Go Beyond

   Our visit to the Choeung Ek execution site on Monday afternoon was a sobering experience. I wept as I lay in bed that night, feeling a bit overwhelmed by all that I had seen. What I found even more disturbing is the fact that Choeung Ek is just one of many killing fields in Cambodia. Almost two million people lost their lives in the span of a few years because a few people in positions of power had lost their minds. Pol Pot and his lieutenants turned Cambodia into a nightmare – a living hell. Whatever visions of grandeur Pol Pot and his cadres had, they were not realized. When Pol Pot mysteriously died on April 15, 1998, his lifeless remains were hastily cremated atop a heap of old tires and rubbish – a fitting end. Only eight people were in attendance at this ignoble occasion in a small village in the district of Anlong Veng.

   On Tuesday morning we drove past the darkness of Choeung Ek toward the province of Takeo near the Vietnam border. When we finally turned off the main highway, we bounced along a rutted dirt road until we arrived at the village of Trapang Sdok. Almost four-hundred people had come from the surrounding villages to hear a message of life and hope in Jesus Christ. Unlike the signs of death I had seen at Choeung Ek, I saw signs of life everywhere at Trapang Sdok.

   When we visited Choeung Ek we were greeted by 8,000 human skulls, evidence of lives forever silenced by the Khmer Rouge. However, when we arrived at Trapang Sdok, we were greeted by almost four-hundred smiling faces, people enjoying one another’s company under the shade of colorful awnings. Friends and neighbors from this and other nearby villages had assembled without fear to worship the living God – something Pol Pot had tried to end. They treated us with respect and kindness and listened attentively as Barnabas and I preached the gospel. Sixty-three of those present that morning placed their faith in Jesus Christ. The expression of joy on their faces was priceless.

   When we visited Choeung Ek, we saw the Magic Tree, the place where the Khmer Rouge had mounted speakers to play loud music in an attempt to drown out the cries of those being brutally murdered. At Trapang Sdok, the speakers mounted under a lush canopy of shade trees played hymns and choruses and spiritual songs of praise to God. Those assembled joyously sang at the top of their lungs. My heart was warmed as I listened to and savored the beautiful sounds of life.

   When we visited Choeung Ek, we saw the Killing Tree, the place where the Khmer Rouge saved their bullets by dashing innocent children against the trunk of the tree. At Trapang Sdok, children played and laughed together. At Choeung Ek, children were torn from the arms of their mothers. At Trapang Sdok, mothers held their children in tender embraces. One mother and father brought their new baby girl and asked that Barnabas and I pray for her. We prayed that this child would grow up in a Cambodia free from the kind of fear that the previous generation had known, and that she would have an opportunity to hear and respond to the gospel of Jesus Christ.

   I am encouraged by what I have witnessed in Cambodia over the past week. The kingdom of God is advancing and bringing new life to the places where the Khmer Rouge once sowed death. In the parables of the kingdom recorded in Matthew 13, Jesus likened the kingdom of God to a mustard seed – something very small that grows into something very large (Matt. 13:31-32). The kingdom of God in Cambodia appears to be as small as a mustard seed, but it is beginning to grow. The signs of life are everywhere. Please pray for the Christ-followers in Cambodia as they sow the seeds of life that will one day result in a great harvest for the kingdom of God.