Yesterday we started our day with a time of team devotions in the sunny coffee shop in our hotel. Over iced lattes one of our team dentists, Joe Estes, shared an encouraging word with our team. He read an excerpt from Crazy Love by Francis Chan in which he reminded our team to treat everyone we meet as though we were meeting Jesus himself.

In Matthew 25:35-39, Jesus responds to the religious people who were grappling with understanding His message to love people with His crazy, life-changing love. He tells them that those who will inherit the kingdom of God give food to the hungry, give water to the thirsty, give shelter for the weary traveler, clothe the naked and minister to the sick.

Jesus tells us in Matthew 25:40, “Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sister of mine, you did for me”. Sobering thoughts. How I treat people that I come in contact with is how Jesus says I am treating Him. That includes the person who is driving slow in the passing lane, the person with 30 items in the express check out lane At H-E-B , the family member that drives you crazy, the person at work that continues to do sub par work, the kid in school who takes every opportunity to make fun of you, and the hungry man on the street corner who uses a sign to show his most obvious need. How I treat them is a reflection of how I treat Jesus? Yep. That is exactly what Jesus said.

Our team spent yesterday ministering to men, women and children who came from villages all over Poipet for medical care, dental care & to hear the message of hope from the pages of scripture. Joe Estes, Derek McKaskle & Charlene Herman provided care to orphans, poor women and people without access to regular dental care. Dr. Cindy Anthis & Janie Boldt, RN provided much needed medical care to the sick while our VBS team showed extravagant love to children and our Women’s Conference team used our voices to share the life changing love of Jesus.

We come to Cambodia to show people the love of Christ, but I am proud to say that these same men and women are in my “village” back home in Katy, Texas and they seek to show the same love to people right where they live. While in Cambodia the needs are more obvious, this is a team of men and women who love Jesus and seek to minister to those in our community at home on a regular basis. I am proud to call them not just teammates on this trip, but friends, and I look forward to seeing how God will continue to use them to minister to those in need in Katy, Texas and around the world.