Pardon for sin and a peace that endureth,
Thine own dear presence to cheer and to guide;
Strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow,
Blessings all mine, with ten thousand beside!
Great Is Thy Faithfulness by Thomas Obadiah Chisholm, 1960
In the midst of Khmer Rouge
He settles in a spot in the jungle. He is closer and closer to the refugee camp but he has to rest. Kneeling down, he settles on the dirt and lays down.
Dad falls heavily into sleep.
In the dark of night, he lay sleeping under the stars. Something jumps on his chest and begins scratching him. He begins to stir. The animal on his chest continues tapping on him as if it’s trying to wake him. The thumping wakes him from his slumber. Drowsily, he looks towards his chest and sees the silhouette of an animal…is it a chicken? He questions and goes for the animal. Attempting to capture it, he tells himself, “Oh, a chicken! Grab it, Ham!”
Startling out of his sleep, he turns. Rolling over hoping to grab the chicken, his hands rub what feels like fur not feather! Further, he feels a long tail. Alerting himself he says, “It’s not a chicken! It’s a rat!” Food scarce during these times is food nonetheless. His body continuing rolling towards the rat. He was just a few seconds too late to catch his next meal. Instead, he finds himself rolling downward into a deep ditch.
Not a moment later he hears “Kapow. Kapow. Swoosh. Swoosh.”
A spray of bullets fly across the ditch above him. On a path going directly through where he was sleeping just moments ago.
A sense of “cheating death” startles him awake. His palms are sweating and heart beating faster than it has ever before. He can feel his heart coming out of his chest. Shallows breaths exhales from his nose and Dad looks up. Those bullets could have pierced him seconds ago! He thanks God for another day to be alive.
Abundant Mommyhood 