Phnom Penh Pals: Team Helm in Cambodia

Yesterday, we read day 6 of Live Dead.  In the journal entry, Jennifer Brogden recounts the challenges she faced when she moved to the Sudan and the all sufficiency of Jesus Christ.  She then challenged us to write what it means to "live dead."  Because I can, I want to alter this and respond about my expectations of living dead in the context of medical missions.  Without further adu, my response to expectations is: I expect it to be hot I expect that many families will be really appreciative of my work, much more than the average patient in the United States I expect that we will be persecuted I expect that we will suffer from various diseases I expect to be humbled I expect that I will have to be flexible; that things will routinely not work out the way I planned I expect natural disasters to be devastating I expect to be taken advantage of financially I expect to have to fight my pride on a daily basis I expect that at times I will feel alone I expect that I w

Matthew 6:25-34,  "Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?   Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life ?   "And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin.   Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these.     If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?   So do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?'     For the pagan

For the next 30 days, my wife, myself, and a few friends have committed to tithe two hours and thirty minutes of our time to the Lord while we go through the book Live Dead .  As a father and a resident, I do not know how sustainable this is.  I do know that the concept is important.  Before residency, I was a lot better at abiding in Christ.  There were fewer obstacles.  I had more time.  Christ did not put me in residency to become jaded or to become a victim.  However, in some ways, I have become both.  Lord forgive me. Yet, I know that God is sovereign.  And if God is sovereign, then residency is precisely the kind of suffering I need. How do I learn to grow closer to God with more responsibilities and less time?  The answer is that I must die to myself. Romans 6:1-14 reads: "What shall we say then?  Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase?  By no means!  We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer?  Or don't you know that all of us who were baptized

We are Abraham and Sarah. In trying to bring about children of promise by our own means, we create millennia of conflict. We say we trust God's will, yet have very strong ideas about what He should put into and take out of our lives.  During worship service today, we sang songs about our powerful and wise God. But do we really believe this? And if we do, then why do we constantly try to advise Him? A prophetic word was given,  emphasizing that God's will should be our guide. The speaker reminded us that we, as Christians, had turned our lives and wills over to the Lord. Which made me wonder: do we really believe this? Then why do we leverage our resources to change our circumstances, rather than allowing our circumstances to change our hearts? The wise Pastor gave a message on the foolishness of our plans compared to the wisdom of God. He preached on not glorying (or wallowing) in our situations,  but rather in knowing God. There were fewer "Amens" than usual. Mayb

Beloved family and friends! 

 It is with much excitement that I am fwriting this letter. Around nine years ago, I felt called to medical missions. Since then, I have completed my undergraduate studies and medical school, and have begun my third year of pediatric residency.  Recently, Elizabeth and I submitted our applications to work with World Medical Missions (Samaritan’s Purse) for two years, and we are prayerfully awaiting their decision.  This Fall, I will be going to Bangladesh on a two week Global Health rotation, that is a medical mission and scouting trip, under the auspices of World Medical Mission. Bangladesh is an Islamic nation that was once part of India.   After partition, it became known as East Pakistan. In 1971, Bangladesh successfully gained independence from Pakistan at great cost; horrific genocide claimed the lives of between 300,000 to 3,000,000 Bengalis.  Bangladesh is also one of the poorest countries in the world; their GNI PPP per capita (which is a