Opportunity

Greetings

Cambodian medical education opens the door to relationship building so that we may candidly explain to them how God works to reconcile and transform the human heart.  Through God’s blessing Mission to the World Cambodia (MTW-C) with two doctors, a pharmacist, a nurse practitioner and a registered nurse helps students increase their knowledge and sharpen their skills.  The medical team of MTW-C present lectures give practical experience and get to know the students personally as we visit with them in our homes and interact with them at church.  We minister to those who are maturing in their walk with God and to those who have recently been introduced to the Good News of God’s saving grace.  The students appreciate our interest in them and have a strong desire to learn from the medical team of MTW-C.  What can you do to encourage the medical students of Cambodia to desire to serve the true and living God?  If the medical team of MTW-C is not focus on allowing God to transform us we will fail.  So pray that our hearts will be right and pure before God.  Also, you may give.  Right now until the end of this year your gift will be an encouragement to the students.  In fact, for each dollar that you give it will be matched dollar for dollar.  This opportunity will end December 31, 2010.  With great gratitude we will receive your gift at

Mission to the World  

Account 94821

Box 116284

Atlanta, GA 30368-6284

If you would like to give by other than a check you may check the website

www.mtw.org

Thank you

The Puff Gets Dusty

As one observes life, hears of interpersonal relationship problems, wonders if the Wikileak will end the world or if it will be a weakened leak I perceive my puff in life have become dusty.  If I am but a vapor, how or why do I think I have so much influence in life.  I suppose my view of my status in life and influence is much less grander than I believe it to be.  I may need to find a way to remove the dust from my puff of life so that I view life in a proper perspective.  In the middle of eternity, I need to realize the extent of my importance and who is in charge of eternity.

 

Chaos seems to reign,  Bad news travels more quickly than good news.  I hope to continue to look for Good News proclaims in a vivid manner about 2000 years ago.

Atrophy

A young man presented himself to the clinic the other day after seeing several doctors who treated him for belly and muscle pain which began about 6 months ago.  These pains distressed him to the point that three months ago he only lay in bed making his muscles atrophy and he lost about 15 kilos.  Chest x-ray and abdominal ultrasound were negative.  Additional blood work detected not abnormalities.  Apparently, he spent time a country close by Cambodia where he experienced a major mental trauma.  For the past six months the mental trauma presented itself with physical pain.  It is amazing what our body can do if we put our mind to it.  Looking towards the future, will we be able to help him accept that his body is much healthier than he believes?  Hopefully he will be at peace with himself and the One who has made him.   

Stampedi

Chaos reigned on the night of November 22, 2010 in Phnom Penh.  Over three hundred people lost life with more than three hundred injured.  Unrest overwhelms my mind and emotion as I see the sadness on the face of the people in the stores and on the street.  Those who hear the varying precipitating factor on how or why chaos initiated such a tragedy will tell their stories with extreme angst.  Families will gather together to support one another and question why joy turned to sorrow.  Children will be left fatherless or motherless which will increase their already difficult lives.  Those of us who have not grown up in Cambodia will wonder about life issues and the eternality of the tragedy.  We will be tempted to give answers to which many will have difficulty understanding.  Questions will be asked about evil.  Why does evil exist?  From whence came evil?  How to respond to this event makes one think of the deeper issues of life.  Where does one go for answers?  Is there a place of comfort?  Will I have the courage to stand with those who have been injured or lost a loved one in this tragedy?  Will I speak self-righteously or will I be a source of comfort?  

Language Anguish

Learning another language presents challenges.  Khmer is simple.  No verb conjugations for past, present or future tense, no plurals, no gender.  So learning should be easily accomplished.  Yes, easy after one is able to learn the consonants and vowels in a different script.  Some of the consonants and many of the vowels have sound that are not common to the English language.  The sounds of the consonants and vowels may be codified in several ways dependent upon ones native tongue.  The way I speak English and the sounds of English vowels or consonants may differ from another English native speaker.  So the International Phonetic Associations has devised a method to denote most sound of most languages.   So one may choose learn the phonetics related to the Khmer vowel and consonant sounds-thus learning two additional systems.  Others have devised differing protocols for transliteration.  I original thought I could learn the vowels and consonants and then put the language together easily.  However, many of the consonant look rather similar thwarting quick recall.  So I suffer from ALAS- acute language anguish syndrome.  Alas, I will learn the language and then possibly suffer from CLAS- chronic language anguish syndrome.  Thankfully I have made progress but desire to keeping working at the language to better communicate with the local people. 

