Susie: Jonah feared and probably even hated the
Ninevites. Therefore, he certainly did not want to warn them of God’s imminent
judgement. Susan and I have both had the situation of having to extend grace in
one way or another to an “enemy” of our country. I will share first because
mine happened first historically.
I grew up during the “cold war.” Russia was the enemy and
to be feared and even hated. We always lived near Air Force Bases because my
dad was a technical representative to the Air Force from General Dynamics (now
Lockheed Martin). I remember duck and cover drills where we scrunched down
under our desks with our hands behind our heads to protect us from flying glass
if bombs landed nearby. I remember drills in which a teacher escorted a group
of students down the main road and watched as we each headed down the side
streets to our homes in order to unite families to go into a nuclear shelter
(pretty dumb one since the shelter was at the school!).
Russians were, in my child’s mind, clearly all evil,
godless people. Of course, it is not that simple. Many years later, in 1997,
God impressed a dear friend to completely pay my expenses for a two-week
mission trip to Russia. There I found loving brothers and sisters in Christ who
had survived communism, even some who had been imprisoned and tortured for
their faith in Christ. I found lost, weary people, many of whom had turned to
drugs and alcohol to escape their fears and the past that haunted them. I found
people just like me who needed a Savior like mine. God changed my heart toward
the Russian people.
Susan:
After 9/11/2001, it
was really difficult not to paint every Muslim person with the same broad paint
brush. Muslims had flown airplanes as weapons into the twin towers and the
Pentagon. A third plane crashed in a field because brave men on board
sacrificed their own lives to keep it from its intended target which may have
been the White House. Muslims had plotted against our nation and found the best
way to wipe out as many innocent lives as possible. Muslims tried to paralyze
our nation by hitting the financial capital, New York City, the military
command post, the Pentagon, and the dwelling of our President, the White House.
Then our sovereign God placed this thought in my mind, “Pray for Osama Bin
Laden and his children.” Logically, I felt I was to pray for his salvation. I
prayed he would have an encounter similar to that of Paul on the road to
Damascus. I didn’t WANT to pray for the leader of the radical Muslims, but I
obeyed. Years later, God taught me a lesson about lumping all Muslims into a
category marked “evil.” After my surgery to amputate both legs above the knees,
I had a day when I was totally losing it. The infection diseases specialist, a
Muslim, was in the room to look at the wounds. As the physician’s assistant
removed the bandages, I was in excruciating pain, crying despite my best
efforts to hold it in. This Muslim man showed me the greatest compassion,
patting my shoulder and speaking soothingly to me with the saddest look in his
eyes. I invited him to visit me when I moved to another facility for rehab. He
not only came there, but he brought along his wife to meet me. This Muslim
couple asked me to pray they would be able to conceive a child. I pray my
interactions with them is a seed planted by the Lord that someone else will
water until it grows into their surrendering their lives to Jesus.
No comments:
Post a Comment