Help the Syrian Refugees!

I’ve really been burdened by the plight of the Syrian refugees.God has put Syria in my path many times - I visited there 10 times while I lived in Lebanon - for visa trips combined with either visiting a couple of other missionary friends who were living there or for sightseeing. It was a tough, dark place with hardly any western influence. But I'd like to share a little so you can get an idea for the people and the country.

At first I really did not enjoy going there - it honestly creeped me out. We (my friends and I) couldn’t openly share the gospel. We had to meet in secret to have bible study. We knew people were watching us and the people we visited. People were very different from the jovial, fun-loving, boisterous people of Lebanon I had come to love. The Syrians were still hospitable but guarded and more stoic- for good reason. People would just disappear! The darkness and evil and oppression were tangible. 

But then God changed my heart and gave me compassion for the people and when I visited I began to pray as I walked along. I came to really love the people and even the place so shrouded in darkness and intrigue. I went from requesting of God that He never send me to live there to dreaming up plans with my missionary friends on how we could reach unreached people there! 

It was there that I had my first real taste of unadulterated Arab/Muslim culture with all its sights and sounds - the desert, the spices, the street vendors, the houses - all had a flavor of what most of us think of when we think of the Arab world. I ate camel meat! I ate on the floor with my hands with a group of women and with other families. It was there that I befriended a little girl who greeted me every time in her village with great enthusiasm. On New Year's Eve she took me around to rooftops and people’s homes. I had no idea where she would take me next since my Arabic wasn't very good (it was a little scary but turned out the be the most memorable New Year’s Eve of my life). 

On a bouncy, zippy, dusty drive to Damascus one afternoon I first learned more about Eric from his team leaders. And that night we had our first quasi date at Starbucks! My love for history was greatly satisfied in Syria - it still had many ancient and medieval buildings and homes. I walked along the road to Ananias' house, and along Straight Street (from Acts). Would you believe it is still called Straight Street ???!!!! I also had the great pleasure going on a bonafide, very memorable (for many reasons) adventure to one of the most well preserved medieval/crusader castles in the world - Krak des Chevaliers. What a dream come true! I can think of many more great moments connected to Syria. 

But also, it was there that I first walked into a mosque - the Umayyad Mosque, where many Muslims believe Jesus will return to judge the world and is supposedly where John the Baptist's head is kept. One particular dark corner of it made the hair on my arms stand on end.  And I couldn’t get out fast enough! It was also there that I saw missiles/rockets on the back of flatbeds. It was there that my Christian Lebanese driver flew like the wind to get me out as fast as he could because he hated it there so much - the two countries have a long, terrible history of war and unrest. 

After Eric and I were married we “adopted” a Syrian OU student for a year. She was from Aleppo. Her family was quite wealthy I think. She told us all about life in Syria and the political situation. She said she could never speak of such things in her country; she would have been arrested. We visited with her a lot and were able to share the gospel with her many times. She came to Eric’s parents' house for Thanksgiving with us. She could understand Jesus and even accepted His death on the cross but she couldn’t wrap her head around grace and the fact that we can’t earn God’s approval. We learned a lot about how Muslims think and their strongholds through her as well as more about the hardship of living in such a dark place. 

Then in London in 2006 we met a Christian couple from Syria who helped us with Bible distribution on the streets in London to vacationing Arabs. They were precious. We learned a lot from them about the work that God is doing among Syrians to bring them to Christ and the work of the church there. They did really hard, dangerous work and life was not easy for them because of the political situation. They had to be really careful. We still have their prayer sheet. 

So, God has put Syria on my heart time and time again. After reading and watching the plight of these refugees I have wept and prayed and wept more. It really breaks my heart. So, I’ve wanted to do something and thought others in our church might want to do something too. Or maybe they don’t even know much about it. I think they should. It’s a big, global, history-making, deal! I’ve done some researching and found these sights to be good. 

https://gobgr.org/projects/project_detail/syria-crisis/ - I worked with baptist relief at ground zero in  2001. They do awesome work and have a great reputation.

http://namepeoples.imb.org/landing/4syria 

https://l4syria.wordpress.com 

http://www.samaritanspurse.org/disaster/refugee-crisis-in-europe

http://wewelcomerefugees.com - one of my missionary friends in Lebanon who started a refugee ministry in 2006 in Tucson, AZ suggested this sight. It is just getting going but it looks like it will be a great resource for connecting with churches in Europe and mobilizing the church here and there to rise up to meet this challenge. Please join me in helping these people whom have been made in the image of God and simply want to get away from the ravages of war. 

