Over the years I have taken upwards of fifty-thousand photos on my travels. I especially enjoy shooting close-up portraits of people I meet along the way. Several of these adorn the walls of my office and home so that I never forget those who live at the other end of the Great Commission — those still waiting to hear the good news of God’s love. And, for whatever reason, I also enjoy taking photographs of doors. I have quite a collection of photos of interesting doors I have seen around the globe. There is just something about a door that intrigues me. If I am on the outside I wonder about what is on the inside. And, if I am on the inside I wonder about the limitless opportunities and adventures waiting just beyond the threshold.

This afternoon, while walking through Ta Prohm, one of the ancient temples in the Angkor complex located near Siem Reap, I took a photograph of a door I had not seen on my previous visits. I lingered for a moment as I wondered about all of the people throughout the centuries who had walked into and out of Ta Prohm through that particular door. Today the door is buckling under the stress created by a massive silk cotton tree. These trees are slowly swallowing and reclaiming this ancient site. Nevertheless, this door remains open and functional. Perhaps one day soon it will surrender to the assault of the silk cotton trees and crumble like so many of the surrounding structures in the complex. Until then, it remains an open door — a silent invitation to go beyond the threshold to engage the world.

As Christ-followers, we live in the day of open doors. Never before have we had such access to the peoples of the world. That’s why we must not be passive but instead act intentionally by stepping across thresholds to engage those who live beyond open doors. And, that’s why we must pray that God will open even more doors to give us access to those who are kept in darkness by hostile cultures and governments that deny their people the freedom to hear the gospel and decide for themselves what they will do with the claims of Christ. The Apostle Paul once asked the church at Colossae to specifically pray that God would open a “door for the word, to declare the mystery of Christ” (Col. 4:3). We must do the same. Seeing and photographing doors on my travels continues to remind me to pray for doors that are open to wider missionary and evangelistic horizons — doors that only God can open and that no man can shut (Rev. 3:8).

Buddhist monks wrapped in their saffron-colored robes are a common sight in Cambodia. Every day they walk the streets and stand in front of homes and businesses, silently but expectantly awaiting a handout. I have seen them stand in front of the homes of the poorest of the poor in the slums of Poipet until the poor emerge with some morsel to place in their hands. But I have never seen them actually do anything practical to help the poor or to address their terrible plight in this place. This morning as Jon, Kevin, and I shopped for electrical supplies for repairs at the Imparting Smiles orphanage, two monks sat and watched a soap opera at the little open-air restaurant next door, another sat and listened to tunes on his iPod, and another put a new SIM card in his cell phone. Interesting behavior for guys who are not supposed to own anything. What would the Buddha say about these mediocre mendicants?

Worldview matters, especially when it comes to caring for widows, orphans, the alien, and the least of these. I find it interesting that the man who has found favor with Buddhist government officials in this province is Steve Hyde, a Christian who is addressing the urgent needs of orphans, the poor, and children at risk. He is helping people in need in personal, practical, and measurable ways. Lives are being saved from certain abuse and even death and many children face a brighter future as a result. Beyond his work of caring for orphans, Steve is leading the way in making improvements to local schools, paving roads and adding drainage to flood-prone Poipet, and building a women’s pregnancy help center and clinic, among a few other things! He is not here to take, but to help. He is not here to give a hand out but a hand up. And, his work is making a difference.

Today, we completed several of the key tasks we came to help with at the Imparting Smiles orphanage. Each of the tasks that Steve assigned to our team involved electrical work. With the assistance of our friend and Kingsland member Kevin Duty, we were able to ground one of the buildings and all outlets, add a float switch to the water tank, install new security lighting at the entrance to the campus, recharge batteries for a to-be-installed wind turbine, and spend time with the kids. The really great part of it all was doing each of these tasks while kids laughed and played and sang — a reminder of why we are here. This is their home and we want to do all that we can to make it a better and safer environment for them. At the conclusion of the day, as we twisted the last screw into place on the new light fixtures at the front gate, we could hear the kids singing during their evening worship time. Their singing was filled with the unmistakable joy that comes from knowing and loving Jesus.

One day, the kids at the Imparting Smiles orphanage will grow up to make a difference in Poipet and Cambodia and beyond. They will not expect to be served but, like Jesus, to serve and to care for others in ways that matter. Life is too short and too many people are hurting to just stand around expecting others to give to you. I prefer to follow the example of Jesus and care for the least of these by giving them a hand up. And honestly, I think the least of these prefer this as well.

