On Tuesday, my friend Andy Taylor and I drove to Pittsburgh so I could give an update to the youth at the 2009 Momentum conference. Last year, the students raised more than $90,000, enough to open and operate two orphan homes for an entire year.

It was an honor to thank the students on behalf of our staff and kids in Cambodia. I also got a chance to hang out briefly with Je'Rod Cherry, who raffled off one of his Super Bowl rings to help kids in need. Asia's Hope was a recipient of some of those funds, and we were able to purchase land and underwrite a large portion of the construction costs for our Doi Saket 3 and 4 orphan homes.

It's really amazing to see God's spirit move in the hearts of so many people across the nation, and i'ts especially encouraging to see God work so powerfully through the youth of the Grace Brethren fellowship. Very cool.

I've just returned from Cambodia and Thailand, and I'm amazed at how well all of our kids are doing.

I've watched God transform these kids from scared, vulnerable street kids to confident, strong brothers and sisters, sons and daughters.

Like all charitable organizations, Asia's Hope is feeling the pressure from the global economic downturn. As an organization with only one full-time staff in North America (and nearly 90 in Asia!) we have always pinched our pennies and stretched our dollars to the max.

Right now, however, we have a number of urgent, unexpected bills we're struggling to pay -- a well that's run dry, a sudden increase in rent at an orphan home, repairs to an air conditioning unit, repairs to a vehicle -- and a few others.

Would you take a moment and pray for Asia's Hope today?

Would you also consider clicking "Donate" to make a contribution via PayPal or credit card?

May God bless you as you stand in defense of orphans.

Boy, do I miss my family.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m having a great time here. And I’m certainly not hug-deprived – I can barely walk two steps inside the gates of one of our orphan homes, so eager are the kids to latch on to my legs, arms, back, neck and torso. But, you know. It’s not the same as being home with one’s own family. So, by the time I leave on the 25^th, I’ll be more than ready to get back to the States.

My time here hasn’t been all hugs and dancing. I’ve spent most of my days in meetings with staff, directors and ministry partners. When I’m not in meetings, I’m usually working on things with exciting names like, “operational principles,” “philosophical foundations,” “best-practices implementation standards” and “statements of ecumenical consensus.”

A couple of days ago, however, I spent the entire afternoon lounging around on a bamboo cabana beside a lake with our directors and their wives. We ate snails sold to us by little old ladies in long, wooden boats. We sipped Coke and orange Fanta – a favorite here in Cambodia – and I think I may have even fallen asleep. “Fellowship,” we call it in Christianese. It was very nice.

Tonight, it’s another dance party. I’m buying some special food and drinks, and we’re going to try to replicate the revelry we enjoyed in Battambang.

Before then, however, I have a 3-hour meeting wherein I’ll bandy about terms like “organizational aspirations” and “Institutional financial vehicles.”

Later, I’ll look them up to see what I was talking about.

It's been a couple of days since my last post, but I have an excuse. Really. Our intern, Kaillee Dravenstott, has been sick, and I've been shuttling her back and forth to hospitals and clinics.

As of this morning, we don't think she has dengue (our first fears). It looks like it might just be one of the many weird viruses floating around Cambodia. Keep praying, though, and I'll keep you posted. Eventually.

More photos from this set...

Last Sunday, I was worshipping in Doi Saket, Thailand with all of the kids in our four orphan homes in that town. Today, I’ll be with the kids from all five of our Battambang, Cambodia homes.

I’ll be teaching today from 1 Kings 7 – the story of the four lepers during the siege of Samaria. Not the most famous of all Bible stories, but I think it’ll be fun. It’s got war, leprosy and cannibalism. What more could a kid want in a story?

I’m still a little tired from last night’s party. We bought pon moan aang (grilled chicken eggs) and Coca-Cola (carbonated high-fructose corn syrup) – both are special treats that the kids love.

We started at about 5pm with a big ol’ unruly game of ‘capture the flag’ – boys versus girls. It’s hard to tell who won. For the very little kids, we played ‘duck duck goose.’

At dusk, we stretched a big sheet on a couple of sticks, hooked up a projector and sound system and watched a DVD of funny commercials from around the world. And then we danced.