Knot the end of Time

The future is ever before us. Mankind has wondered for millennium how will thing end. Revelations leaves us with the message that God has the package of time all together. He has tied the knot to end time. Right now is not the end of time. God is at work transforming our hearts and minds into instruments for His glory. Wherever we live God puts within us the desire to do those things that are pleasing to Him. During our time in Cambodia we pray that our lives will in a small way reflect the glory of God.


God has promised to supply our needs in small and big ways. The other day as I saw patients at Cooperative Services International – Mercy Medical Center (CSI-MMC) a gentleman came with an illness. We talked about his illness and then he began to tell me a bit about his life. He lamented that his life was not as he desired. Attempting to help him put life in perspective as compared to many others I have seen, I asked him a few simple questions in effect thinking through the Lord’s Prayer.
“Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name. 10
Your kingdom come,
your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. 11
Give us this day our daily bread, 12
and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. 13
And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
Who placed him on this earth? Had he experienced salvation? Was he seeking after God and teaching his family? Did he have food shelter and clothes for that day? Was he able to send his children to school? Was he looking to God for the forgiveness of his sins? To each of these questions he gave an affirmative answer. My Khmer language needs improvement, so I prayed with him in English, which he understands. As I prayed I thanked God that He had done the work of redemption in this man’s heart. I thanked God that He has given him food, shelter and clothing for the day. I thanked God that He is able to forgive our sins and place joy in our hearts even in the middle of despair darkness and chaos. His life may not be exactly as he desires, but as he looks to our Savior, he will know that God is his and our Creator, God is his and our Provider and God is his and our Sustainer.

CSI MMC brings together several mission agencies to supply a clinic that ministries to believer and those who have been referred by churches, pastors and mission agencies. CSI MMC is seeking to build a center a little south of Phnom Penh in which the poor will be treated, medical students given opportunities to learn and family practice doctors trained.
During our time in Cambodia God has brought many medical students to us. We have on some Saturdays a time of medical education and Bible Study. Some who attended are believers and have knowledge of the Bible. Others who attend have never seen a Bible. With the help of the Khmer believers we are able to open the scriptures with the non-believers. For those who have received the gift of salvation their path often is long and slow. Generally it is a few years between the time one hears the Word and beginning to understand and the time they truly have their heart transformed by the power of God’s grace and mercy. Some Saturdays we venture into the province to hold clinics with an association of churches. During this time we model the love of Christ and teach the medical students how to interact with patients. God has blessed this as He has brought several to redemption because of the mercy He expressed to them during our mobile medical clinics.

Abraham Lincoln

A few weeks ago I watch a documentary about the events that followed the assignation of Abraham Lincoln.  After his death his body was placed on a train and taken back to his home.  Along the way many people view his remains.  I hope, I have the Lincoln story correct.  With this as little background of a revered western president, we from the west may see customs in Cambodia in a different light.  A few days ago a friend of mine took me to a wat-pagoda in Cambodia to view the remains his grandfather.  My friend is a medical student.  In order to save money he purchased the embalming fluid and preserved the body himself.  His grandfather, who was the leader of the wat, now lies in a room at the wat for passer bys to see.  His body is encased in Plexiglas clouded with moisture which obscures some of the view.  When I viewed the body two months had passed since his death.  He will remain in the wat for 100 days.  

One An Other

One is singular and another makes a plural.  So another another adds more potential for diversity.  Because of the diversity of ideas and opinions, we often irritate one another, disagree with one another and down right offend one another.  Sometimes we don’t care if these events take place, but other times we feel badly.  Where do we turn to rectify our bad feelings towards one another?  In the New Testament one another is addressed in about 100 verses.  Love one another, greet one another, care for one another, encourage one another, honor one another etc.  Impossible!  Yes I would agree left to ones own devices.  However, because of God grace and mercy towards us when we begin our new life in Christ and as we delight in Christ, we receive the wherewithal to begin to make these one anothers part of our life.  What a different world it would be if ever moment of our lives we appropriated the power of Christ in us.  Unfortunately my life has a black out or brown out when I do not delight in Christ who has given me His righteousness and seek the power God to work in my life.  Then I start my own generator, use by own fuel and project my own attitude rather than the attitude given to me by Christ.  God through Christ has given us His power and His desire to practice the one another’s.  