There is something about distant and difficult places that tugs at my heart. I made a commitment to God while traveling by train across the Gobi Desert in 1998 to make unreached and unengaged people groups a greater priority in my life and to use whatever influence I have to raise awareness and funds for strategic initiatives to reach the least reached. I am also committed to forming strategic alliances with those who are working to reach the weakest and most vulnerable inhabitants on the planet — babies in the womb, children, and orphans. That commitment brought me to Cambodia in 2009. On my second trip here in that year, I met Steve Hyde, the Founder of Asia for Jesus. Steve introduced me to the work he is doing in Poipet, a small-town along the Cambodia-Thai border.

Poipet is a place steeped in hardship, evil, and danger for the poor, a place where their children are at risk of being kidnapped and trafficked for sex and labor. It’s the kind of place where the poor need a champion, someone who will invest in strategic initiatives that will tip the scales in favor of justice and opportunities for a brighter future. That’s why a guy like Steve is here, and that is why we are here as well. This past year, a family at Kingsland provided the funds to purchase 7.5 acres of land in Poipet. Steve has already started work on the pregnancy help center and women’s clinic at this site. Our good friends at Life International, an organization whose mission is to start pregnancy help centers around the world, provided the funding for the women’s center. A few weeks ago, the Kingsland couple that contributed the funds to purchase the land invested additional funds to begin the next phase of this project — a facility in which to educate and feed the children of the poorest of the poor.

It was good to return to Poipet yesterday evening and to see the children at Steve’s Imparting Smiles orphanage this morning. Few things are better than seeing the smiling faces of these kids and being mob-hugged by them. Ultimately, they are the reason we return to a place like Poipet. We love God and love kids. These kids are being raised in a safe and loving Christian environment and represent hope for the future of Cambodia. When I was here a few weeks ago with a team of women to conduct a VBS, a Buddhist government official attended our closing program and told the crowd, “Your God is bringing hope to our region.” He also encouraged the kids who attended to continue learning about the God of the Christians. That’s another reason why we return. Our partnership with Steve and our presence in Poipet is helping to bring light to this dark place.

It seems that everybody you meet in Cambodia has a story — a personal story of how they lost family members at the hands of Pol Pot’s Khmer Rouge. This should come as no surprise when you consider that approximately two-million Cambodians died between 1975 and 1978 during the violent regime of the Khmer Rouge. Yesterday, I asked my friend Karony to share the story of his father’s death with my friends Jon and Kevin who have joined me here to work at the Imparting Smiles orphanage. “Would you like me to take you to the place where the Khmer Rouge killed my father?” he replied. Without hesitation, I said yes. So, this morning we set out to visit the place where Karony’s father was arrested and later killed.

Our journey took us past the famous Choeung Ek killing field outside of Phnom Penh to another killing field located several kilometers off the main highway. “It’s been five years since I’ve been here,” explained Karony as we bounced down a rutted dirt road leading to seemingly nowhere. When we arrived, Karony talked about what happened on the day the Khmer Rouge entered his village, a story told to him by his mother. Karony was just three years old at the time that his father and the other men of the village were arrested without notice or cause. The Khmer Rouge warned the men that if they tried to escape they would be killed along with their family members. Sadly, Karony’s uncle did not heed the warning and was shot in the back as he tried to escape. The Khmer Rouge then killed his wife and children to make an example of them. As a result, Karony’s father and the others did not dare risk an escape lest the same thing happen to their families. Yet, in spite of their compliance, they were all mistreated by their captors and eventually killed.

Karony does not know where his father is buried, only that his remains are in one of the mass graves at this killing field. However, he does have an idea of how his father was likely executed. As a rule, the Khmer Rouge did not waste bullets in executing their prisoners. Instead, they made them kneel blindfolded before a mass grave and then clubbed them on the back of the head. To ensure that their victims were indeed dead, they beat the lifeless bodies with farming implements. Once the grave was filled they covered it up and dug another. Karony stood before a small building containing some of the bones and skulls unearthed in the area. Perhaps fragments of his father’s remain are there. He will never know. Other mass graves remain undisturbed out of respect for those who lie buried there.

Because Karony’s father refused to risk escaping and saving his own life, he saved the life of his three-year old son. Somehow Karony and his mother managed to escape death in those years when death harvested the lives of so many Cambodians. Today, Karony is a follower of Christ who is working to sow life in the places where so many Cambodians suffered and died. The atrocities of the Khmer Rouge are the logical end of a worldview that failed to recognize the sanctity of human life. It’s not enough to remember what happened at Cambodia’s killing fields. It’s imperative that a biblical worldview that holds life as sacred replace those that do not, lest history repeat itself. Karony is committed to doing just that by serving God’s purposes in Cambodia. It’s his way of honoring the sacrifice of his father who loved him.