And danced. And danced.

For at least three hours (and maybe longer – I left at around 9:30), staff, kids and guests danced in the cool night air to Cambodian hip-hop and club music. Now, dancing in our context isn’t the bump-and-grind you’d picture in an American night club or high school prom. It’s more like hopping around in a circle making hand motions. For hours.

The lightning that crackled across the horizon provided some extra ambience, while the thunder added some bass. And even though I didn’t grow up dancing very much (or very well, for that matter), I had a fantastic time.

If there’s a better picture of the Kingdom of God than a dance party at an orphan home, I can’t think of one. These kids have had so much pain. It’s great to see them enjoying themselves with such complete abandon.

As I returned to my hotel, the words of a song we sometimes sing at my church echoed in my head:

“Open up the doors and let the music play. Let the streets resound with singing! Songs that bring your hope, songs that bring your joy. Dancers who dance upon injustice.”

Thanks again for your prayers and your support. I know I’ve said it before, but it truly is an honor to serve these kids on your behalf.

It’s hot in Battambang, somewhere in the low 90s. I’m lying in bed at the TeO Hotel, which finally has Wi-Fi. After about a dozen visits to this hotel, let me just say, “It’s about time” for this place to be blessed with wireless access to this here internet.

I had planned on hanging out at our main campus – home to three of our five Battambang orphan homes – but Savorn, our national director, wisely suggested that I take a nap. He’s right, you know. I didn’t sleep well last night or the night before, and I wore myself out this morning at the Battambang 2 and 3 homes playing tag, ‘Simon says,’ ‘Steal the bacon,’ coin hockey, paper football and something sort of like rugby.

I’ll be in town for the next few days; I can afford to pace myself.

On my “visits to the troops,” I’m more Bob Hope than Douglas MacArthur; I take my role as designated merrymaker very seriously. Prior to coming to live at Asia’s Hope, each of these kids had a hell of a life -- in a very full sense of the expression – and I think they deserve to have as much fun as I can give them.

Read with me a few excerpts from some of these kids’ bios, and you’ll see why it’s so important to me that they have a chance to smile and play and laugh:

… Her father was a farmer, but he was killed by a land mine when she was 10 years old. Her mother abandoned her when she was 11 years old…Her grandmother made her taken care of pigs in order to earn some money to buy food. Sometimes the pigs died by disease and she could not take them to sell at market, so she had no money to buy food or clothes. She tried to find morning glory to get it to sell, but in the dry season she could not find it anymore, and she did not have enough food or other basic necessities…

… His father was a fisherman. In 1996 his father died of a liver disease. His mother was a housewife, but in 2001 she died of high blood pressure…After his parents died, he lived with an elderly grandmother. He took care of pigs and planted vegetables. However, because he did not have enough strength to do this work, he become sick and had no money to buy medicine. He could not go to school and his grandmother did not have a sufficient income to take care of him. He had no hope…

…Her father was a farmer. He was always drunk, and in 2006 he hung himself during the night from a mango tree and died. After her father died, her mother washed her neighbor’s clothes and dishes in order to earn some money to feed her children. Unfortunately, her mother contracted HIV, so no one wanted her to work for them anymore. Because of this, her mother abandoned her daughter to live with the neighbor…but the neighbor’s family was poor, and they had many of their own children to care for. As a result, they did not really like to feed her. The neighbor required her to go and collect morning glory and simple shellfish that she could sell, and then give the money to them. They did not let her go to school. She never had enough food or good clothes…

These aren’t the “worst-of-the-worst” stories, selected for dramatic effect. I have hundreds of stories just like these. Each one of our kids has had some sort of trauma or abandonment that brought them to us, and each one was at high risk of being trafficked -- sold or tricked into slavery or prostitution.

This is why I never feel like I’m wasting my time here, even when it might like I am. I’m not just playing ‘freeze tag,’ I’m helping reclaim some little boy’s stolen childhood. ‘Simon says?’ I’m helping to reformat a little girl’s self-image by telling her, “You’re important. You’re part of a family.”

Certainly, the most important work is done by the staff and the orphan home parents. They work tirelessly to provide everything that this world had stolen from these kids. But I will -- unashamedly and with a strong sense of a truly sacred calling -- run around with funny things on my head, make silly faces and play silly games as long as God gives me breath.

