by Judy Daniels
Kiem Chhom, church planter and pastor of the Siem Reap church in Cambodia, is a handicapped veteran. He lost his right leg in 1986 after he stepped on a land mine while fighting against the Khmer Rouge.
Recently, a local government official recommended that Chhom enter a competition for veterans who have overcome handicaps. Chhom was among 18 men who were chosen to compete from more than 1,000 veterans in the Siem Reap province. The awards were well worth the effort: the first place prize was a gold medal and a house; second place was a silver medal and a cash award.
Chhom won the
second place award and was privileged to receive his medal and gift from the prime minister. Chhom says, “God prepared the way.” He adds humbly that he was chosen because he has a good testimony. He isn’t a drinker—as many handicapped veterans are—and doesn’t cause problems.
It wasn’t always that way for Chhom. He describes himself as “a person with a great amount of sin.” Drinking, smoking, gambling, cursing, and fighting dominated his life before he came to Christ in 1992. But “God cleaned out all of these evil things,” he says, and transformed him.
Now a faithful husband, father, and self-supporting pastor, Chhom leads the Siem Reap Grace Brethren Church, a strong group of believers (70 in attendance on June 20, 2010). His wife works alongside him in the ministry and his teenage children teach weekly children’s clubs in area villages.
“I’m a servant of God,” Chhom writes. Back in 1986 when he lost his leg, he could not have imagined what being a servant of God would mean one day.
