26September2016 Quickshot: Changed!

"...if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; 

behold, the new has come." 2 Cor. 5:17

 

"He's already changed." I had no idea what A. was talking about.  He was looking into the woods, gaze locked onto something.  "What's changed, son?" I asked him, looking where he was looking but seeing nothing.  "Right there, Dad! He's on that branch right there."  I followed his pointing finger and realized his very sharp, eight-year old eyes had noticed the shell of a cicada, recently vacated but still attached to the bark of a cut branch.  A. knew exactly what he was looking at, was familiar with the life cycle of the cicada and was paying close enough attention to our surroundings to notice it.  So, I picked up the paper-thin, larva shell and we inspected it together, amazed at the minute intricacies of creation.  Talking about the things we encounter and pointing our kids to the Creator is my favorite part of being in the outdoors.  I highly recommend it. 

22September2016 Mara the Refugee

Mara didn’t wear her bitterness well.  Everyone knew she was bitter.  And why wouldn’t she be?   From the forced migration of her family to the death of loved ones, including her husband and two children, personal loss and tragedy had punctuated Mara’s life.  

A widowed woman’s life in the Middle East is not pleasant, to be sure, but a refugee woman’s life is one to be most pitied.  Isolated by the loss of community, impoverished by the absence of her breadwinning-husband, preyed upon without the protection of her tribe and hopeless with little prospect of this situation changing, it was a bleak existence.  Definitely enough to make even the most pleasant of women bitter. 

Mara’s ruined state became too much so she decided to return to her ruined homeland. Rumors swirled that things may have improved there, but even if they hadn’t it was far better to die at home than to suffer away from home.  So Mara packed up what little she had and returned to her city, to Bethlehem, to the place they knew her by a different name.  She and her daughter-in-law, Ruth, would no longer be refugees and God would soon take away her bitterness.   

We know a lot of Maras.  Over eighty person of Syrian refugees are war widows, wives separated from their husbands or children under the age of eighteen.  They are vulnerable.  They are poor.  They are helpless.  They are hopeless.  But just like Naomi, they have a goel, a redeemer, that it willing to come to their aid and liberate them from their suffering, aid them in their travail and love them in their bitterness.  Pray with us that many refugee women will come to know their great Redeemer, Jesus Christ.

Additional articles:

Article 1

Article 2

Article 3

21September2016 Read this...

Looking past the political rhetoric, there are some great points in this article.

“It’s not unusual that we have politicians timid in the face of fear...But the task of the church is a different one. The church is called to see the image of God in all people and to minister Christ’s presence to all people. That’s what churches are doing.”"

“These are the most hospitable and loving people you’ll ever meet, which is why it’s frustrating to see the different things on the news that all these people are terrorists...They don’t know these people personally.”

9September2106 Must Watch

This video, People of Nowhere by Lior Sperandeo, is a MUST WATCH. We can't watch this, still, without being moved.  What a great reminder to pray for refugees caught in the middle of this madness and the people helping, serving and blessing them.