Having the Prime of My Life

No, I haven’t vanished from the face of the earth! The last few months of 2025 have been a challenge due to an emergency bowel resection and post-surgical brain fog. I am happy to report, I am back to the task of blog management for 2025. 

I thought I’d start out Having the Prime of My Life, with this inspiring newsletter. My son, John, visited his missionary friend, Brian Maher, in Cambodia and went with him on a jungle hike. With permission, I am posting Brian’s newsletter with his report of the challenges the group met, including my son!

Follow up with a YouTube video and maybe you could spare a few dollars to help support his ministry. 

Up-Country Gecko Tale Jungle Trekking

In many ways, the trek reminded me of jungle scenes in two movies, Apocalypse Now and The Deer Hunter: rivers and jungle. After 4 km, we abruptly left a narrow logging road and our crew of eight entered ‘real’ jungle on what seemed to be an animal trail, and began to descend a very steep slope, where a trail guide, some time ago, had chopped in footholds with some implement. I helped Bophal, who was trying not to aggravate her knee, step by step down the slope. When we finally arrived at the raging river below, I was completely exhausted.

Even at 67, this is not me.

Ever since returning to Cambodia from our trip to the US, I have been fatigued. Might be Lyme or COVID from all the hacking and coughing on the plane. I did have a very nasty rash for a few weeks after returning from Connecticut.

Plopping down like a sack of potatoes, I sat with my back against a tree, where the dark green bamboo grew thick along the river and a small but fast-flowing stream ran into a waist-deep river.

Soon after all the would-be trekkers arrived at the crossing spot, the guide said it was time to cross to the river, which, having been fed by torrential rains from the recent typhoon in Vietnam and Myanmar, looked like no easy feat. While Virak was pulling a leech off John’s leg, I was trying to find a way to get comfortable. I had never felt so exhausted. I was fine for the first 4 kilometers but arriving at the river crossing I found I could not go on.

Crossing the river led to a beautiful hidden waterfall where the two guides, one Khmer man and one tribal man would prepare lunch, tribal style, for our outfit. Despite the incentives, I really did not want to cross, let alone get my boots soaked. One misstep would have my car keys and iPhone soaked. Since our group would have to cross back to my spot to pick up the trail that led out of the jungle, I said, “Just let me wait here and rest up.”

Sitting propped up against a tree I found some un-opened rain ponchos to serve as a back and headrest. Felt like I was back on the plane, trying to find a way to get comfortable after 10 hours. The guides helped Bophal, Ms. Poun, and John wade across. Virak and teenager Mr. Both didn’t need much assistance. John is a former classmate of mine from King’s College (NYC) who is visiting us on the farm.

The way I felt, I could not imagine myself walking another 4 kilometers out of the jungle where every piece of blowdown I had to climb over would rob me of what little energy I might have left. I sat there, thinking, how in the world will I make it out of here? Maybe this is it?  I sat there dipping my bandana in the cool stream, squeezing the water out over me and wiping my brow. Heat exhaustion was most likely possible as the humidity in the jungle was so thick one could cut it with a knife.

15 minutes later, John and one guide crossed back through the river to let me know the waterfall was only a couple hundred meters upstream. Bophal sent them to get me. Very reluctantly, I forced myself to stand up, and cross the waist-deep river, getting my boots soaked, and nearly taking a plunge that would have swept me down the river.  Still suffering heat exhaustion, I arrived at the magnificent waterfall and watched the tribal guide fill a 5” thick, 4’ long section of fresh-cut bamboo with food, cap it, and cook it on the fire. When done, he cut it vertically and set it on a plank where we could help ourselves like a buffet. Banana leaves were our plates.

Virak and Mr. Both swam in the falls, Bophal and John took photos, Ms. Poun milled about. I exulted in the cool breezes and the cooling mists that came off the descending water. It was enough to cool me down and bring me some life back to my spent body.

