Sopheara lived in a small country town in a stick hut with his mother and sisters.

They attended school in the morning, when there was enough to pay the teacher, from collecting the recycled cardboard and boxes from the sides of the road.

Often, Sopheara's family didn’t have enough money to buy food so often he spent his time in the rice fields with his mother working.

One day, while Sopheara was walking home after school, he decided to take a short cut across the river. 

There wasn’t a lot of water in the river, as it was in the dry season, so he was able to cross easily.

While walking, Sopheara, saw a cave in the riverbank. It was covered by vines and tree roots but looked big enough for a person to enter. 

He crawled up slowly to the opening, pushing away the vines and tree roots, and carefully looked inside.

It was dark and had cobwebs and spiders, but he carefully made his way into the hole. 

At the far end of the hole, Sopheara could see a light so he crept forward gently touching the sides of the hole.

When he got to the end of the cave he saw a wooden box overgrown with tree roots. As he got closer he saw a big padlock on the box.

Sopheara was excited about what might be inside. He had seen a movie on his friends television of pirates and treasure hunts which always ended with the treasure in a similar box. 

If only he could open the box. He tried jiggling and lock, 

he tried wiggling the lock and even tried to pick the lock with a small stick. 

Finally, in frustration, he picked up the heaviest rock he could find and smashed it down on the lock.

Surprisingly, the lock broke apart, the box was open, so he looked inside ....

Perhaps it would be gold, silver or diamonds ...

Or maybe even jewelry like he had seen in the television...

He carefully tugged at the lid of the box.   It was stuck, feeling around the cave for a stick Sopheara located one and pried open the box. Inside he saw ….

A smaller box wrapped in a dirty leather cloth.

He was so excited to see what had been so precious as to be locked in a box and put down in a cave he ripped off the material only to discover … it was a book!

Not treasure, not jewels, just a book. Books were a rare thing in Sopheara’s home as the ruler had burnt all the books when he banished the families from the city to the country.

Sopheara knew that if he was found with a book in his possession that he would be sent to jail. 

So he carefully re-wrapped the book and tucked it into his shirt to take home. Before going inside Sopheara hid the book carefully under the fence in his back yard.

Later that evening, after his mother and sisters had gone to sleep, Sopheara crept out of his bed and checked that the book was still there.

When he saw it was he decided to open the book and see what it was about. 

The book was very heavy and had thousands of pages with many words that he did not know. He tried to read the pages and found it very difficult.

Each night he would sneak out and read a little more out of the book. Sopheara began to notice a theme in the stories about people from the past … he read about Adam and Eve, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, and many, many more fantastic adventures.

Eventually he came to a story like no other. It was the story of the birth of a Saviour for the world. A baby who would become King of the Jews and who was killed for the sake of his followers. 

The more Sopheara read the more he began to believe. He read about Paul and Timothy and began to understand that this book was more than just a book, it was a choice on how to live life. A baby who would become King of the Jews and who was killed for the sake of his followers. 

All the stars were there, the moon, and he began to pray asking God to show him what to do with this incredible book that he had found. Night after night Sopheara began to realise that he really needed to share this book with others in his family.

One month after he had found the book, Sopheara finally got brave enough to show the book to his mother. She was terrified.

The book could cause the family to get into big trouble and wanted to destroy the book but Sopheara grabbed it and returned it to under the fence.

Sopheara realised that he needed to show the ruler this book and get him to read the stories for himself before he destroyed it. Surely he would understand ....

So he packed up his most precious belongings and the book and left home to go to the palace in the city where the ruler lived. 

It was going to be a long journey but he knew that it was the right thing to do. He rode with a local baker who was doing his daily delivery to the Palace and was able to gain entry with him. Once inside the Palace Sopheara set out to find the ruler.

On this particular day, the Ruler had been feeling quite frustrated and bored with his role and had sent for his musicians to entertain him. 

 Sopheara snuck through with the musicians and got as far as the outer courtyard before a guard questioned him.  Sopheara begged the guard to allow him to see the ruler and entertain him, saying that he had information that could change the ruler’s life

. The guard granted Sopheara permission to go through to the inner courtyard with the musicians.

He managed to stay hidden until the musicians had a break then he seized his opportunity and walked up to the Ruler’s throne.

The Ruler was so surprised to see a child in his palace, let alone a child in his inner courtyard that he suddenly stopped his yelling.

“Who are you and what are you doing here?” he yelled at Sopheara. “Oh, your highness, I have travelled far to give you an urgent message” answered Sopheara softly.