global issues

Do kids learn enough about global issues in school? 6% Yes - 94% No

President Kennedy was shot! Princess Diana killed in car crash! Stories like these are probably the 6% of global issues that kids learn in school.

Does anyone teach that 30,000 children die every day from starvation? Do north american kids know that not everyone can turn on the tap to get clean drinking water and that most people in the world suffer disease and death every day from drinking dirty polluted water? Do they know that most people can't go to the refrigerator any time they want to get something to eat? Do they know that not all kids have shoes, not all kids have beds to sleep on, kids go to bed cold because they don't have central heating or enough blankets? Do they think that because it's 40 degrees in the daytime in Africa that it's always hot and wonder why African kids would need blankets? Do they know that 40 million people have AIDS? Do they know that people are still dying from TB in other areas of the world?

My sister-in-law told me Saturday that she thought that TB had been eradicated in the world. The WHO reported that as of 22 March 2007 there were 5,116,611 new and relapsed cases of TB throughout 208 countries, including 1,484 in Canada. We take our kids to school and they get immunized against TB, it's automatic and we think nothing of it.

We need to educate our children. They need to learn that there is more to life than themselves and their little corner of the world where everything is handed to them.

education

Did you send anyone off to school this morning?

There are mothers and fathers around the world who wish that their sons & daughters could receive an education. It seems poignant on a day like today to remember those children who are impacted by extreme poverty; children who will never receive an education.

Won't you please consider sponsoring a child. Child sponsorship provides more than an education, it can help lift a family out of their extreme poverty, it provides for health care, clean water, improved agricultural methods.

When I talk about child sponsorship people may say they sponsor a child. Why not sponsor 2, 3 or even more children. Proverbs 22:9 A generous man will himself be blessed, for he shares his food with the poor. If God says this in the bible, and the bible is the truth, do you not believe God will bless you for sharing your food with the poor. Stretch your faith and trust God - He will bless your generosity.

I have child sponsorship folders if you wish to see any, otherwise you can go on-line at worldvision.ca and you can choose a boy or girl from any country where world vision canada operates.

And may God bless you as you trust in Him.

Proverbs 14:31
He who oppresses the poor shows contempt for their Maker, but whoever is kind to the needy honors God.

Proverbs 19:17
He who is kind to the poor lends to the LORD, and he will reward him for what he has done.

Proverbs 21:13
If a man shuts his ears to the cry of the poor, he too will cry out and not be answered.

Proverbs 28:27
He who gives to the poor will lack nothing, but he who closes his eyes to them receives many curses.

Jeremiah 22:16
He defended the cause of the poor and needy, and so all went well. Is that not what it means to know me?" declares the LORD.

Mark 10:21
Jesus looked at him and loved him. "One thing you lack," he said. "Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me."

His purpose

the dark moments of our life will last only as long as necessary for God to accomplish His purpose in us. IT

i've had an awful lot of dark moments in my life, very dark moments. as i consider this i can see how God has used them to accomplish His purpose in my life. i can also see where He has carried me through times when i couldn't walk by myself.

i was rebellious as hell, i wanted no part of Him, and i was miserable as hell.

surrendering my heart, mind, body and soul to Him was THE best thing i have ever done. it's true, He is a jealous god, but when you give Him your whole heart He blows your sox off. praise God.

abundant life

i have read and/or been told a lot lately that God wants us to have this abundant life and i have been wondering what that means. it seems a lot of people think it means material things. i was surprised when i read a pastor saying he wanted a pool for his family. they prayed about it and God provided, but not after the pastor was ready to buy it on his charge card. whoa! it was second hand but still. a few months ago i wished i had a recliner, i don't know if i even prayed about it and within a week i had a recliner. whoa!

as i consider what i have been reading and what a friend has been telling me i wonder if i am limiting God. i am content should i be asking for more. i had to think about what i would even ask God for.

i am in the process of painting my apartment. it was something i had talked to God about saying it would be nice to have my apartment painted but i couldn't afford it. i didn't think i could do it myself but as i waited for the painter to paint the wall because of a plumbing problem i was impatient and tried it and found i could do it myself. it's almost finished at a cost of a couple hundred compared to the $1200 i was told it might cost.

