Epic Stories Are All Around Us

“Oh, how am I the only one who knows
I’m half the man of the men that drive me places” – Ben Rector

When our team arrived in Siem Reap, Cambodia, it was dark. A tuk tuk driver came to the bus station to meet us. As soon as he pulled up, I could tell that we were going to be friends. His name was Moab (pronounced Mop). He had the biggest smile a guy can have on his face, gave me a hug, and called me brother. We had 14 people (our team was paired with another team that month) and their heavy bags to get the Guesthouse. Moab recruited two other tuk tuk drivers to help. This left Moab and I standing at the bus station while the other tuk tuks made rounds to get everyone where we needed to be.

Shannon riding in her first tuk tuk!

After 7 days of travel from South America, I was tired. But I couldn’t help myself but to ask Moab if he knew who Jesus was. His face lit up – “Yes brother! He is my friend”. I wasn’t surprised by his response – Moab is a man of peace. He carries favor. I could feel Holy Spirit in him in our first hug.

I followed up with “How did you meet Jesus?”. Moab answered with the 20 minute version of his testimony. In short, he was broke, he was alone, and he didn’t know why he was alive. He had just enough money to fill up his moped halfway. A friend invited him to a Christian church and he decided to go as a last ditch effort. He said he went to church and prayed “Jesus, if you are real, prove it.” He then took his last few Cambodian Riel and put it in the offering plate. Later that day, three Christians come into the hair salon he worked at, asked him if they can pray for him, and give him the three largest tips he had ever received. In those moments, Moab felt a peace like he had never felt before. He felt seen, heard, and cared for. He decided to commit the rest of his life to Jesus.

Our ministry in Siem Reap was to develop contacts for future teams to serve with. With this in mind, I asked Moab if I could join him for church. He said “PLEASE!”. When I asked the leadership of the Guesthouse if they knew or had heard where Moab went to church, they had not. It was a perfect opportunity to get to know Moab more AND to develop a future ministry partner. We had been in Cambodia for less than 24 hours and it was already clear the Lord was leading us.

Church with Moab was an beautiful experience. It turned out to be Moab’s wedding anniversary and I even got to pray over him and his wife! After church we went with his pastors to a small farming village an hour and a half outside of Siem Reap to teach English. The kids were beyond excited to spend time with us and the head school teacher all but begged us to consider sending regular teams to help her. She wasn’t a Christian but said that any team that came to help with the school could share about Jesus. It’s our hope that teams will be able to partner with Moab’s church for a full month or more and continue to reach the village and spend time loving on the children at the school.

Celebrating Moab’s wedding anniversary after church.

There are so many small stories I could tell about Moab. So many late night rides and small conversations… thinking of the care that Moab showed us every day makes me get emotional. We’re brothers, for life.

At the end of the month, Moab asked if he could cook for our leadership team. It was the perfect way to say “see you soon”. We are family.

As I reflect on my friendship with Moab, I can’t help but think about times where I might have missed out. Times when I let my tiredness or emotions get in the way of what Holy Spirit was prompting me to do. Times when didn’t make the choice to dive deep and ask good questions.

I’ve come to realize that epic stories are all around us. We only have to make the choice to see them. I want to do everything I can to avoid letting how I feel in a moment cause me to miss out on an epic story of a lifetime!

Epilogue – Last week I received a Facebook voice message from someone with a name I didn’t recognize – Serng Sich. Our wifi is very slow in Africa so I clicked play and waited a few minutes for the message to come through.

“Arrr Jey, How arr you?” I knew immediately… IT WAS MOAB!

We exchanged voice messages about where we were, the weather, the time difference, and Jesus. If Jesus led me to the World Race for me to go to Cambodia to become friends with Moab, I count it as worth it. Moab showed me what being a “missionary” is actually about. EVERY DAY Moab chooses to live a life on mission. He cares for every person that steps into his tuk tuk – not because he thinks he can “save them”. He can’t – only Jesus can. But he can love them, share the Lord’s peace and grace, and make sure they make it where they need to go; on time and safely. When people get into Moab’s tuk tuk they can feel something is different. And when they ask, Moab is not shy to share what that difference is – JESUS. With that in mind, Moab is one of the most missional people I’ve met.