life is precious....or at least should be....

I take motos everyday. I'm out on the streets of Phnom Penh everyday. I've seen a lot of accidents. People with banged up motos yelling at each other....slightly injured people standing at the side of the road. There are four FATALITIES a day in the city from motor vehicle accidents. It seems unbelievable till you've driven here. Then you understand. And you pray to God for safety everytime you go anywhere.

I usually wear a helmet. It wrecks my hair and is hot and sweaty but I usually wear it. Not on Tuesday. I was distracted when I walked out the door and too lazy to go back up the 500 stairs to get it once I was at the gate and realized I'd forgotten it. Oh well. No big deal right?

Intersection of Mae Tse Tung Blvd and Monivong Blvd. Traffic is slow going through the intersection.....I'm annoyed until I see why. A girl...probably only 14 or 15 had been hit by a big Lexus. She had no helmet on. She was just lying there in the middle of the street. Lifeless. Eyes rolled back in her head. Blood coming from her head. You'd think that seeing a possibly dead body would be tramatizing enough. But it wasn't the lifeless girl's body that was the most disturbing....it was the fact that no one was stopping or doing anything to help. No one was seeing if she had a pulse. No one giving CPR. I saw one guy with a phone. That was it. The driver of the Lexus drove away. Tears running down my face as my moto driver whizzed on by...NOT even a second glance from him. All I could do was pray and ask God to spare her life. To work a miracle. To get her to a decent hospital. Oh Jesus.
That is the reality of life here. Life is not valued. It's harsh. Tragic. Sickening. I've lived in Cambodia for almost two years now but this is something I will never get used to.
I just keep wondering where that girl is. Did she die? Who is her family? Who was she? Just a girl on her way to school most likely.

I didn't wear my helmet on Tuesday.

Operation Christmas Child

I was more than thrilled to come into work this morning to find the storage room jammed packed full of Christmas boxes!!! This year boxes from Australia, New Zealand and Malaysia have made their way to Cambodia and our church, New Life and its sister church Phnom Penh Themi have been chosen as recipients!!!! So boxes have been allotted for our school, the Children @ Risk project and the Joy Club kids program on Sunday mornings as well as programs at Phnom Penh Themi and others in Phnom Penh. We are having our Christmas program and party on the 19th at school here and each student will get a box....AND its a surprise! The kids here come from orphanages and poor families and most have never recieved a present at Christmas. I am SO excited to see first hand these gifts being given out after spending years preparing and packaging up boxes back home in Canada.



I think its gonna be one of those moments that brings me back to the reason why God wants me here. To love. To serve. To have my heart broken with the things that breaks God's heart. And to have my heart overflowed with joy. With praise and honor to the God who loves these little kids so much. God is going to cry tears of joy when He sees those kids get the Christmas boxes.



Jesus loves the little children

all the children of the world

red and yellow, black and white

they are precious in His sight

Jesus loves the little children of the world.