i don't have a lot of material possessions but that's ok, desire for material possessions diminished after mission trips to costa rica. but i am abundantly blessed with contentment and joy in my relationship with God.

from something i read 'i truly believe that when people are face to face with the bare essentials that they are the happiest, with less to gripe over and less to worry about.'

prayer

we're often like spoiled kids on christmas morning who really don't care if dad shows up as long as he's stacked the gifts we asked for under the tree.

is that what your prayer life is like?

prayer is about getting more OF God, not more FROM God. we pray to get to know Him better. it's relational - speaking with God as we would with a spouse or friend for the purpose of building our relationship. how long would you have a friend if it was always about you.

i just want to know Him better, to sense His presence, enjoy His company and hear His voice. the more i know Him, the more i am content, the more joy i have. the only way to experience lasting joy and contentment is through an intimate relationship with Jesus.

if you don't have contentment and joy start talking to Him. He is the source of all good things and He wants to bless you with abundant life.

devotionals

in touch is a monthly magazine with wonderful short stories and daily devotionals. you can view it on-line or get it delivered free. to view or subscribe go to www.intouch.org.

favourite scripture

mine is romans 8:28 And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose.

a couple of weeks ago at bible study we each said our favourite scripture. when i said mine someone remarked that you don't say that to someone at a funeral. although i have thought this in my mind when at a funeral it isn't something i would say to the grieving person, although if you read the proceeding post you might find the grieving person saying it to you.

in this month's in touch magazine there's an article from augustine that says "imagine that God told you to write down every blessing you wanted Him to provide. when you completed the list, imagine further that God came to you and said i will give you everything you requested, on one condition, you'll never again hear My voice or sense My presence.

i read this and thought no way, there is nothing i want for myself that i would choose over a relationship with God. but then i thought of my unsaved family and as i cried and prayed i thought how i would give up everything for them, for their salvation, even to the point of death. as i thought of one death, mine, for the salvation of many, my family, i thought of Jesus. His sacrifice, His death, for you, for me, for all, one death for the salvation of many.

people have prayed for me, for healing, but i have never prayed this for myself. i have no idea if God plans to heal me or not. but if His purpose is to use me to bring my family to Himself then i consider that He is working for my good because i love Him, because i consider good that my family would be saved. in all things i pray His will be done.

what is your favourite scripture and what does it mean to you?

forgiveness

monday - international forgiveness day. i read an amazing article in In Touch magazine last month. it's an incredible story of forgiveness and how God uses people. it's 3 pages long and starts on page 26. it's shannon ethridge's story, how she became a christian when while driving she killed a woman riding a bicycle. the article is called love without limits.

shannon and gary (the dead woman's husband) both testify to the truth of Romans 8:28 And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him who have been called according to His purpose.

the link is http://www.intouch.org/atf/cf/%7B865500FE-874B-487B-A95C-C0B327D0A690%7D/JULY07mag.pdf

my new job

not having any clear direction on where God is leading me i thought about going to cbc to study the bible. i prayed about it but didn't get an answer. i had checked it out on-line and decided to audit the courses as i thought it was going to be cheaper. when i went there this am i found out it was cheaper for one course only and any additional courses would be full price. not sure where my finances are i said i wanted to think about it.

when i left northview i had mentioned that maybe i would volunteer at sally ann. i had several appointments & stuff to do today and after leaving cbc i was headed to wal-mart and figured i would stop in at sally ann and get a job application, then carry on to wal-mart.

i had applied there a year ago but then got hired at northview. i told the receptionist that i had completed an application a year ago & i had been playing phone tag with the hr lady last year before getting hired at northview.

she called hr and they said to send me up & i got 'hired' on the spot. i said a quick prayer in the elevator on the way up. they had one spot to fill in the kitchen on thursdays so that's me. sylvia, the hr lady, asked if i was interested in volunteering in an admin role helping her occasionally but i said no.

it all happened so fast but i felt good about it, and kinda nervous at the same time, like it was out of my comfort zone. and although i thought i was going to go to cbc i guess it's not where God wanted me cuz classes were on thursdays. it's only 4 1/2 hours one day a week but that's ok.

