Category Archives: Uncategorized

I wish to bring social justice into the health care debate in America…

Watch this from 60 minutes last night (it’s about 14 minuutes)  Click here…

What are the questions Jesus’ followers should be asking about this video?

Should we just be willing to ignore such a story? Should we be able? Shouldn’t a biblical heart for justice cry out at the stories we just saw?

are we being thankful? watch this video… (warning: this is from Late Night on NBC, and is, what some of you will find crude… but there is an important underlying message) click HERE… then read on…

Now, in light of what you have read in these posts the last two days, this video should really say something to us… we need to stop complaining so much… most of us (all of us?) reading this blog have so much to be thankful for, that if we were to really nourish a true sense of thankfulness, we would be talking to God literally ALL DAY LONG giving Him thanks… so, next time we want to complain, let’s stop and be thankful instead…

from Turkey (names and places replaced with initials to protect my friends):

H was so full of joy when he called me, “M, I’m a dad!”  We went to visit him in the hospital.  Sure enough, he was a new father and his daughter, only about 9 hours old, was so beautiful and perfectly healthy.  They named her Y.  His wife, L, was recovering from the ordeal just nicely as well.  This was a difficult place for her to give birth because it was where they had lost family members and where even she had spent much time.  Her mother told me with tears and a sigh of relief that L had had several operations in this hospital to reduce the pressure of water on her brain.  Because of her condition, L was always slow to speak, slow to react to others.  But now this hospital not only carried the air of death and difficulty, but new life for their entire family.

H & L had come here to x (a city in Turkey) where his wife’s family lives because he was experiencing heavy pressure from his own father and brothers to turn back to Islam.  “I’m ready to make a new start here and serve the Lord Jesus Christ in any way I can,” he explained to me when we met a month ago.

This morning, there was a knock at our office door.  “Gel,” I said.  “Come!”  H came in.  I smiled, “H how are you?”  I kissed him and my partner also rose to greet him.  Uncharacteristically ignoring my partner, he said simply, “Not good.  We’ve split up.”

L’s father has been putting pressure on her.  “Either you divorce that man or else you have no family.  You can choose—him or us.”  H has been trying to reason with them.  They keep putting it back on him.  “Why do you love Jesus so much that you would do this to your family?  Either reject Jesus or else you will have to divorce our daughter,” they say.

“I’m not doing this.  I’m not going anywhere—but I can’t reject Jesus!  How can you just change what you believe in?  You are the one’s putting pressure on your daughter not one week after she has given birth and when she is still weak and recovering,” he told them.

L, feeling the pressure said to H, “Give up Jesus for me.”

“L, I cannot do that.  I am not rejecting you.  I am not leaving, but I cannot reject Jesus.  Have I ever once asked you to change what you believe?” He said.

“Never,” she answered.

“Then why would you do this to me?” He asked.

“Then give up Jesus for our daughter,” she pushed.

“I cannot,” he said.

“Then we are through.”

He later told me, “What makes this so hard…I never thought she would say that.  I’ve lost my job, all my money, my property in P city and come here.  That was easy.  This is really difficult…”

H is planning to wait it out.  For him, there is no recourse.

When someone is beaten to death without cause by a hostile government it may end up in the newspapers.  The Christians in Turkey are suffering injustice like H is and it is not even news enough to be in the papers, much less to ask for help from government officials.  These believers experience injustice in so many different ways every single day and there is nothing they can do—except to cry out to their Father for justice.

We have much to pray for…

Just after my joyful posting yesterday, I checked my email and read two seperate stories of people suffering for being followers of Jesus… I post them here for our consideration…

from Iran:

about three weeks ago, two Iranian Christian women, E. and R. , were arrested by the Iranian security forces. Their only crime is that they are committed Christians who follow the teachings of Jesus. They are being unfairly labeled as ‘anti-government activists’, because of the hostility of the government towards practicing Christians.

Their shared apartment was searched and personal belongings confiscated. They were hand-cuffed and first taken to the Police and Security Station. Then they were taken to the National Security Section of the Revolutionary Court. Afterwards, several sessions of interrogation took place. Finally, after appearing at the Revolutionary Court, they were sent to the notorious Evin Prison where they are being held without charge.

They have been told they could be freed on a bail of $ .4 million. This excessive bail level is unrealistic and is designed to intimidate and make the release impossible. The families have subsequently been told on several occasions a judge is not available to discuss the case.

Both women are allowed just a one minute telephone call every day to their immediate families. Both are unwell and in need of urgent medical attention. During their last call three days ago one of them said that she was suffering from an infection and high fever. She said ‘I am dying’.

There has been a noted increase in government intimidation of the Christians. Last year they were over 50 known cases of arrests and imprisonment. They were some cases of torture. Iranian Christian leaders from around the world are calling for the immediate and unconditional release of these women. We ask world governments to put pressure on Iran to ensure freedom of religion. Prayers are being offered for their safe release. We ask Christians around the globe to continue to pray.

This is no April fools joke, this, my friends, is what many followers of Jesus experience today and have been experiencing through the ages.

tomorrow – from Turkey

After a busy weekend, I was really dragging yesterday… but Sweet Anna took me to Amigo’s last night, then 24 and an early night (followed by an early morning) and two great chapels, I am back to near normal… but there is one more thing to whew about… (sorry this is a really diary-esqe post… but starting tomorrow, some heavy stuff to contemplate… keep checking…)

see, on Sat. princess irene (whose birthday it is today!) suggested i sign up for the u2 fan club to get prefered seating… but reading the FAQs, I wondered if I was wasting the money b/c I wasn’t sure to get in to the pre-selling early enough (pre-selling began at noon today for some people)… so, I was SO zonked yesterday, I just couldn’t wrap my brain around it… then a colleague who knows of my love of this social justice, prophetically voiced music, who’s spouse is a faculty member at TJ’s U offered me some of their allotment and then I thought of another friend on the faculty who gave me all of her allotment and now I am set! My tickets to the Oct 1 U2 concert in the ‘ville are in the works!

whew indeed… sorry for the diary-esque post, but I did warn you! Lazo, U2.com says a second show has been added for Zagreb! How awesome is that?!?!?!?!?

since I am posting… a thought that I had the other day and then developed that might be worth your contemplation… I wrote to a friend to let him know I would miss an important event; I wanted to prevent his wondering where I was so I said…

“I didn’t want you wondering aimlessly”

my friend replied to said email and asked about this statement, to which I replied…

“the prevention of wondering aimlessly is the task of the wise, for you see, to wonder without aim
is akin to nothingness… for true wonder must have a spark, thus there is an implied aim…

on the other hand, to wander aimlessly is to gain insight, for he who can wander aimlessly is the wise traveler who gains insight from what he passes on his journey…”

I am enjoying the responses on influential person/people…. As I have thought about this, we all can profit from the responses because it shows us that we affect people in everyday ways… scroll to the comments of the next post dawn…

I am SO pumped!!!! WordPress put up a widget yesterday that FINALLY allows us to integrate our Twitter into our blog!!!! NOW, even if I haven’t posted, you may find a new thought on my Twitter.