Rainy day at Angkor Wat | 2011 | Cambodia

It doesn’t happen very often to me but when it does it has my full attention. I’m talking about feeling physically ill or getting sick. I have officially logged three sick days over the past 32 years of full-time ministry. Additionally, I have had two sick days while traveling out of the country. That’s not too bad considering all of the places I visit and all of the weird stuff I have eaten over the past 60-plus trips. More than once I have found myself in an awkward situation where my host placed something before me that smelled worse than my locker room in Jr. High school. But, after breathing the missionary’s prayer — “Lord, I’ll get it down if you’ll keep it down.” — I held my breath and managed to eat what was on the plate before me. I am a lot more careful about what I eat abroad these days and tell team members that my days of adventure eating are over. I have a pretty impressive record of eating weird foods and am no longer interested in adding to that list.

I returned from Cambodia on Thursday, feeling absolutely fine. I used some of my miles to upgrade to Business Class on the final 16-hour flight home and managed to get lots of rest and eat some really delicious meals. My intention was to go in to the office on Friday to get caught up on a few things and then to go home to mow my lawn before going to the Living Water Gala in downtown Houston. But, when I woke up on Friday morning I felt as though I had just been hit by a truck. I knew immediately that I was suffering from food poisoning (which has an incubation period) since the symptoms were confined to my GI tract. So, I launched an attack on my cramps and fever with a round of Cipro and crawled back into bed. Later in the day I got a text message from Lee Pullin, one of my favorite traveling companions, who took advantage of the opportunity to have a little fun.

Lee: How are you feeling Miss Omar? Does your tummy hurt? Just remember if you’re going to run with the big dogs you can’t act like a pup!

Omar: Forget the dogs and find the guy driving the truck that hit me!

Lee: LOL. You’re going to get the same amount of sympathy as I did.

Omar: Any amount will do. I can’t recall the last time I felt this bad.

Lee: Not a lot of fun, I remember that.

Omar: True. It’s good to be in my own bed and not feeling this bad on an airplane.

Lee: Yeah, or with a squatty potty. Did anybody else get it?

Omar: No. The eleven women who traveled with me are all fine. Yikes!

Lee: Hmmmm. Too easy!

There is nothing I hate more than having my plans altered because of a stomach bug or not feeling well. But, all things considered, I am very fortunate to enjoy remarkably good health. So, I really can’t complain when I am hit in the gut by a little bug every few years. The experience also helps me to be a little more compassionate and sympathetic when I have team members that get sick abroad and require me to make provision for their care while still trying to accomplish our objectives. Food poisoning is just one of the hazards of going beyond but one that is always overshadowed by the great things that I get to see God do in and through the people I lead. Hopefully it will be a few more years before I have to spend another day sick in bed.

One of the questions I am most often asked is, “Out of all the places you have visited, which is your favorite?” That is actually a tough question for me to answer because I have been to so many places and seen so many of the world’s sugar-stick sites — those bucket-list places featured in travel books and magazines. So, I always answer that question by talking instead about the things I have seen God do in and through those who are willing to go to the places that are unfamiliar to them. For me, the particular place on the planet where I happen to be becomes the backdrop for a greater drama — that is, what God desires to do through me as I make myself available to Him in that location. That’s why I love to talk about how God has used our folks in this place or that and how I have witnessed what can happen when people go beyond everything that is comfortable and familiar to them.

I have enjoyed my time in Cambodia with my team of eleven women, mostly suburban moms who love God and the nations. If I could sum up the impact of this trip it would be by talking about the power of just one touch. Over the past several days our team has worked with orphans and children from impoverished families. As I observed our women in action I could not help but come to the conclusion that women tend to touch other people, especially children, more than men do. I don’t think I could have counted the number of times our women held and hugged kids even if I had tried. They did not let anything get in the way of hugging and holding kids — not the rain or the mud or the smells or the tattered and filthy clothing or the lice or anything else.

All of this hugging and holding got me to thinking about the power of a human touch and reminded me of something that I had read in Mark Batterson’s book, Primal: A Quest for the Lost Soul of Christianity. Batterson said, “Research has shown that touch has the power to fight viruses, relieve stress, improve sleep, and help us recover more quickly from injury. … The power of touch, even on a human plane, is an amazing thing. But when you add the power of God to the equation, it sets the stage for something supernatural.” Touching others was something that set Jesus apart from the religious leaders of His day. He touched and held people that nobody wanted to touch — sick people, poor people, outcasts, and children. In fact, the religious leaders of His day referred to Jesus in these derisive terms — “a friend of tax collectors and sinners” (Matt. 11:19).