and for 2 months i can volunteer with samaritan's purse.

i feel like a pusher - world vision child sponsorship, samaritan's purse operation christmas child, alpha.

i had to laugh when i viewed my blog after i'd written this post - Philipians 2:13 for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to His good purpose. this does seem to be His purpose.

it's winter

omg it's august 26 and i've got my fleece liner on inside my jacket and the heater on in my car. what am i going to do in 4 months?

employment

at first i thought i wanted to be a hairdresser so i took a course in hairdressing in high school. after working a short time in a salon as a hairdresser's assistant i decided it wasn't for me. i couldn't stand on my feet for long periods of time.

then i worked as a plan checker working on hanna barbera cartoons for canawest films. it was piece work and i worked my tail off and made a huge amount of money for a 17 year old (for anyone). it was fun but short lived.

i applied as a general office clerk, doing bank deposits, opening & distributing mail, etc. i wanted to be more so i took various accounting, bookkeeping, secretarial courses etc. so for the last 40 years i have done secretarial, adminstrative type work, because i could.

last tuesday at our staff meeting the pastors were talking about having certain jobs because it was something we could do but was not necessarily what we were gifted at or had a passion for. i did administrative type work because i could do it but it is the second lowest in my spiritual gifts.

when i went to live in costa rica i remember telling someone who asked what i would do for work if i came back. i said i could always be a waitress. not sure why i said that, i've never worked as a waitress. i don't think i could remember anyone's order.

i'm going to a new bible study in abby and each week we sit outside and have a bbq. i pick up the dirty dishes and serve coffee. someone asked what i was going to do for work and i said i had been in to pizza hut and they were looking for help. one fellow said he owned a pizza hut and he would hire me (he was kidding).

i hadn't thought about it, picking up the dishes and serving coffee, i just did it. i volunteer at northview and it's always in the kitchen. i have volunteered at ugm and it was in the kitchen and one time a bunch from new heights served easter lunch and i was joyfully picking up garbage.

right now when i think of employment the only thing i can think of is volunteering in the kitchen with salvation army, which is where i had applied the week before i got the job with northview. the only catch is i need a job that gives me an income.

as i consider this as a possibility i can see how it fits in with all of my spiritual gifts. when i think of what i have actually worked at all my life that kind of work doesn't interest me in the least.

until i get it figured out, or God leads me somewhere, i am going to a meeting thursday with samaritan's purse to see how i can get involved with operation christmas child.

wouldn't it be awesome if we could all work at what we are passionate about and what God has gifted us for.

dreams

something has been happening in my life for the past few months that lead me to believe that God might be planning on blessing me with a husband.

i have watched as God has orchestrated events in my life lately and thought of all He has done since I came to know Him. the more i know Him the more i am aware of Him, His small quiet voice, His leading in my life, answers to prayers, etc.

knowing that my job at northview was not going to last i have been asking God to give me a dream or a vision of what He has in store for me.

may 21 i had a dream that my boss gave me a raise. 1 1/2 months later he did.
may 22 i asked Him if He ever gave me a dream to give me the same dream 3 times so i would know it was from Him.

i've talked to different people about how when they asked God for a husband they gave Him specifics. i had asked God for a husband 7 or 8 years ago and again 4 years ago but since then God has become the desire of my heart. so feeling that this might be where God is leading me i told Him he absolutely must be a godly man after God's own heart.

i have been content being single for a few years now. i think things started changing when my best friend of 38 years died in may. all of a sudden i didn't have that intimate human relationship. although i can talk to God and He does talk back, it's not in the same way as a best girlfriend does. i was telling God that i missed her, that i missed that deep, intimate human relationship and i asked for someone new.

june 23 i was talking to God and asked Him what He wanted and He said "I want to bless you."

july 4 i started having more dreams, intimate, spiritual dreams.
july 14 caught(?)susy's bouquet
july 21 dreamt i was at my own wedding - dreamt this for the 3rd time
july 24 had a dream and saw a man this time, i know who he is and he is a very godly man

i have since listened to women say when they met their husbands they didn't even like them for whatever reason, they weren't their type or whatever, that they knew them for awhile, then one day their eyes were opened and they saw them differently.

