Wednesday, September 23, 2009

The Gospel is Revolutionary


Sept. 8 2009-

I have written this blog in my head several times but the creation of the Jericho calendar has taken precedence to anything written. I just finished the calendar so here we go…..blog time! Hurray! I’ll start by sharing what has pushed us most to pray in the last days……namely the political situation. Both sides are hanging tough and there are protests almost every day by one of the political groups. I belong first and foremost to the Jesus group but one cannot help but take sides at some point. And that I have. I am thankful for the de facto government. Despite all kinds of disciplinary action on the part of the US and other countries, they are standing up for what they believe is right and best for democracy to survive in Honduras. And they have done it in a very wise and nonviolent way. They have counted the cost and decided to stand firm. “The little country that could” is what I saw on a poster held up by a supporter of the present government on one of their peace marches. I like that. Mel’s supporters (Mel is the ex-President who tried to extend his presidential stay), on the other hand have been violent and difficult, to say the least. This past week his supporters marched in front of Jericho House. Several of the leaders wore masks and defaced the walls of all the buildings they passed. It was a very tense couple of minutes as they passed by. I prayed that they wouldn’t spray our building or at least that they wouldn’t paint anything vulgar. I prayed for protection of our children. When we went out to check after the march had passed, this is what we found:

The Gospel is Revolutionary!

I had to laugh. At least they wrote something that is absolutely true! The Gospel does turn everything upside down….but perhaps not in the way they were thinking! One thing I love about the Gospel is that it is life changing and revolutionary, from the inside out! If God really gets a hold of us, our thinking is turned upside down and instead of living for ourselves, we seek the lost and the hurting, the poor and the destitute, the marginalized and the needy whether spiritually or physically or both.

That’s what Honduras needs…..the true Gospel of Jesus Christ who calls us to become less so that He can become more. I am asking Him, these days, to make me less, to help me to decrease so that He might increase. I need to be downwardly mobile….desperate for God and aware of my need for Him at every moment of the day.

After the march passed, we prayed for protection for the ministry and actually went outside and anointed the building with oil. The next morning one of our staff members arrived early only to find the black metal door to the ministry wide open. When she and her son went inside the building, they found that nothing had been disturbed. This is truly a miracle in our neighborhood. I knew God was trying to emphasize that He really is listening to our prayers. Honestly, when we were praying over the building, I kind of felt like we were just going through the motions. But God was totally paying attention. If you have moments like that where you think your prayers are just kind of “prayer-babble”, I want to encourage you. God is listening.

Sept. 22 afternoon-
Before we lose electricity, I thought I better get this to you. Since I wrote the above, Mel has returned to Tegucigalpa and has been given asylum in the Brazilian embassy. He continues to paint untrue pictures to the rest of the world about what truly is going on here. It is saddens me. We are not in any danger, per se, but life as we know it has been interrupted and it’s unclear how long the curfew will last. As a result of Mel’s return, we are under a 24 hour curfew and once again praying for God to show up in a Big way. We are so thankful that there really has been very little bloodshed considering all that is going on. Pray that this will be a time for us to be a witness to the stability and joy that knowing God brings in the midst of circumstances that seem out of control.


Under His Wings,
Betsy


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