This past week, Jesus used the arms of our women to touch and hold lots of orphans and poor kids in Cambodia. The smiles on the faces of the children we served testify to the power of every tender touch and warm embrace. That’s why when people ask me to tell them about the most beautiful or unique or mysterious place I have ever visited I prefer to answer in this way, “The best things I have seen in all of the beautiful and interesting places I have visited around the world are not the things you read about in travel books. Instead, what I have enjoyed most is watching God bring hope and healing to the people who live in those places through the power of just one hug or a single touch in His name.”

To understand a people it is important to know something about their history — the oral and written repository of all that has shaped them. I first learned about the people of Cambodia when I was a kid growing up in South Texas. My Uncle Phil had visited the temples of Angkor on one of his many trips around the world. The temples in this complex are the remnants of what once was the religious, political, and social center of Cambodia’s ancient Khmer empire. When my Uncle Phil visited Angkor, travelers were permitted to make pencil rubbings of the bas-relief figures carved on the temple walls of Angkor Wat, Bayon, and other temples in the complex. He used large sheets of newsprint to capture the complex images. He then had these pencil rubbings framed and then hung them in my grandparents’ home. As a kid, I was drawn to and fascinated by these images that told the story of a slice of Cambodia’s history — a history recorded in stone.

I personally believe that visitors to Cambodia should, at the least, visit the Angkor temples and also the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum (also known as S-21) and the Choeung Ek killing field in order to get a sense about two important periods of Cambodian history. Today, I took our team of ladies to visit Angkor Wat and Bayon, just two of the many temples in what is the largest religious complex in the world. We slogged through the relentless rain and puddles in order to learn a bit more about the history of the Cambodian people. It was well worth the effort and inconvenience. Our tour guide gave us helpful insight into the history of Cambodia as recorded in the extensive bas-reliefs that have survived through the centuries. The unvarnished history lessons carved in stone tell amazing stories that weave both the political and religious history of Cambodia. Some believe that Pol Pot’s torture methods were inspired by some of the graphic depictions of torture preserved in stone.

The rains and flooding this year are a little worse than normal. As a result, many of the temples in the complex were inaccessible today because of the high water. As we walked through the rain, I could not help but admire the work of the thousands of artisans who built these temples that have survived countless seasons of heavy rains and flooding. The Angkor temples stand as mute testimony to the longing of the Cambodian people to connect with something or someone greater than themselves. They are evidence that the observation of the writer of Ecclesiastes is true — God has “set eternity in the hearts of men” (Ecc. 3:11). However, as impressive as this World Heritage site is, these temples no longer serve the faithful, only tourists. There are no priests, no worship, no fellowship, no instruction, and no life — only the weathered stones that tell of the rise and fall of the Khmer empire from the ninth to the fourteenth centuries.

Today, Christ-followers in Cambodia are adding a new page to the history of their homeland. Over the past week we have seen the good work that folks like Steve Hyde and his staff are doing to care for the poor, for orphans and children at risk, and for the least of these. We also heard the affirmation of a Buddhist government official who said that God is bringing hope to Cambodia. It has been a privilege for us to work alongside our partners here. Much of the history of Cambodia is recorded in stone. However, the things that God is doing today are being recorded on “living stones” that “are being built up as a spiritual house” (1 Peter 2:5). May those who come after us find a record of our faithfulness and determination to demonstrate the love of God to the people of Cambodia in personal, practical, and measurable ways. And may they be inspired to do the same.

There is nothing quite like the sounds of children having fun. Over the years I have visited kids living in the most extreme conditions — from the IDP camps in Darfur to the slums of Kolkata to the steppes of Mongolia and other places around the world. Somehow, kids find a way to laugh and giggle and to entertain themselves in spite of the poverty that surrounds them. They demonstrate a remarkable resiliency and capacity to adapt to life with little or nothing. The kids we have worked with this week in Poipet are among the poorest I have seen. They live in ramshackle hovels on unpaved roads covered in slimy mud during the rainy months. We are here in the middle of the rainy season and I have never seen so much mud in all my life. I can’t imagine living in these conditions for months at a time much less for a lifetime. But, in spite of these wet conditions, kids are kids — and mud and murky brown pools of water offer opportunities for fun and adventure.