Squat

Squat, a word used in several contexts. Squatting children may be seen in Cambodia resting their legs.  Their parents may be seen in the same position for the same reason-to take a load off their feet.  People in the west with modern necessary rooms are set, but in other parts of the world people know squat when it becomes necessary.  Knowledgeable people complain about people who do not know squat.

Well the other day I saw a patient who knew squat.  This two year old used the technique to his benefit, since he has a congenital heart defect.  Blood pumped to his lungs received adequate oxygen at rest, but when he becomes active he needs more oxygen from his lungs.  Therefore, to increase the amount of blood for oxygen to his lungs, he squats to reduce the blood needed for his lower body.  Thus making available more blood to be pumped to his heart.  He will squat for a moment and then slowly resume his activity.  Amazing how God designs our bodies to compensate for defects. 

This patient needs an operation for his heart.  Such operations are available in Cambodia on limited basis.  When available the cost of the operation is out of the reach of the common people.

Knot Tying

On Friday October 29, 2010 we attended the wedding of a local missionary who married a young lady from Indonesia, who lives in Singapore.  Fifty people from the province made the journey in two vans.  As is not out of the ordinary, one of the vans entertained the wedding attenders with mechanical failure.  Their late arrival gave the city dwellers opportunity to talk and make late minute preparation for the ceremony.   Shower of joy, I did not hear shouts of joy, reigned upon the couple as both have anticipated the day for about 4 decades.  Needless to say the couple were all smiles.  The wedding attenders happy for the couple as they continue to share the good news in Cambodia.

First Born

On October 30 my oldest son will be 35 years old.  He is doing well in life with a lovely wife and three sons who love life.  He works as a neonatologist in Florida.  First borns seem to carry the burden of the one that parents want to correct the most.  I take a while before a parent begins to realize that children are wired a certain way and if we as parents attempt short circuit the wirering we may see the transformer explode.  So far his transformer seems to be in good shape

Blink

In the blink of an eye life changes us. The other day a 22-year-old young man presented himself at Mercy Medical Center where I serve as a doctor. In one fleeting moment he sustained a severe head injury in a car-moto accident which left him only with the ability to blink his eyes. If I clapped and rapidly moved my hands towards his eyes it would cause him to Blink but other stimuli showed to induce no response. This once active energetic young man now lies on a stretcher being tube fed and developing ulcerations on his pressure points. In the past 6 weeks the family has chased the dream of this boy suddenly showing improving health. Now, after spending $12,000.00 dollars, the reality of no improvement outside of divine intervention has begun to set in. His wasted muscles have become strands of connective tissue and breathing comes with slight difficulty. His wife lovingly speaks words of encouragement to him while she and a younger brother prepare the liquid calories to place in his nasogastric tube.

 

Some family members state they have received the gift of salvation through Christ and others have expressed interest in hearing more of the good news of life in Christ. Under the best of medical care a young man in this situation has a bleak future. “ Why” is a question that we often repeat without hearing a satisfying response. The ubiquity of why drives us to consider the deeper issues of life- Why did God love us enough to provide reconciliation of our souls to Christ? Why did God’ s Son suffer for my rebellious mind and heart? Why has the scripture been preserved so that we may read of the good news of new life in Christ? Why am I not the one who lies in a bed moving only my eyelids? 

 

As we live events of life that we perceive as good may later surprise us by inducing a negative response that may glorify ourselves rather than seeing God glorified in the situation.  Conversely as we see negative events come into our lives, those events may lead us to see life in such a way that we give glory to God for the stresses and negative events in our lives.  We can be confident that God will accomplish His purpose His way.

Irrational rational reality

Living in a land of contrasts stretches the heart and mind. The process of making a rational decision often becomes irrational. A 62 year old lady diagnosed with squamous cell carcinoma of the larynx. She lives in a province of Cambodia. She has money for her daily food and lives with a daughter. Her oncologist tells her with the best of treatment she has a 20% five year survival rate. Should she take advantage of the surgery which would require her family to sell their home.? Should she live with dignity the rest of days with her family in the province? How does one bring a sense of reality to this dilemma?