The unmistakable earthy smell of rain was in the air and lightning flashed across the evening sky. SeAn dropped to his knees and cried out to God, “Oh Supreme Ruler of the Earth and sky, I ask you to hold the rain from my land, but if you don’t, You are still my God.”
SeAn had followed the way of Jesus for many years and had been discipled and mentored by missionaries in Phnom Penh, the capital city of Cambodia. Now he was trying to make a go of life, but faced much opposition. At first he had many students in a school he opened to teach English & Computer, but when hard times hit the province, the work force (and his students) went to Thailand in search of jobs. He had tried raising pigs, but without paying students there was no money for feed. He then stocked a pond with fish, but someone got jealous and poisoned his pond just before the ingathering. Then he grew a hectare of off-season rice, but just before the harvest rats infested his field and destroyed the produce.
His last venture was to plant manioc since the price had been good. However, when his crop was ready, the price of manioc in the ground dropped. The only way to make a profit was to unearth it and dry it before sale.
The workers had been digging out the tubers for days and chopping them into pieces to dry on some leveled ground and the April sun had been doing its job toward making SeAn some money. The day before the trucks were to come to load the dried manioc and bring it to the warehouse, the sky turned dark.
Under a thatch lean-to SeAn and his wife tucked their mosquito net under the grass mat as they prepared to sleep out in the field. The wind came up and the dark clouds hid the stars. There was nothing between them and financial ruin except their faith in the Creator and All Powerful God. Once again before they lay down they pleaded that God hold back the rain in Jesus’ name. That night they were awakened often by the crash of thunder and the blaze of lightening. At one point, the wind blew the mosquito net out from under the mat and they had to quickly secure it.
Morning dawned and SeAn walked out to see his manioc was dry as a bone. He was looking at it from the road when a mud-covered cart drove up. The driver in a plastic raincoat sold breakfast noodles to the field workers each day. He seemed in awe of SeAn’s situation and exclaimed, “All the other fields I have been to this morning were drenched by the huge storm last night, yet yours is completely dry.” At that point Sean realized that God had not only answered his prayer, but had done it in spectacular fashion. Indeed, his God was the Master of creation and capable of anything and everything.
