Star Date 2556. No I am not a Star Trek fanatic; that is the year in Cambodia. Our year started on April 15th on the moment that the new moon was complete. The year is based on a calendar linked to the date of the death of Siddhartha Gautama, or Buddha. They follow a lunar…
Just by seeing this title with the word “prayer” in it I think will limit the number of people who will bother to read this blog. While, as Christians, we talk about “prayer” regularly, how many of us really pray? I mean, actually stop what you are doing, sit down, or kneel, or even more…
I was shocked, just like the nation and much of the world, at the bombing of the Boston Marathon. In the first video feed I saw an elderly runner fall off his feet, likely hit my shrapnel. My eyes fixated on him. People didn’t know what to do. They didn’t know what happened. Yet, in…
My wife Noit, along with all the other people who were living in the capital city Phnom Penh were considered worthless city people. The Khmer Rouge leadership had determined that all the nations problems could be traced to the city people. They were viewed as oppressors because they were rich and they acted like it.…
Your Global Impact: 20 feet Over the last few years I have been thinking and praying a lot about what it takes to impact a nation. I have considered traditional strategies as well as the internet and the power of the digital word being broadcast out through so many channels like YouTube, Facebook, Word Press…
By Steve and Noit Hyde After completing the Freedom Walk honoring Noit together we have had many meaningful conversations together since then. Last night as Noit and I talked of how Jesus has transformed our hearts and grew His love in us, then, Noit commented on the condition of her heart immediately after the Khmer…
As Paul and I were walking that last hour of our Freedom Walk through the city, we knew it was an easy walk of only a few miles. After walking 150km on dirt and gravel, walking on paved roads was easy. The only difficulty would be the amount of traffic in Phnom Penh. As we…
By Noit Hyde (Translated by Steve) When Steve wanted to go on this walk remembering the walk that I had made with my sister more than thirty years ago, I didn’t want him to do it. I knew it was a difficult journey and I thought since I already went through great difficulty, why should…
As I prepared mentally and physically for the Freedom Walk, I was anticipating a difficult walk. As a Boy Scout decades ago, I had completed many long hikes and loved camping out-of-doors, so a little hiking and sleeping in random villages was nothing which bothered me. The biggest difficultly I thought about was the sheer…
When we hear the word “traitor” we think of someone stealing state secrets on military weapons design, or some classified aircraft part. In Cambodia, under the Khmer Rouge a traitor was anyone who stole from “Ongka”. Ongka was what the Khmer Rouge called themselves. It is a word which just means “organization”. Everything, literally, was…