Cesspool

Marty's Daily Diary #2

Sway Pak is a "cesspool." There is no other word that I can use right now. We arrived there around 7:45 this morning and had some time to walk through Rahab's House to allow the place to soak in to our souls. It was totally unbelievable. I can not fathom that human beings could possibly pay money to travel to this place and then pay more money to do the things that have occured throughout the history of this building.
As I walked through each room, despite the fact I was taking photos of the drawings, writings and symbols on the walls, one image from yesterday continued to resonate in my head. The last painting I encountered at Tuol Sleng depicted a man holding a baby by the ankles in his hand and he is about to smash the baby against a tree, as if it was nothing more than a fish. (I have decided not to upload this image.) The painting vividly shows pure evil. As I walked through Rahab's House I wept because of the horrendous acts of evil that occured in there prior to 2003.
BUT the Kingdom of God is in-breaking - literally today - with each swing of a sledgehammer. As I stepped up to hammer that first wall as hard as I could I sensed that amidst my anger, God was smiling. Moreover, in our devotion time before we bagan the work, Clayton mentioned that one girl who lost her virginity in this place is now regularly coming back as a teacher to share the love of God with the kids that litter Sway Pak. That is God's Kingdom.

(One last wee thought for today - I wish my dad was here! I imagined throughout the day how he would have been in the midst of the demolition and he would have worked as hard as he could all day long. That makes me proud and I hope I made him proud today.)

May God continue to "break-in."
Marty