Small Steps, Big God

“What does it look like to be faithful here in Cambodia?”
I asked David our missionary host in Siem Reap.  He said, “It looks like waking up, making sure that God is in the center so you don’t do anything stupid that would ruin years of relationship, and simply just being here and staying here.” 
The need is often too overwhelming.  Almost every one of the students that the ministry is working with is going through some major crisis (from barely having enough to survive to familial obligations and rejections.)  It is foolish and prideful to think that a singular human being can be the savior of them all.  David confesses, “I thought when I first came here that I could really be able to do some real good.  But now that I’ve been here longer, the reality that I’ve come to dwell in is that God’s the one that has the power.” 
I must confess listening to him speak was such a good reality check.  How often do we think that we can be some sort of saving force in the world.  For David, being a conduit of God’s love here is simply trying to follow God.  It’s not about the number of people he’s affected, the number of children he’s healed (he’s a doctor), the number of people that he’s brought to the faith.  It’s just about getting up and trying to follow.  How quickly do we humans just want to point to our fruits and boost our insecure egos.  Hearing David made me yearn to trade my desire for significance and influence for the peace of just taking small (and even then sometimes difficult) steps to follow our convictions.