Narin's Story

One of the significant people I've spent time with while in Cambodia is Pastor Narin Chey. He and his wife, Quenie, of whom I wrote early on in my blog, have planted a church in Phnom Penh and are having a fruitful ministry there.

It was only on my last day in Phnom Penh that I learned that he is a survivor of the killing fields. It was a horrible time in Cambodian history. Everyone lived in fear--or in terror--of being rounded up, taken to the killing fields and executed. This was done in an utterly random, capricious way and no one was exempt.

One day when Narin was about five year old, a truck pulled into their village, loaded up all the inhabitants, including Narin, his parents and all his siblings and took them off for several hours' drive to the killing fields. They arrived about mid afternoon and were told that they would be executed at sundown. So they waited for the end. You can well imagine the utter terror that they all experienced. It was not unusual for whole families to be executed and their bodies dumped into a mass grave. This wasn't as simple as being shot by a firing squad. People were bound and bludgeoned to death on the edge of a large pit that they would have helped to dig.

But obviously, Narin wasn't executed. Nor was his family. A few hours later, they were told that the general had changed his mind, that they would simply be resettled in another village. Resettling people in different places was routine in those days. The whole country was in constant upheaval.

Life in the new village was not easy. The parents worked long hours, probably before dawn until after sunset, and the children didn't get to see them very often. When they did, the parents were exhausted. The whole country was involved in the production of rice. The utopian dream was to become a wealthy nation through abundant production of rice. The workers and their families were fed very little food, perhaps a small can full of rice for the whole family. Hunger was constant. Life was lonely and bleak and difficult yet they survived.

I believe that the Lord spared Narin and his family for a reason. Years later when he came to Phnom Penh to go to university, someone shared the gospel with him and he came to faith in Christ. It took a long time for him to tell his parents, who are devout Buddhists. When he did tell them they disowned him, breaking off all communication. His faith cost him something. His relationship with Jesus Christ became the central thing in his life. He joined a Christian organization and shared the gospel with other students. Eventually he became a pastor. He has since reconciled with his parents, who are still devout Buddhists, and Narin continues to share the gospel with people in creataive ways as he shepherds his congregation.