Hungry for Justice

"Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled"

Earlier this week I spent two days with thirty community nonviolence activists from around Cambodia. In the evening of the first day I sat aside to read some Scripture. The passages I'm meditating on these days are the Sermons on the Mount, in Matthew and Luke, as well as Paul's version in Romans 12. I was surrounded by poor Cambodian farmers, fishing folk, foresters, day labourers, and villagers. Their homes, fishing grounds, forests, lakes and water ways are all under intense risk of destruction or appropriation. If anyone could be described as "poor in spirit", mourners, meek, seekers of righteousness (justice), builders of peace, and persecuted, these folk fit the bill. My eyes grew wide in awe as I sat amongst these blessed ones and watched Scripture come alive.

September 2009

The Baker Evens jumped into their "new" 1988 blue Corolla, packed their belongings into a large moving truck, said good-bye to Phnom Penh and made the 4-hour journey to Kampot, our new home.

Looking Back

August 9 - Chris' thesis defense has been postponed until further notice. Two hours before I was to defend my thesis I received a phone call from my advisor saying that one of the defense panel had made comments regarding my paper that the rest of the panel did not understand, and that he was away at a funeral so he couldn't be asked for further clarification. So my defense is on hold. I'm pretty sad about this. I was very much looking forward to defend and celebrate with my class-mates the end of our studies. The good news is it is now tentatively planned for Oct 6.