Because God so loved the world...
From the Mission Field
By Diane Hale
They were gathered like many others during this
time of celebrating the Christmas season. For the
Christians it was a time of celebrating the gift of the
baby wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a
manger. The universal carols of the season were being
sung as gifts of all shapes and sizes lay in high piles,
their multi-colored paper and fancy bows adding
brightness and cheer to the occasion. To others,
mostly refugees, it was a strange and foreign sight, but
whatever the celebration, they were here to receive
whatever was given at a time when everything they
had was left behind.
expression is why Paul’s aprons were used with such
power. Just the simple act of giving a natural article
was saturated with God’s great love.
As we took our seats, Daniel leaned over and quietly said, ”These are my people.” Among them was a
young couple who, while crossing the Mediterranean,
became parents. On an over-crowded inflatable boat,
knowing her time had come, the wife slipped over the
side of the boat into the water and birthed a baby.
My heart was broken
sensing and knowing that
beyond the smiling faces
there was fear, desperation
and sadness at the loss of
all things. Reality of the
cost of flight for freedom
was brought home by the
news that one young man
who had been expected to
attend was missing because his father had died
that day back home in
Syria.
This gathering was our introduction to “seeing”
those fleeing from distant lands desperately seeking
freedom and asylum from the war in Syria. It has
always been this way when men have been desperate
enough to leave everything and plunge into the unknown through whatever doorway offered to reach
the shores of freedom. Huddled together in whatever
makeshift home is provided, their lives, the lives of
their wives and little ones were safe, though all else
was gone.
I was stunned at the numbers of lost souls and my
mind was filled with the reality of why God had sent
us. Like the man on the Jericho Road, we had been
sent to see and having seen be constrained by the love
of God for the souls of these exiles from so many nations of the world. The old and familiar scripture, “…
for God so loved the world he gave his only begotten
son…” came with a much greater depth of revelation.
The Christmas celebration was provided by
the local authorities and
included several local
refugee Heims The usual
carols were sung and gifts
given for each member of
every family. Of the one
million entering Europe,
the Director of the local
humanitarian effort said
1,500 of the refugees had
entered the Tyrol Valley
in Austria. …
Only the power of
God’s love can transcend the lack of “normal” communication, but I watched missionaries Kathleen, Daniel
and Ava fellowship as if they had known these people
forever. Their ability to do so was obviously the fruit
of their having labored with other Muslims before the
mass influx from Syria. My husband, Joe, held a new
baby born of Muslim parents since their arrival at the
Heim. The baby’s mother seventeen-year-old Suat,
now a mother of two, lost 50% of her hearing during
the bombing raids before leaving Syria.
The celebration began...
Shoe boxes filled with small gifts, gifts that bring so
much joy…for the moment. Yet this avenue of
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