with all the dreams that i have had and God telling me He wants to bless me i wonder if one day this man and i will look at each other and see ourselves differently. i look at him now and know that he is the man in my dreams but he is not the man of my dreams. i just don't have a man of my dreams.

unemployed

except for a few months after having my daughter and for a few months after having moved out to mission from vancouver, and a few months after coming back from costa rica i have worked since i was 15.

tomorrow is my last day of work. i like working, i have always worked, and this new phase of my life that i am entering into unemployed is kinda scary. i have no idea what i will do with myself.

when i quit my job in 2004 to go live in costa rica i knew i was following the call that God had put on my heart. now i haven't a clue. i'm not scared or worried though because i know that He is in control and that He will provide for my needs.

i caught the bouquet!

it's a first, except that i can't actually say i 'caught' the bouquet. i was in the front line of a bunch of girls and put my hand up when the bouquet was thrown. i thought it tipped my fingertips as it went over my head but then it came back over in front of me. i'm guessing someone behind me grabbed for it and instead of catching it knocked it backwards. when it came back over it landed on the floor right in front of me. for a split second i waited thinking someone was going to dive for it. no one did so i bent over and picked it up. it's absolutely beautiful.

hm...

woo hoo!!! we won!!!

i have a costa rican flag painted on my face, a sticker on my arm, i'm wearing a very large flag that hangs down to the ground, screaming my lungs out as we score the winning goal and the game ends!

and i'm how old???

today costa rica played scotland in the world cup u20. the scotland fans outnumbered the tico fans i'm sure. they were certainly more vocal, not at all like the tico fans are in costa rica. i was yelling some futbol phrases in spanish but no one else was joining in.

it was a wonderfully exciting game with split second second goal in additional time followed by the whistle ending the game.

after the other games i headed straight to my truck to get going before all the crowds. tonight i hung around with a bunch of other tico fans to get pictures of the team.

walking around with my painted face and costa rica jersey it was cool speaking in spanish to other fans. and translating for fans who didn't speak english. and alexandre guimaraes, who used to be the tico men's coach and is now panama's coach, was in the stands & as i was looking for other tico fans i saw him and we smiled at each other.

it was so worth every penny!

soccer tryouts

i don't normally watch reality tv shows but i have been following one where 22 teenage mexican boys have been chosen out of 300,000 to go to a training camp to hone their skills. any number of boys are eliminated weekly and the winner will have the opportunity to play with man u, the english premiership's champion this year. what an amazing opportunity for these kids that were chosen from all over mexico. it is exciting to watch them practising and learning new skills. today they were told that 2 boys would be going home but at the end the judges said they were all so close that no one would be going home today. they were all so very happy. i look forward to seeing the winner play in the english league.

a couple of years ago real madrid was in costa rica and was having a training school for young players. i asked dany if he wanted to try out for their school. he was a very good soccer player but could not imagine having to leave costa rica to play in europe. besides his favourite team was barcelona. i wonder how things might have turned out.

world cup u20

it has been so cool to go to the world cup u20 in burnaby. the weather has been beautiful and it has been sold out each day. the teams i've seen are from zambia, spain, uruguay and jordan. the most vocal fans have been supporting zambia and uruguay. the most entertaining have been the zambian fans with their songs and their drums. there are several uruguayan fans around me and one fellow has a very passionate running commentary (in spanish of course which so reminds me of going to games in costa rica).

last sunday i talked to the zambian team manager (?) & told him i support a boy in zambia and asked if i could get a team picture. i took a few pix while they sat in the stands after their game but wanted a picture of them in their uniform. he told me to come back yesterday. knowing how excited the boys in costa rica get about their futbol team i thought boyd (my boy in zambia) would be equally excited to get a picture of his national team. last night when i went to see the team they weren't there, then they were warming up, then it was late and i wanted to get out of town and avoid all the traffic. they play again saturday in the first game so i'm going to try again.

the second game saturday is costa rica vs scotland. i will be there with my red jersey and my white jersey so i can switch depending on which jersey the team is wearing, my jacket and my hat and my 2 1/2' x 5' flag.

