Comfort and Conflict

We are still in Evansville, enjoying a leisurely morning in our hotel room. In a little while, we will pack up the car, go see John's mom once more and then head home. It's been such a relaxing weekend. We left Friday morning and stopped in Madisonville, KY so we could see Jeff, Lu and the girls (John's younger brother). They own and run a country club there, so they couldn't get away for the family barbeque Friday evening. They had all kinds of activities going on at the club, including a fireworks show that night. We had lunch and visited. Then we hopped in golf carts and headed out onto the course so John and Jeff could play a few holes. Ashleigh, Jeff's oldest daughter, joined us for the last few. She is an amazing golfer. But, of course, her dad is a pro and her mom is also a gifted golfer. I so wish I had even a smidgen of athletic ability! But I don't, so I just ride around in the cart and enjoy the company.

We had such a good time that we stayed too long and wound up being a little late to Harris and Connie's. We had burgers, potato salad, broccoli salad and baked beans. I brought dessert; carrot cake cupcakes with cream cheese frosting on the side. As we were sitting at the table finishing dinner and about to dig into the carrot cake, Harris said, "First of all, I always look forward to being with you because I like you. But also, I know that whenever you're around, I'm going to be eating really well!" LOL.

Yesterday we just relaxed. We spent the morning watching a movie in our hotel room. John always goes down and gets our coffee plus whatever else I want from the breakfast bar. Yesterday he made a waffle for me and brought it to the room. (I love being taken care of and do not take it for granted EVER.) We finally made it down to the work out room to exercise. And by the time we got to John's mom's house, it was close to 2:00. The three of us went to see a movie, then hung out at her house until we finally went to dinner around 7:30 or 8:00. We ate too much popcorn and we just weren't hungry. Think about what a blessing it is to have to wait to eat dinner because you're not hungry.

On the drive up Friday, we listened to a CD of a Sunday night service we'd missed recently. We had a guest speaker that night. The man was born a Muslim in Egypt and he had converted to Christianity as a young man in law school. While studying law, he became aware of how Christians were persecuted in his country and he had a close friend he had grown up with who was a Christian. They had never discussed their religions. It was the one and only thing they did not have in common, so they just avoided the topic. But this new awareness caused him to bring up the subject with his friend. He said that he realized the only reason for this kind of persecution was fear. It made him wonder why Christianity was such a threat and so feared that simply faith in Christ would make you a target for so much hatred. He asked his friend about Christianity and his friend gave him the Bible. He started reading it and one year later, he converted to Christianity. He then became a target of the persecution that had first aroused his curiosity.

This man's testimony is incredible. He told the story of how he was arrested and taken to a horrible prison where they keep no record of your "visit." There is a special basement section where torture is carried out. He spent seven or eight days in that basement being severely tortured because his captors wanted the names of all the other Christian leaders in his organization. He would not give them any names except the one leader, Jesus Christ. He spent months in a hospital following this ordeal, recovering from his injuries. The story of how he survived and escaped the country with the help of the International Christian Embassy of Jerusalem, the United Nations and Amnesty International is amazing. He said that he is one of a rare few who have lived to tell their story. And there are not many countries in the world where he could even share his testimony. He said that if he dared to share his testimony publicly in France or Great Britain, he would be arrested for hate speech. I was amazed to hear that.

After several days of torture and his continued refusal to give information, he was told that the next morning he would be put in a room with dogs that had been trained to attack and eat flesh. He said they would always describe the next day's torture so you could think about it and be mentally tormented the whole night prior. He said he prayed that God would not let him live to see the next morning. But he knew that what he was experiencing was only a small fraction of what Jesus had suffered for him, just a little taste of the cup that only Jesus could ever fully drink. He prepared himself for what was to come next. I cannot even imagine being able to withstand this kind of mental and physical agony.

The next morning, they brought three large attack dogs into his cell and locked the door behind them. He had heard the dogs coming all the way down the hall. He had backed himself into a corner and covered his face with his arms in anticipation of what was about to happen. And then the dogs just laid down on the floor beside him. The guards were dumbfounded and frustrated. So they took that pack of dogs out and sent for another set of dogs. These dogs came in and did the very same thing, except one came up and licked his face. There could be no doubt that God was with him in his suffering.

I wish I could tell you that this was the end of his experience. But the next day his increased torture resulted in his hospitalization (for months). He passed out from what they did to him and woke up in a hospital. But God kept him alive to tell his story and he now lives in Canada.

After he finished his presentation, our pastor spoke about the church around the world. He talked about "the church in conflict" and "the church in comfort." We in America are the church in comfort. We should be praying for the church in conflict, around the world, every day.

I don't know why I have been so blessed to be born in this country and to enjoy the freedom and comfort I do. But I realized as I listened to this man that no matter how thankful I am for these blessings, I do take them for granted. The things that trouble my mind and cause me anxiety are so small and insignificant compared to the consequences that Christians all over the world face simply for believing in Jesus Christ as Savior. And I believe that the day is coming when we will be more and more restricted even in this country. Even today some prominent Christian authors and speakers already refuse to say openly that Jesus is the only way to God for fear of being viewed as "intolerant." I hope and pray that I will never deny the words of Jesus, his own claims, to protect my comfort and ensure my acceptance with others.

As I enjoyed my weekend of relaxation and comfort, I thought about this Egyptian Christian so many times. I'm so thankful he lived to tell his story. I'm so thankful I got to hear his testimony. We really do need to pray for the church in conflict and the persecuted church throughout the world. We cannot comprehend their suffering. To think that I would neglect to pray for them daily makes me feel ashamed. If it's hard for us to even think about this kind of suffering, can we even imagine living through it? I cannot fathom living under this kind of constant physical threat, let alone actually enduring it.

If you would like to hear this man's testimony, I can get a copy for you or lend you mine. Email me. I just checked our website and didn't see it, but I know the CD is available in the office and resource center.

I wanted to share this because of the contrast between the weekend I have just been blessed to enjoy and the suffering of someone in another part of the world at this very moment. As I sit here typing on my laptop in the comfort of a hotel room, no threats of any kind looming over me or causing me fear, there are so many in great distress. I know that God does not want me to feel guilty that I have been blessed. That accomplishes nothing. But I must constantly remember how blessed I am to be able to openly profess and worship Jesus in safety and comfort, to sleep in a warm bed every night, to have whatever kind of food I desire to eat on a daily basis. And I must pray for those who are not enjoying these blessings. I believe those Christians will be first in the Kingdom and people like me will be last. I have suffered nothing for my faith. And so I look forward to witnessing their reward in heaven. I so admire the faith of those who have suffered much rather than deny our Lord.

Comments

Janette said…
Awesome, awesome post Shari. It was very deeply impactful and so full of truth and reality. I will be reflecting upon it for a long time and I hope never to lose the message it planted in my heart. Thank you!
Anonymous said…
This is a great story about this Man. This war is about Jesus over there. It's gone on since Jesus came. There has been christian that have lost their lives. The awesome thing is there are people getting saved over there. You are right we don't have anything to complain about. We are so Blessed. I am so happy to be in the USA.
This will be in my thoughts.