GOD CALLS HE PROMISES

[5-minute read]  

This week, missionary couple Bounsoeuth and Syna Lao, joined us as our guest speakers from Cambodia. 

His story : 

Bounsoeuth Lao is a survivor of the Khmer Rouge persecution that began when he was twelve. For three years, his family was separated in different labour camps, and he went through the horrific nightly ordeal of not knowing if the Khmer Rouge soldiers would take him out to be killed as they did routinely. At the end of the Khmer Rouge regime, he was accused of being a Khmer Rouge adherent and was beaten up in another captivity only to find himself to be the only person released by a strange turn of events. Ultimately, the reality that 60 family members had perished in the Khmer Rouge atrocities led him to the decision to flee to the US with his uncle. Upon arriva in New Yorkl, he attended high school and followed a friend to church. His uncle threw him out because of his new-found faith and he moved in to live with his pastor. Thinking that God had called him to settle down in the Bronx, he went on to seminary school.

Her story:

Syna Lao is another Khmer Rouge survivor who experienced near death starvation as a child that led her to question her Buddhist faith. She often wondered who created the trees and the sky around her. When the family was fleeing to Thailand, she became a caregiver to her very pregnant elder sister in a mission hospital where her sister found Jesus through a missionary nurse. Syna then asked God to make her like that nurse who took care of her sister. 

Syna and Bounsoeuth married in 1992 and felt God’s call to return to Cambodia. Knowing all too well that following Christ is a life of risk-taking, they decided to return. Each time someone would ask, “Why are you returning to the Killing Fields?”, they would say, “No, we are going to the Living Fields!” 

When the young couple arrived in Cambodia with their two young sons in tow, they faced not only hostility and opposition, but also had to deal with the realities of living in a high-risk environment. Being vigilant of poisonous snakes and landmines was a daily challenge, while the nearest hospital was a 3-hour drive away. It was a life of constant hardship. By the time Syna counted 155 snakes, she told the devil “I’m not leaving!”.  They lived in places where there were no churches or believers, but 13 years later, they would have planted 11 house churches. 

Then, in 2017, while they were on a home assignment in the US, someone asked them to consider relocating to Anlong Veng, Cambodia. The idea evoked trauma and pain because Anlong Veng was the place where the Khmer Rougue had their headquarters. Just thinking about it gave them goosebumps!

Arguably, they could stay put because they both had elderly widowed mothers to take care of but they could not get over themselves with that line of reasoning. However, as soon as they said yes, their brothers succumbed to cancer in a very short time.

Back in Anlong Veng, another Cambodian who was miraculously healed of blindness after hospitals and doctors turned him away, had become an active voice of evangelism in places where ordinary Cambodians lived. Because of his work, Bounsoeuth and Syna could see God’s handprints and footprints wherever they went. Instead of planting churches, they found a new calling to disciple believers. It has now been 22 years.

Abraham’s story:

Bounsoeuth and Syna’s stories reflect a similar thread in Abraham’s story. God could not fulfill His Promise to Abraham until he was ready to uproot and go to Canaan. It could not happen in Ur (where he received the call) or Harran (where his father, Terah, decided to settle down) (Gen 11:31). God reamined patient with Abraham while he was stuck in Harran living under his father’s authority. In Canaan, however, he experienced God’s promise of ‘nation’, ‘name’, ‘land’ (Genesis 12:2, 7); security and protection (Genesis 12:3), and 25 years later when he was 99, the promise of fatherhood (Genesis 17:1, 17) as well. 

Throughout the intervening years between God’s promise and His fulfillment in Canaan, Abraham never wavered in his faith and obedience to God. 

The question is for you is this: where is your Harran and Canaan? 

We know that God is always on the move! But are you on the move with Him, or have you settled in places of convenience, familiarity and what simply makes sense to you? Many of us choose to live out of convenience, instead of a commitment to God to see souls saved and lives transformed. We run our relationships based on what makes sense to us instead of what is important to God. We stick to what is dysfunctional and unhealthy because we prefer routine and familiarity. When we settle, we hold ourselves back from moving with God in the ordinariness of life.

Sometimes, we think that the church is a place to play it safe when we are called to be the church to people out there. We rely on familiar programmes and practices instead of allowing God to show us a different way of reaching out to others and walking through life with them. 

For Bounsoeuth and Syna, they certainly did not follow what made sense to them when they returned to the place that brought back painful memories. (Don’t we all prefer to go to places that hold pleasant memories?) Instead, they chose what made sense to God. When we look at the different ordeals that Bounsoeuth and Syna went through  in Cambodia, it is easy to separate the different actors into allies and adversaries, and to compare their impact on their life outcomes. But let’s not forget who really controlled the narrative. It was God alone.

Likewise, each of us has a clear purpose from God for the rest of our lives. Bounsoeuth and Syna inspired us by showing us that God’s rewards always await us on the other side of opposition, insurmountable odds and unpleasantness. There is an indescribable joy to be experienced when we step into the place of God’s purpose.

This is a summary and reflection based on a virtual BIR Session held on 12 August 2023.