not being the most popular sport in north america people are surprised at the attendance records. but if you consider the cultural diversity in canada and that fact the futbol is the most popular sport in every other country in the world i don't know why they are so surprised. swangard is sold out and people still line up at the gates hoping to be able to buy a ticket. people at every entrance asking if anyone has tickets to sell.

i do have one complaint though. you can buy tickets that specify a non-alcoholic section which is what i did. it didn't mean squat. every person around me had 1 or 2 beer at a time. i heard the woman behind me say she had spilled her beer on herself. have you ever been to a sporting event where when someone scores the fans jump to their feet...

no i have another complaint. you could not take food or drink into the stadium. they were throwing out every food / drink item that you had as they searched your bags/purses as you walked through the gate. then you had to pay $3 for a bottle of water and stand in line forever to buy food. to buy a game ball - $180. not too many people are buying game balls.

so they enforce one rule to make money and don't enforce another rule to make money. so i go full and pray that no one spills beer on me.

i can't wait for saturday.

healing prayer

i'm taking the alpha course right now and last wednesday night the topic was healing. the leader asked if anyone had any knowledge from God to speak it out so whoever that might apply to they could go to that person for healing prayer.

several people said different things. i was really hoping someone would say something about backs but no one did. a lady sitting a few tables away from me with her back turned to me said that there was someone that had a problem with their lymph glands. i gotta say that kinda took me by surprise.

when she said it i got sharp pains across my whole groin area. i'd never had them before. i looked upward and in my mind thinking ok God i know i have a problem there You didn't need to make me so painfully aware of it.

eventually i got up to speak to this woman. she did not know me, i did not know her, i had never spoken to her before never mind telling her anything about my illness. i told her that i had a problem with my lymph glands. she said it had been on her heart all week and she had been praying about it. she said i had a serious problem in my groin area. at this point i would've said whoa! freaky, except i got these really sharp pains all across my groin again. and again i looked upward wondering why God had chosen to remind me by giving me the pain. now this really was weird. how could she know except that God had told her. i told her i had lymphoma and she asked what that was. she knew i had a problem with my lymph glands, she knew that i had a serious problem in my groin area, yet she didn't even know what it was, just that it was. weird.

this morning i was wondering about the 2 times i got the pain. i'd never had it before and i haven't had it since. i wondered if God was telling her that someone had a problem and if she was asking God if the person wasn't aware of it to let them know (by way of stabbing pain). hm.

every wrong thing that i see in you, God finds in me.

incredible!!!

gold cup - costa rica vs mexico. i like mexico and would want them to win - against any team other than costa rica. after a regular time game, costa rica down one player due to a red card, mexico was unable to score. in extra time costa rica lost 3 more players to red cards. unbelievable!!! and the announcer says the referee was a little excessive in handing out red cards. ya think!!! finally mexico scored to win the 1/4 final.

after church i watched real madrid win the spanish league title 1-0 against mallorca even though barcelona won 5-1. wanting barcelona to win it was a nail biter every time real madrid had a shot on goal. except that i was eating candy and now my jaw hurts. the more exciting it got the faster i chewed.

the world cup is only 2 weeks away. woo-hoo! i can hardly wait.

spm bbq

ok so i chickened out.

i was working in the kitchen cooking & cleaning for a father / daughter banquet which was before the single point ministry (spm) bbq. we got everything ready for that then started on the spm bbq stuff. i was not entirely comfortable thinking about going to the bbq, in another area of the church, so i kept working in the kitchen. they kept trying to kick me out to get me to go to the bbq. i finally went with the intention of getting a coffee, saw 100+ people that i didn't know and went right back to the kitchen. and stayed there. i knew about 5 people, the 2 leaders who were outside working the bbq, 2 women & 1 guy but couldn't see them in the crowd.

i'm not the type to just sit down at a table full of strangers and start making conversation. i'm not the best conversationalist at the best of times, never mind with people i don't know.

i worked my tail off in the kitchen and it felt really good to be physically active but i could barely get out of my truck when i got home and then i massaged my body with a535. lol they kept telling me to take a break but i knew if i did that would be the end of me. all in all it was a good day.

i need to get out more

i've been told that a couple of times lately.

