Reflections on Friday (late) - Grant

I stand in the bright yellow of Rahab’s House and I feel warm – not the sticky heat that is everywhere; I feel warm because I know this place has been transformed and God has used Fairview, even us, to do this great thing. I stand in the bright front room and feel warm but the smell of garbage is still wafting in from across the narrow dirt road; the screams of the kids who gather outside are getting to me (most if not all of us) a little more than they had been. The village representative who has been with us the whole time has already stolen from us and we watch him like a hawk because he’s eyeing everything.

I walk up the steep stairs for the last time. This used to be the “virgin room” – not any more. It is now a beautiful airy space that is bright with light and bright with hope. I pray with two others who had come up for the last time. It is a powerfully emotional prayer for me as we acknowledge what this space was and that it will never be that again rather it will be a place of hope – it shines with God’s hope.

I go down the stairs for the last time. I feel good.

I walk through what is now a wide open, brightly lit room and there is a sense of holiness about it. I don’t think I am over spiritualizing it to say that. So much of the work that went into making the room as it is was holy work – knocking down walls, chipping away at the bits of wall still attached to the floor, scraping off the pink paint and on and on the list goes. Holy means “set apart for a special purpose.” Rahab’s House has a sense of holiness to it now.

God has used us for His purpose and for His own joy. My joy at seeing this place in this condition must parallel God’s joy. God’s joy is likely bigger not because we have done such good work but because He sees the whole of the plan from beginning to end. God knows what will become of this place and the impact it will have on Svay Pak.

11 days earlier I cried tears of distress as I walked through the cubicles. Today tears of joy roll down my cheeks.

Our part of the work is accomplished. God had things going on in Rahab’s House long before we arrived and God will have things going on long after we’ve left. ARC is having a kitchen installed as well as a new tiled floor and movable dividing walls are being constructed. It would have been nice for us to see all of that work done but that would have just served the purposed of making us feel good. It is probably better that we don’t get to see everything this place will be because it reminds us that we are just a small part in a much bigger work that God is doing here.

I feel God’s satisfaction. I walk toward the open gate. I stand just inside for several minutes. The team decides to walk through the village to the highway to be picked up by the van there. I step out of the holiness of Rahab’s House into the evil and need of Svay Pak and walk to the road. God has a lot to do here and He’s got some very good people here in Cambodia to help him.

I reach the highway.

It is time to go home!

Grant