What is Universal

In the past two months I have been in 6 different countries and close to 20 cities. I have experienced vastly different customs, languages, foods, cultural values/attitudes, and environments/architecture. Even within countries there are vast differences (such as the differences between Paris and the South of France; Barcelona versus Cadaques; London versus Thames versus Cambridge). As for language, I sometimes received just as confused of looks in London with my English as I did in Paris. There are just so many different terms. Today, however, I find myself reflecting not as much on the things that are different, but rather on the things that are universal.

It is universal that people will smile when they are happy and/or joyful.  It doesn't matter what country you are from and whether you are wealthy or poor, young or old, educated or uneducated, sighted or sight impaired, people will have a smile on their faces when there is joy in their hearts. At New Life Church this past Sunday I sat behind an older woman who was accompanied by two younger woman (perhaps her daughters, I thought). At one point in the service the congregation spent about 5 minutes greeting one another. I shook hands with this older woman. One very noticeable thing about her is that she was missing a portion of her skull. The entire left side of her face was caved in. But here she was reaching out to shake my hand with the biggest smile on her face. She reached out with both hands (I wasn’t sure if that was because she had difficulty spotting where my hand was or if that is just how she shakes hands) and she held my hand in both of her hands for a long time. She had joy in her heart. When we sang worship songs both of her hands were raised in the air – to praise God and give thanks. The world would say she has nothing – I would guess she has no bank account, is in poor physical health, and maybe has only a few years left to live, BUT she was probably one of the richest people in the worship service if you count what was in her heart. Who of us, even the wealthiest in this world, would not sell all that we have to be filled with the kind of joy she so obviously has!

On a completely different note: Today I met with Somrach, a Human Resource Officer for World Vision Cambodia. It was a nice meeting and I am hopeful that something will come of it. Afterwards I decided to get a different workout than the gym where I live. Badminton seems to be a very popular sport in Asia and so I decided to give it a try. I was told that the place to go is “Olympic Stadium” at 3:00 and so I went there after the World Vision meeting. A sign hands above the door to the gym, “Badminton Federation of Cambodia” – kind of daunting, but I decided to go in anyway (mistake number 1). Inside there must have been 40 people of all different ages. When I walked up in my street clothes the manager at the front desk looked puzzled at my presence. I said that I wanted to play and she said that I should change into gym clothes first and then she would see what she could do. She then asked me if I knew how to play badminton and I said that I could play (mistake number 2).  As I waited to get in on a match I was amazed at the quality of play on each of the courts. The manager, Any (pronounced “A knee”), came up to me and said that I would be playing with her brother. Her brother looked to be no more than 1/5^th my age and 2/3rds my height, but that kid could play. Fortunately, he was on my side as we were playing doubles. The best way to describe my experience today is IGMBK! (I got my butt kicked!) Those who know me well will probably not be surprised that this just lit a fire in me to get better at badminton and so I will be back tomorrow (mistake number 3?), but I was told that maybe the 2:00 group would be a little easier for me.

A little about Any: she told me that the Federation gives all the proceeds they make to a school and that she manages the club opening it up at 5:00AM every day and staying to close at 9:00PM. I have heard no small amount of criticism about the lack of work ethic of the Khmer people, but from what I have observed at Diamond (where I live) and with Any is that Khmer people work very hard and long hours and do not complain about it. Any is caring for 2 daughters while her husband lives apart from the family in one of the Provinces. Her 4 brothers also live with her since their parents also live in one of the Provinces. So, she is a single mother of 6 working 16 hour days! And she also smiled a lot and was very kind.  

It was a really nice morning today as I got to talk on the phone (using Viber) with my good buddy, Malcolm, and then following that had a nice Skype session with family. Thank you to all of you who are faithfully reading this blog. You honor me by doing so and I am grateful for you.