i'm single and i'm content in my singleness. i have been attending alpha and my table leader is another single lady. it came out in conversation that my last date was about 6 years ago. a fellow from church had asked me out and i told susan i thought it was more an opportunity for me to witness. after a movie we went to timmy's and that's just what it turned out to be. he told me i was glowing and i knew i was because i could feel it. i was talking about Jesus, my favourite subject. i guess my little light was really shining that night.

i lead a very dull boring life compared to most but i'm content.

i thought of my singleness and thought how if i am home alone all the time how can my light shine. it's ok for me cuz i'm content but what about people that aren't.

a friend told me someone had cancelled for the singles retreat at rockridge canyon last weekend and asked if i wanted to go in their place. i said sure i'd like to go - it's beautiful up there. i wasn't sure about going to a singles retreat though.

2 weeks ago i had gone to a singles night at church. the only reason i went was because it was a worship and praise night. i had been asked to go before but always said no saying i thought it would be like a meat market. sure enough the thing i most dreaded happened. there was myself and another woman at a large table and a man came over and sat down right beside me. there were 8 other places he could've taken. i felt like 'fresh meat' and decided right then and there i wouldn't go back.

when i was told about the singles retreat cancellation my friend said i needed to get out more. i had prayed about it and told God that if He wanted me to go He would have to provide because i had just paid for an alpha retreat 2 weeks before that and i couldn't afford another weekend away. there was also a conflict in dates. the dates got changed & i was given the space when someone cancelled. ok so i figured God wanted me to go. why? i'm not looking for a spouse - i'm content being single. i thought maybe it was to be an encouragement to someone which i guess is what it turned out to be.

tonight there is a singles bbq at church. the last scheduled event before summer. i had been debating whether i wanted to go or not. i had met several very nice people at the retreat, some of whom go to nv but it was as i was emailing a friend about her wedding that i had a twinge of something. so i thought what's the point of letting your light shine if there's no one around to see it. so i guess i'll go to the bbq.

how can we help?

As horrible as some of these articles were to read, it is important that we make ourselves aware of what is going on around us. But that is only one part of the equation. Information/statistics are not meant to shock us into inaction but to awaken a passion in us to take action.Something I always remind myself, is "there but for the grace of God go I". I then challenge myself, what would I hope and pray for individuals to respond to these issues if they were my children or children known and loved by me enduring these daily realities.Each of us has the power within us to bring about change. Further I believe each of us has a responsibility to be a voice for a fellow human being who is through no fault of their own or choice of their own in a situation beyond their making. It has been said many times that we can be a voice for those without a voice. Let's be that voice, together, today.

1) Tell someone else about what is happening around the world.

2) Write your MP to find out what Canada's response is to these situations (especially in light of the recent G8 meetings).

3) Encourage someone to take action - by either sponsoring a child today, telling someone else, volunteering their time, writing a letter or making a donation to projects working to effect change. May God continue to bless your efforts and motivate and energize you to be a beacon of light in the darkness.

this was written by someone i know at world vision. she has shared these and other stories as part of the Poverty and Girl Child Campaign to raise awareness for the need to 'be a voice for the voiceless' to promote the need for child sponsorship.

how many children could be sponsored with the money we would save if we gave up buying 1 cup of coffee a day, or buying the latest fashions, or the newest cd's, videos, toys and gimmicks.

there but for the grace of God go i, or you, or your sister, mother, wife, or daughter.

Atrocities of a war without end

Congo is officially at peace, but the horrors go on for thousands of women and children who suffer sexual abuse in violence fuelled by guns and greed. A tiny child with a gaping, bloody gash between her legs. A young woman whose breasts are stretched grotesquely out of shape. A woman whose lower face resembles a skull, her mouth carved away by vengeful rapists. These are the pictures that Justine Masika Bihamba carries with her on her travels, in the hope that the world will see the plight of sexually abused women in the mineral-rich provinces of Democratic Republic of Congo. For many Westerners, stories of the savage five-year war that crushed the country and killed some 3 million people are part of the horrific past, now that Congo is officially at peace.But for the broken and desperate women who call on Masika in her threadbare office in Goma, the atrocities are ongoing. For them it is war without end. "This is sexual violence that amounts to torture," says Masika, a quiet-spoken, solid woman who co-ordinates the collective Synergie des Femmes pour les Victimes de Violences Sexuelles. She was attending a women's human rights forum yesterday at Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, University of Toronto. "Eighty per cent of the violence is around the mining areas," Masika said. "Those areas are all about guns and greed. There is no government control and people take what they want." Including women. For the gun-toting men who prey on them “many of them battle-hardened ex-fighters“ toddlers, teenagers or elderly women are fair game for sadistic attacks that defy the most twisted imagination."Women are not just raped, but assaulted with sharp objects to mutilate them, including razor blades," says Masika.