Tomorrow, we’re having a party. We’ll have special food and music, and we’ll laugh and dance and play more silly games. And with each laugh, each song, each round of coin hockey, we’ll write another happy line in these kids’ admittedly complex life story, and see the kingdom of darkness pushed back just a little bit more as God’s kingdom comes on earth – in Battambang, Cambodia – as it is in heaven.

It’s raining in Doi Saket, Thailand. For the last couple of days, all of the kids from our Thailand orphan homes have joined together at our main campus to participate in English camps. The Thai and American team conducting the camps are doing a great job, and the kids are having a blast.

With the camps now finished, the kids were hoping to go to a local swimming pool. But it’s raining. Hard. We’ll see how that goes. They’re pretty happy, however, to settle for a screening of The Lion King. They’re all stretched out on the floor of the learning center, enjoying “I Just Can’t Wait to be King.”

I’m taking a short break from kitchen duties. For the last hour or so, I’ve been working on my mis en place for a Western-style dinner I’ve planned for the staff. We’re grilling steaks (I confirmed with the butcher that it’s cow, not buffalo. Buffalo tastes and cooks like shoe leather.), sautéing carrot medallions, buttering mushrooms, boiling orecchiette and slicing mangoes. Tutu is making what she calls “Karen-tribe chili,” perhaps as a backup.

I’ve been so busy this trip – meetings, budgets, consultations, strategy sessions. I have, however, had the chance to bond with our staff a little bit and show lots of love to the kids. I haven’t taken as many pictures as I have in the past – maybe it’s just that all of the new responsibilities have made it difficult to keep “official photographer” on the top of my duty list.

Anyway, tonight is about the staff. I leave tomorrow, and I want to show them my appreciation for everything they do. I hope that, even if no one likes the meal, everyone will get a taste of my gratefulness for their hard work and dedication.

Tomorrow, I leave for Cambodia. It looks like I’ll be just as busy there. I will try, however, to post more pictures. I know. Promises, promises.

God has been good to our ministry. Nothing has come easy to us, but God has continued to show his favor and faithfulness, despite our mistakes and our human limitations. Please continue to pray that God will teach us how to best serve these wonderful kids.

It’s Sunday afternoon, and I’ve checked into a small cabin in Doi Saket, about 10 minutes from our main campus. Dr. John and Bob have begun their return trip home, and I will be joined in a short while by Eric and Josie Biddle, who will be staying for a while as interns here in Thailand.

It’s a shame that Dr. John, Bob, Eric and Josie missed this morning’s church service. It was really a delight to worship with our kids. Among our five orphan homes in Thailand, we have eight different hill tribes represented. On Sundays, many of the kids dress up in their traditional tribal garb, but all of the kids worship together. Our worship services are a picture of the kingdom of Heaven: multiethnic, multigenerational – diverse, but unified.

This morning, I wore a traditional Karen tribal shirt as I spoke from Exodus 2. I reminded the kids that, as in the story of Moses, God loves to do His greatest work through individuals with humble – and often tragic – beginnings. At the end of the service, all of the adults prayed for the children and begged God to heal their emotional scars and empower them for leadership in their tribes and in the nation of Thailand.

Tomorrow, a group of young people from an American parachurch organization will come for a few days to run an English camp for our students, who are finishing up their spring break. I will continue meeting with our staff to craft plans and policies, and I’ll also try to spend as much time as possible playing with the kids at each of our orphan homes. It is such a blessing to serve these kids.

Please continue to pray for each of the children and for the staff. And pray for Asia’s Hope. It is neither easy nor inexpensive to run this ministry. Our needs far outstrip our resources, but we are trusting that God will move in the hearts of churches, businesses and individuals in the U.S. and Canada to give generously to God’s work here.

When I return, I’ll be looking for volunteers to help me with some fundraising goals I’ve developed. Please start asking God if He wants you to get involved with Asia’s Hope at a deeper level.

I’ll try to post some pictures later. Right now, I’m going to take a few minutes to rest before my ride arrives to take me back to the orphan home. Peace.