor Chantha shared the family's plight with friends in Canada and someone donated money to pay the debt. Can you imagine the family's delight and surprise when Pastor Chantha came with the $507 and set them free? I can, because I've seen how they live. I've witnessed the filth, poverty, pain and desperation they're surrounded with every day. $507 is not very much money for many of us in America, and yet for this family, it meant life, it meant freedom. It meant breaking a cycle of debt, dishonor and poverty. It meant returning to their home province to see family they hadn't seen in twenty years due to their debt.

Why would someone pay a debt they didn't owe and didn't deserve for someone they didn't know? Because Jesus paid our debt...a debt He didn't deserve, for us...to set us free. And when you know Jesus, and discover the delight of having your debt cancelled, you can't help but do the same for others.

Why do we desire to see others set free?
Because Jesus' love compels us...it's the only answer that makes sense.