Journey In The Kingdom
by
Ben McGonagle
Published in eBook format by eBookIt.com
ISBN-13: 978-1-4566-0051-8
Copyright © 2011 by Benjamin McGonagle
PO Box 629, Rochedale, QLD, 4123, AUSTRALIA. www.benandcherie.com
All rights reserved under International Copyright Law. Contents and/or cover may not be reproduced in whole or in part in any form without the express written consent of the publisher.
All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations marked (AMP) are taken from the Amplified Bible, Copyright © 1954, 1958, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1987 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.
Take note that the name satan and related names are not capitalized, unless quoted from Scripture. We choose not to acknowledge him, even to the point of violating grammatical rules.
~ DEDICATION ~
This book is dedicated first and foremost to God. Thank You, thank You, thank You. Through the darkest hours and highest heights You have been there for me. You are the joy of my life and my rich reward. I love You and praise You. All glory to Your Name.
To my beautiful wife Cherie. As far as I am concerned, there is no greater wife a man could have. You are such an encouragement and strength to me. Your love, passion and life continue to astound me. We have journeyed together through it all. Every moment I have with you is priceless. I love you.
My two sons Malakai and Jakin. You have enriched my life beyond words and are absolute champions. I am looking forward to many more adventures with you.
And to all who seek God with a desire to see their world impacted by His message of hope and love.
The Journey begins...
“Again, the kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and hid; and for joy over it he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.” - Matthew 13:44
INTRODUCTION
The children began to queue as the food was being prepared. Windy Village as we called it in Kampong Cham, Cambodia had become like a second home to us. Three times a week the team would prepare big pots of soup with rice and meat for two to three hundred malnourished children, mums and grandmas from the surrounding village. Skinny dogs and chickens would be doing laps around the children just trying to get a taste of the food. After the meal, a muddy game of soccer was always a hit, as was jump rope; the kids thought it was hilarious when I would have a go. We were falling in love with the Cambodian people.
There was a certain group of kids that I called ‘Cherie’s Cling-ons’ because as soon as they saw my wife they would run at her, hug her and just refuse to let go! One of these was a six-year-old named Rutt. Usually Rutt was such a happy, smiley little boy full of life and energy, but on one particular day he arrived at the feeding project silently holding his head in pain. His face looked broken. It was so swollen and infected cuts ran across his cheeks. When he tried to breathe through his nose the skin around his sinuses puffed out. It was scary. He just lay against Cherie holding his injured head. We thought he had been beaten and asked the children what had happened. They said an animal had attacked him, but we suspected they were covering for someone. Rutt was in trouble.
Andrew Cook, the Head of Heartland International was with us and saw Rutt’s injuries. Together we laid hands on Rutt and prayed for a miracle that God would supernaturally heal him. Rutt then moved to a quiet corner as we started to deal with the masses of hungry children lining up for their hot meal. If I had known what was going to happen I would have had the video camera ready and started recording. Fifteen to twenty minutes later Rutt walked back over to us. All the swelling was gone. The infected cuts across his face had almost disappeared, and he had the biggest smile on his face! I couldn’t believe what I was seeing! God had performed a miracle in this little boy’s life in such a short amount of time. I thought, Does he even know it was God who healed him? That we are just arrows pointing to God? We were praying in English, and Cherie was holding him. Does he think it was the almighty power of Cherie? But before I could say anything, Rutt lifted his eyes to the sky, his hands up in prayer and said “Okune Brayer Yesu!” which is Khmer for “Thank You Jesus!” He had the biggest smile on his face as he ran off to play soccer with the other kids. God had totally spun me out!
More amazing miracles happened in the weeks and years following, but I'm getting ahead of myself. Let me start at the beginning of my journey in the Kingdom...
CHAPTER ONE: How It Began
I remember the Christian crew in school.
They used to hang out together, played footy together, and had a good reputation.
Even though this Christian crew was there at school, I still chose to hang out with another group and as a result my life started heading down a dangerous path. I made a choice and I think, Man, if I had chosen to follow God then, things could have been so different. People might not have died. But that’s the choice I made, and this is that story.
I was 16 years old when guys from a rival group came into my house. Put a knife to my mate’s throat and started to beat him. They then came at me with the knife. We managed to get them out of the house, but later a baseball bat was put through my mum’s bedroom window. Mum came home the next day and asked me, “What if your little sister had been in the room when the baseball bat came through the window?” I realised that my life was involving my family in a bad way, and I chose to move out to another city to stay with some older friends.
When I was 17, my mates bought another car and I thought, They might give me this car to use for work. Then one day one of them decided that he wanted to trash the car. Pulled out his gun and started shooting it while others grabbed bats and started smashing windows and others jumped on the roof.
I then went to a party and a girl offered herself to me. I pushed her away, and she went to be with someone else. I didn’t realise that this was actually a cry for help. Her father had committed suicide, and she was hurting. If I had chosen earlier to follow Jesus, I might have been able to help her. She needed hope, and I could have showed her that this world’s only hope is Jesus. She hung herself. If I had chosen earlier to follow Jesus, her life may have been turned around. It comes down to the choices we make.
For my 18th birthday, my mates bought me a mirror. I was stoked. I thought, Man, these guys really care about me. No one else had bought me anything. I came home from work to find my mates doing lines of cocaine and speed on my mirror. Through wisdom which my dad had bestowed upon me years earlier (and I thank him for it), I had made a choice not to become involved with those drugs, so I moved to another house. Some of my mates are doing ok, but most got worse: Some went to prison, some lost their minds and some disappeared.
I
