A Father to the Fatherless

Father's Day has been difficult for me this year.

I have been acutely aware of the void in my life that would have been filled by my dad, Ralph Frank Garrett, who died when I was 23.  I think of the times in my life that I longed for his wisdom, his support, his encouragement.  Should I take this new job offer? I felt the void when I tried to make my own home repairs.  Felt it when I was married (finallyJ) and he wasn't there to give me away.  I missed the sense of safety and security that comes from the protection of a loving father.

But what happens when an entire nation loses its' fathers prematurely and unnaturally?  When war, disease, famine, and murder take the lives of a whole generation of Cambodian fathers and grandfathers? 

From 1975-1979, the Pol Pot regime systematically targeted the "fathers" of Cambodia….eliminating the educated, the professionals, the teachers, the religious leaders, the artists, the doctors.  The resources and wisdom and experience built up over centuries of a culture gone in a few short years.

How does a nation rebuild without their fathers?  Where do they go to for the answers to hard questions?  Where do they find that sense of security and safety that comes from experience?

Alger and I were struck by the lack of middle aged and older people in Cambodia.  The population has doubled in the past twenty years, and half of the population is under 18.  Cambodia is a vast sea of young people, with few lighthouses to guide them. It's a nation looking for answers, for hope, for a future.

The young people that Alger and I met all across Cambodia have a deep yearning for relationships with older people. (Hard to admit, but we fit into this category nowJ) They need that same encouragement, support, and wisdom that I needed as a young woman after the loss of my dad.

Our ministry will focus on mentoring and training this young generation to be the leaders of the New Cambodia…to help them realize their full destiny in God.

In Psalm 68:5, David writes that the Lord is "A father to the fatherless, a defender of the widows...God sets the lonely in families, He leads forth the prisoners in singing."

May Cambodia come to know their true Heavenly Father as we celebrate Father's Day  here on earth.