Fresh Eyes and Random Thoughts

This is just a bit of rambling from some thoughts from a Bible study Eric and I have started.

Eric has had a heart while at work to reach out to anyone with the gospel. He feels very inadequate about this but he amazes me. Frequently he comes home telling me of great spiritual conversations he's had with coworkers who are seeking to understand who Jesus is and exploring the truth of Christianity. As a result of regularly talking to some of the guys he works with he decided to start a kind of Bible study. We started doing this several months ago and have met on and off each week since. We are reading through the book of John. Eric facilitates the reading and the discussion, asking some of the same general questions each week like, "What does the passage tell us about Jesus, about God, about man, and about ourselves specifically?" And, "As a result, if this is true, how are we to respond to what we've learned?" The discussion has been so good that we almost always go past the hour and a half we have allotted and have still only made it to the end of John 4.

Since I am of a bit older generation and have spent most of my life around believers in the United States (overseas I was mostly around nonbelievers but the cultures and mindsets were completely different). Spending time with these few "seekers" has opened my eyes more to the philosophy of life in today's world. I've read some about this but it doesn't compare to listening to these guys and gals think out loud. I recognize that they are only a few in a sea of many but I think they fit a different mold than what we try to put people into. In visiting so many churches in this area trying to get settled, we've discovered so many that cater to what they think people want to hear so they will come to church. However, according to our Bible study group, this is not what they want. They want to see real worship not entertainment. They are deep thinkers. They want depth of teaching about the Bible, not something that just makes you feel good about yourself. They want real, meaningful relationships and conversations in the midst of our text-messaging, facebook, twitter world. They want an avenue to ask hard questions and not be blown off. And they want people to be real in answering the questions, who can truthfully say, "I don't know." They want conversations with people who really know the Word but don't flaunt it. They want to see faith and truth played out for real, with humility - not with perfection - in those who proclaim to follow Christ, so that they stand apart from the rest of the world. They are super smart and know when they are being catered to.

It has been really refreshing and challenging to be around this group. Each week I walk away contemplating my own walk with the Lord based on some of the profound comments they've made. It has caused me to reexamine much of my heart and attitudes and actions. I've even started reading the Bible differently, trying to see it with fresh eyes and looking at it much more deeply, asking some of those same questions that Eric asks as well as pondering some of the comments and questions from the group. It has made a big impact on my walk with the Lord.

I've learned a lot about the simplicity of teaching the Bible and discipleship through this group and it has confirmed what we experienced in Lebanon. We've read so many books about discipleship and listened to many sermons on the subject. We've tried those methods and though there are good parts, it often feels contrived. In our experience in Lebanon and with this Bible study, the best kind of disicpleship is simply reading the Bible together, mulling it over together and sharing life together. The Bible speaks for itself and it tells us how to live the Christian life. We don't need anything else, except of course the Holy Spirit to guide us.

It has also shown us that people are everywhere who are open to the gospel, you just have to put yourself out there to start conversations and share your own life with people. In Matt 28:19-20, we are called to take the gospel to all nations including our own, including our coworkers and neighbors. Of course, I am not advocating not going to other nations, (if you know me at all, you know I would Never advocate not going to other nations!) just that where ever God has you is a mission field.

What has been so neat is seeing the Word read through fresh eyes. Each week I am blown away by the profoundness of their thoughts and discussion about life and the world and even Christian faith and Jesus and humankind that they pull out of a passage that I had NEVER thought of. One guy made a comment a while ago that has stuck with me, that I keep going back to and thinking about as I read things in the Word or watch others who say they are believers. He said in a sense, "If this is really what the Bible says it is and the Bible is true, then this requires everything of me; this would completely change everything, I would want to give everything to it." Exactly! I think so often we jump in with sharing the gospel with people wanting to have a quick positive response without giving time for people to contemplate the cost or really even explaining the cost in the first place. True faith is a sacrifice of your life, giving your life, surrendering your life and all your rights to everything over to the Lord, making him the ruler of your life willingly as a result of understanding the scope of what Jesus did for us. Our friend recognized this and you could tell it wasn't an easy thing to process, naturally. But he's also made comments about the peace he sees in it.

