Behold what manner...

I’ll remember this meal — especially its preparation — for a long, long, time. Honestly one of the best meals of my life…

Despite our short time in Phnom Penh, we’ve been loading on with memorable experiences with the staff and kids at Asia’s Hope in Prek Eng.

At church, I preached on 1 John 3:1 — “See what kind of love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God!” Or, as the King James Version I remember from my childhood rendered it, “Behold what manner of love the father has given unto us…”

Taking inspiration from my friend and pastor Jared Boyd, I asked the congregation, “Try to picture in your mind: identify with specificity the last time you truly experienced God’s love, when you knew not just intellectually, but knew with all your body and soul as well that you are truly safe and fully loved by God.”

To paraphrase something Jared had said recently, “Our deepest wounds will never be healed until we fully experience the love of God.” It’s not his omnipotence that makes the orphan whole. It’s not his omniscience that binds the broken places in the heart of a child who has been sexually abused. It’s his tender, intimate love that brings new life the dry and broken places in our hearts and in our world.

I don’t know if my words were effective or even well understood. I hope that at the very least, I’ve watered a seed, a seed that was planted when each of these kids first came to Asia’s Hope.

After church, I had one of the best meals of my life.

The meal was a masterpiece of traditional Khmer home cooking. We made (I kind of helped, so I think I can get away with using the first person here) three classic Cambodian dishes — samlor kako (sour pork soup with mixed traditional vegetables), kreung machu ktis sach chrouk (Khmer curry with pork) and amok trei (river fish steamed in banana leaves with coconut milk).

Each bite was a unique joy — intoxicating flavors of lemongrass, kaffir lime, galangal, prahok, coconut and chili swirling effortlessly, receding and asserting themselves in an ecstatic… okay. You get the picture. It was amazing.

Taken along with the enjoyment of preparing this food with my dear friends, I’ll remember this as one of the best meals ever.

Eventually I’ll edit down some of the iPhone video my friend John Reed took of me and the staff cooking this lunch. I hope it’ll convey the familial love that makes Asia’s Hope a uniquely wonderful place for orphaned and vulnerable kids to grow up. The home parents really do adore each other. They love spending time together. They provide each other the friendship and support they need to do the nearly impossible job of rebuilding the lives of kids who have been beaten up and thrown out by the world.

And they cook a mean fish amok.