It was a good thing my energy began to return, because the trail ended up having us crossing the river 5 more times, though not as intense as the first crossing, and had more blow-downs across the trail.  The jungle was beautiful along the river for a few kilometers before we broke into intermittent farmland. One kilometer from the boat dock John began suffering from heat exhaustion as well. He needed assistance to make it to the boats. A bit woozy, and in pain from cramps in his legs, we had him lay down on a plank, had him drink Royal D (salt and electrolyte mix), and massaged his cramps.

John, with assistance, gingerly made his way down the steep bank to the boats, and we all headed back down south on the Sesan River for 45 minutes by boat to our waiting Pass App vehicles who brought us into town in about 45 minutes. 4 or 5 mud holes in the road made it touch and go but our drivers gunned the Pass Apps through them.  

That morning, we took my truck from the farm to the Provincial city of Ratanakiri, Banlung, then Pass Apps from Banlung to the boat landing on the Sesan River, boats up-country to the trail head, and 8 kms of jungle hiking into Virachey National Park. Normally a walk in the park for me, but not this time. Bophal, Poun, Mr. Both, and Virak held up well. John and I had been a bit challenged. Reversing this route, we arrived home to the farm at 8:30 pm

I posted a few photos on FB, and an old friend from Junior High asked, “Why?” I laughed; it was a very good question. I didn’t give her the ‘Full Monty’ of an explanation, but for you readers who might be wondering, this trip was a fact-finding trip of sorts for:

Potential Follow-Up ~ On previous jungle Creation Care retreat projects, our students saw how local Khmer communities exploit resources set aside for community use. Virachey is supposed to be managed as a sanctuary for wildlife with no illegal logging.  It is not.  Ancient tribal ways of life living off non-timber forest products are gone forever. It is religious discrimination. Virachey is another opportunity to learn about Creation Care or lack of it.

Potential Men Group Trek~ The farm still has many challenges for male city adolescents, but I wanted Mr. Virak, my colleague and ministry partner to come experience a trek to see how the urban teens we work with might like a bit more of a challenge. Virak was interested in organizing a group for December or January  
I wanted to see!  I wanted to see some unspoiled part of Cambodia before it was gone. It took quite a journey, but I did catch a glimpse. It takes quite a few days to walk through the whole park, from start to end. We just played on the edges.

Creating great and challenging experiences for young people results in great memories that serve as sacred places they can go back to in their souls in the future when times get tough. Good discipleship happens when you take young people out of their comfort zones, into difficult experiences where they must depend on each other, and where bonding, both with each other and adult leaders/role models happens.

Jesus himself modeled a discipleship that was experiential, risky, and difficult, and used normal conversation and dialogue along the trail/road, to teach his disciples.

This is what we live to do. We have a church without walls in many instances.

John, Bophal, Mr. Both the boy, myself and Virak all said; “Yeah, we’d do it again.”  

Again, appreciate your friendship, encouragement, and financial support.

MORE ABOUT BRIAN

Grew up in a blue-collar family in a white and wealthy Island suburb of NYC, called Darien in CT. and our family lived on the wrong side of the tracks. Somehow, I barely made it through High School but picked up an Eagle Badge in Scouts just before entering High school. Ran track and cross country. Became a Christian at Paul Smith's College in '79, served at forester in Berlin, NY, after that went to Word of Life Bible Institute for two years in Schroon Lake, then finished a BA at King's College in Briarcliff in Christian Education. Served as a Youth Pastor in Darien, worked for Bartlett Tree Expert Co as a licensed arborist, then went to Cambodia with my African American wife and two small children and established a nationwide- Christian Youth Movement. Worked there for World Vision in Community Development, returned to USA in 2008, and was divorced, got my life together and returned to Cambodia in 2013 and remarried a wonderful Cambodian woman with two adopted Cambodian children who my wife saved from near death. I have been working in the area of mental health as a tool of discipleship for youth and adolescents for 12 years now, and it has been great to see many lives changed through this approach.

Watch an entertaining video of the excursion. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AZGlJULHTIM

For donation information email: brianmaher57@gmail.com