Today was our final day of our Vacation Bible School at the Imparting Smiles orphanage in Poipet. As expected, even more kids showed up this morning in bare feet, some in bare bottoms, but all of them expecting to have a great time. Every square inch of the Imparting Smiles campus was covered with mud and laughter. At the conclusion of our session this morning, we invited the kids and their parents to stay for a meal. The cooks at the center prepared mounds of white rice and a local favorite — some kind of chicken soupy dish that contained absolutely every part of the chicken, including the feet (a favorite delicacy). The only thing I can compare it to is South Texas menudo, a tripe stew that I never learned to like. For the vast majority of those present, this was one of the few times they enjoyed a meal with any kind of meat. Most of the poor people in this area can’t afford meat so their diet consist of mainly rice and vegetables. I was a little amazed at how many of these kids took the time to say thank you for the meal, something we don’t often hear from our kids in America.

The mayor of Poipet and a representative from the governor’s office attended our closing VBS ceremony. At the conclusion, these Buddhist men spoke to the kids and encouraged them to continue learning about Jesus. Turning to Steve Hyde, one official said, “Your God is bringing hope to our region.” And then he turned to the kids and told them to keep coming to the Imparting Smiles campus any time they offer community events like this. He also encouraged them to learn more about this God who gives hope to all people. What an amazing sign of favor. I was reminded of Proverbs 3:3-4, one of my favorite Bible passages: “Do not let kindness and truth leave you; bind them around your neck; write them on the tablet of your heart. So you will find favor with God and man.” Finding favor with man is the result of intentionally demonstrating God’s love to others in personal, practical, and measurable ways. As someone once remarked, “I don’t care how much you know until I know how much you care.” May we always allow God to use us to show the world how much He cares and how much He loves.

In a final act of desperation, a single mother and her children walked through the gates of the Imparting Smiles orphanage this afternoon. As our team concluded the final session of today’s Vacation Bible School, she sat with Noit Hyde, Steve’s wife, and unfolded the story of her life — a tattered tapestry of sadness. Her story, unfortunately, is not unique in a place like Poipet where evil people prey upon the weak, destroy lives, and never look back. The perpetrators of these evils are emboldened because they are seldom caught, seldom brought to justice, and seldom held accountable for their deeds. They do what they do with an arrogant spirit of impunity. The mother who walked through the gates this afternoon is just one of many whose lives are steeped in unimaginable pain and despair. This is her story.

This woman was married to a promiscuous man who died of AIDS about five years ago, leaving her to raise their children alone. However, her husband left her with one additional hardship — he passed the AIDS virus on to his wife and she is now in the final stages of her life. But, there is more to her story. As a young married woman, she found a baby boy in the woods while she was out gathering firewood. This baby had been left there to die of exposure. So, this compassionate woman took the child home to raise him along with her three other sons. A few years later she found a baby girl in the woods who had also been left there to die. She also brought that child home to raise as her own. This in itself is an amazing act of compassion because she did not have the means to care for such a large family.

After the death of her husband, a man approached this woman and told her that he was looking for young men to go to Thailand to work for a short period. He promised that her teenage son would make lots of money and then return home to help the family. Desperate, she agreed to let her son go, not realizing that the man who had approached her was trafficking kids to work as laborers in Thailand. This trafficker had no intention of letting her son return home. That was the last time she saw her son. Later, her other teenage son was taken from her by traffickers and she has not seen him again. And now, she has one teenage son left and the two adopted children who are 11 and 8 years-old. This grief-stricken woman brought her two adopted children to Imparting Smiles orphanage because she can no longer care for them. Steve and Noit accepted the children and told her she could visit them at any time and promised that her children would receive the very best care. The woman left with her 15 year-old son who will care for her and then bury her when she dies.

There are 27 million people in the world today who live in some type of slavery. Two of those 27 million are the sons of a woman dying of AIDS in Poipet, Cambodia. We must not remain silent or passive about modern-day slavery but must intentionally do something to help. Of course, we can and must pray for the oppressed. But we must also act with intention and compassion. Through our partnership with Steve Hyde, Kingsland’s missions ministry is investing in initiatives that are making a difference in places like Popipet. Through the aftercare homes that we support in South Asia, Africa, and Central America we are helping those who have been rescued to start a new life. Through our local justice initiatives we are reaching out to women trafficked to our own country. Because God cares about the oppressed we must work to champion the rights of those who continue to suffer at the hands of evil people. We must continue to work toward the day when “man who is of the earth may strike terror no more” (Ps. 10:18).