Ratanakiri is the Northeastern-most Province in the Kingdom of Cambodia. It touches Laos to the north and Vietnam to the east and is rich in mineral and agricultural resources. It is also home to a very diverse group of Cambodia’s many indigenous, ethnic-minority communities. I lived there for six weeks of my last eight weeks here in SE Asia. I was working mostly on a bamboo conservation project that was initiated recently by local, indigenous youth, but I dipped in to a lot of goings-on and wanted to share some of my more ‘churchy’ reflections here. (more…)

Finally, the folded hands – six inches from the chest, thumbs inward, pinkies outward and the bowed head – were not the (still awkward) Khmer traditional greeting, but were the (at least vaguely comfortable) folded hands of traditional Christian prayer. I was in my first church in Cambodia. I was still muttering “Chum Riep Suah,” as I held my hands in front of me, but it felt a little bit more comfortable under that roof. I knew, at least, that the folks around me had heard of Jesus and were committed to ‘following’ him – whatever that might mean. I quickly learned that it meant something completely different than what I have come to understand it to mean. And that, at least on that first Sunday, it seemed that some concept of Jesus might be the only theological connection that we had – and even on that concept, we often missed each other sharply. But those considerations will have to be developed later – and perhaps time, and broader experience, will temper – for the better – my, fairly critical, original analysis. (more…)