I was reading in the Bible this morning at the end of John where Jesus asked Peter, "Do you truly love me?" I liked what the notes in the margin explain in regards to love and it fits perfect with our friend's comment on counting the cost. To "truly love" refers to a love in which the entire personality, including the will is involved. We give up our own will for His because we truly love Him, because He truly loved us. This is in effect what our friend was saying. And he didn't even have the notes! Isn't it beautiful and at the same time challenging to see the Word through fresh eyes and to see the Holy Spirit working so marvelously?

Project Patricia

Hi sewing friends and those who want to reach out the ladies in Africa.

This post is to inform you of a unique missions ministry you can be involved in right here at home! Project Patricia is ministry in conjunction with Master's Community Church in Kansas City designed to provide reusable feminine protection to ladies in Africa through missionaries in their areas.

Project Patricia has many orders to fill. Would you like to participate in this project? Here are ways you can help:

• pray
• make a donation of materials
• make a monetary donation
• You can host a Project Patricia workday at your church or with a ladies group - although men have been known to participate in these work days too!

If you are interested, click on the link to how you can help to find out more!

http://projectpatricia.org/pb/wp_a4be2fa5/wp_a4be2fa5.html

Lessons Learned From Lebanon

I haven’t written a blog entry in a while. I created this new blog more than a month ago but the blank pages just kept starring back at me. But I thought today would be a good day to give it a go again. See, a year ago today we left to go overseas. What an amazing year it has been. It has been full and overflowing with some really amazing and joy-filled occasions and cause for rejoicing as well as some tense, stressful, scary, frustrating, confusing and discouraging times. You can imagine that through these times we’ve learned a lot.

I’ve been thinking for a long time (at least six months) about writing an entry about some of these things we’ve learned over the last year. So that is what this blog entry is about but I realized that there is no way I can fit it into one entry, so I will spread it out over how ever many it takes. I pray that this will be a blessing and encouragement to you wherever you are.

So this blog entry is going to be about God, i.e. the attributes of God that He revealed to us in more depth than we’ve experienced before. Much of it is really difficult to even put into words. Here are the biggies: His Faithfulness and His Sovereignty and that He is all-satisfying.

He has shown His faithfulness to us in so many ways. He has been faithful in providing for every need. Here are just a few examples: a heater, a car, strangers to help when our car broke down, quickly selling a car during war-like circumstances, quickly selling our house at a great price, extremely wonderful neighbors, plenty of blankets, all the financial resources we needed, always a place to stay and wonderful people to stay with, and shelter and protection under the leadership of very wise people who graciously took care of us in sticky situations. We’ve seen His faithfulness to draw people to Himself all over the southern part of the country, to plant us strategically so that the people we would see the most were ripe for the harvest. We’ve seen His faithfulness in His presence. He was always with us and always caring for us and watching over us. His presence was very real to me in that little village and even in the streets of Beirut, even at the scariest times. Even in the hardest times, He showed His faithfulness to us through someone sending us a funny email, or a visit from a neighbor hungry to learn about his new-found Savior, or a package in the mail, or an encouraging passage from the Bible or a book (usually an Elisabeth Elliot book!), or a great praise song, or a walk through the village even in the freezing cold, or a breathtaking sunset, or that beautiful mountain outside our kitchen window or just hearing the prayers and songs of His followers in that tiny village, or the laughter of our adult English students, or the sweet greetings and hellos from the principal and little students at the school we regularly visited, or from times spent with American friends in Beirut who became more like brothers and sisters. I’ve read back over my journal a few times and each time I weep because of His very, very obvious faithfulness. This causes me to absolutely delight in Him! He is so good and kind and generous. And it shows me that I really can trust Him!!

Well, I have written a lot, only about faithfulness so I will conclude for now. I will continue about His sovereignty later.

Ps. I haven’t yet put in anything about the About Me page. Hopefully I will get to that this weekend. :)