By Steve Brown - Iris Cambodia Missionary
A few years ago, while I was living in Cambodia as a missionary, God began teaching me the importance of stopping for the person in front of me and not just getting lost in agenda, routine or distraction.
One afternoon we were walking in the inner city of Phnom Penh to gather the street kids together for ministry, we walked past a man who was begging. He was limping and his leg had big scars on it. He was clearly at a very low point in his life. Usually I would not stop for other people when doing kids ministry, but when I looked in his eyes, something in me felt to pause for a second. Having already passed him, I turned back around and started a conversation with him. After talking to him and finding out his needs, we took him out for some lunch and continued talking. We learned he had recently been in a hit and run accident, leaving his leg badly injured.
We shared the Gospel with him. He was moved and wanted to be born again! After praying with him, he looked completely different, joy had returned to his face and he had a glimmer of hope. His name was Bong Pro*. We met with Bong Pro a few times in the following days and found out that he had a wife and three young children. After many arguments with his wife, he had moved out to live on the streets. We made it our goal to help them reconcile.
Following his directions, we found our way to a tiny house on the outskirts of the city near the airport. As we pulled up to the house, we weren’t sure how we would be received. Thankfully Bong Pro’s family were all open and we started building relationships with them. They were kind, warm hearted, and obviously very poor. Talking to his wife, Srey Na*, we found out that their 3-year-old boy had an ear infection for two whole years! His ear was constantly bleeding, in pain, and he couldn’t hear through it. We prayed for him but there was no visible improvement. At this time, I was relatively new in Phnom Penh and didn’t know much about the local hospitals so I tried three different ones with the family before we found one that would treat him properly. After months of regular hospital visits and prayer, there was still no improvement in his ear.
During this time, we often shared about Jesus with Srey Na but she didn’t really understand what we were talking about. We just kept loving them anyway and we managed to set her up with a small business selling vegetables at a local market stall as a form of income for their family. Unfortunately Bong Pro and Srey Na decided to go their separate ways again, but Srey Na and her family were regularly attending church and she seemed resilient through it all.
Eventually, after many hospital visits, their son’s ear infection healed and then something even more incredible happened. One day Srey Na came up to us at church with a beaming smile on her face. She proceeded to tell us that she had received a vision in which Jesus was wearing only a loin cloth and He came up to her, touched her on the shoulder and she received the Holy Spirit! She told me, “I now understand it all! I understand about Jesus, who He is and what He did for me!”
From that moment on she was the biggest evangelist in the local market! Srey Ne shared about Jesus with everyone she met and even endured a bit of persecution, but she didn’t care. She had met the one who had truly stopped for her.
When Srey Na originally shared her vision of Jesus with me, she kept mentioning to me what Jesus was wearing. “He was only wearing a loin cloth” she kept saying, highlighting how strange it was to her. I didn’t understand what it meant. It was only afterwards, when the pastor of the church shared with me that Jesus may have been revealing himself to her as a servant. When He wrapped himself in a towel to wash His disciples’ feet or even when He was hanging on the cross. He shared that we had demonstrated this side of Jesus to her through serving her by regularly driving her across the city to take her son to hospital and showing love in other practical ways. Words had not changed her heart. Loving her in practical ways showed her what Jesus was like.
Sometimes when we “stop for the one” we find ourselves in places we never expected and meeting people we would never have met otherwise. Sometimes the people we impact reaches much farther than we could have ever imagined. From Bong Pro to Srey Na, to the people at the market, to her children or even their children’s children and beyond, we may never know the full impact of what just stopping for one person can actually make.
“Being our true example, Jesus chose to stop and to serve us, to make time for us and go out of His way for us.”
It’s not just a catchy saying or good philosophy, but it is the very thing that Jesus Himself did and still does. Being our true example, Jesus chose to stop and to serve us, to make time for us and go out of His way for us. He chose to stoop down to our level and stop for the ones in front of Him. He is our inspiration and when we “stop for the one,” it’s not just for the benefit of the person in front of us, but it is a blessing to Him as well. What a great privilege it is to be able to do so!
*Names changed
Our Iris Cambodia Center runs a day program for children living on the streets and at risk of being trafficked and abused. They treat their open wounds, give lice treatments when necessary, let children take baths and give them clean clothes if they do not have any. They have snacks, play games, participate in various fun activities and most of all, love on them and share with them about Jesus.