Child soldiers still fight in Congo

Report DAKAR, Senegal “Congo's new government has failed to stop the use of child soldiers“ merging forces of former warlords into the regular army without weeding out hundreds of underage fighters, an international human rights group said yesterday. New York-based Human Rights Watch said 300 to 500 children, some as young as 13, are serving in newly combined army brigades in remote North Kivu province. The group said the figures came from local and international child protection workers. "The head of the army has given the order that child soldiers need to be demobilized and taken out of the ranks, but despite the order, nothing is happening," said Anneke Van Woudenberg, a London-based Congo researcher with Human Rights Watch.In one instance last month, the group charged, a brigade commander dragged six children out of a vehicle belonging to child protection workers. Three of the youngsters were later taken in by United Nations peacekeepers, but the other three are unaccounted for, the group said.Officials in the Central African nation's government said they were looking into the allegations, and could not comment until the investigation finishes."We have said there will no longer be children in the army,'' said Maurice Kanyama, counsel to Congo's information minister. "For the moment we can't say yes or no on this. We need to verify it. Around the end of next week you can have some conclusions.''

Prostitution legislation to remain unchanged

OTTAWA - Decriminalizing prostitution would lead to the exploitation of women and it is, therefore, off the table for the current Conservative government, Justice Minister Rob Nicholson says in a report."This government condemns any conduct that results in exploitation or abuse and, accordingly, does not support any reforms, such as decriminalization, that would facilitate such exploitation," Mr. Nicholson wrote the House of Commons justice committee. "For these reasons, this government continues to address prostitution by focusing on reducing its prevalence."Prostitution itself is not illegal technically, but other anti-prostitution laws effectively prohibit it, such as a ban on communication for the purposes of prostitution in a public space.Font: ****Mr. Nicholson was responding to a report from a justice subcommittee, which was unable to come up with a consensus on whether solicitation should be removed from the Criminal Code after studying the issue for almost two years and hearing from about 300 witnesses across the country.He said the government considers prostitution to be "degrading and dehumanizing" and that it is "often committed and controlled by coercive individuals against those who are frequently powerless to protect themselves from abuse and exploitation."In a December, 2006, report, the majority of MPs on the subcommittee concluded sex between two consenting adults should not be illegal, "whether or not payment is involved."

Women at risk despite falling HIV drug costs

JOHANNESBURG Access to AIDS treatment improved dramatically in the developing world in the past year -- with drugs getting cheaper and many countries finding new ways to reach more people with care. But the situation remains bleak for pregnant women and children with HIV, according to a new report by the World Health Organization, UNAIDS and Unicef. In sub-Saharan Africa, home to more than two-thirds of people with HIV-AIDS, there has been an astounding acceleration in the rollout of life-saving anti-retroviral drugs. In 2003, just 100,000 people in all of Africa (where 28 million are living with HIV) had access to the drugs. By the end of 2006, there were more than 1.3 million on the medication."That's a 13-fold increase in treatment, it's a major jump," said Kevin De Cock, director of HIV-AIDS for the WHO. "Treatment scale-up in adults is remarkable."Yet even with the increase, less than a third of people with AIDS who need the drugs can get them -- both in Africa and across all poor and middle-income countries, the figure is 28 per cent. "We need to keep pushing and push harder," Dr. De Cock said.Children continue to lag painfully. While the number getting treatment jumped 50 per cent to 75,000 last year, that represents just 15 per cent of those who need it. Ninety per cent of children with AIDS live in Africa.And just 11 per cent of the two million pregnant women with HIV --again, the vast majority are in Africa -- had access to anti-retroviral treatment in 2005 to prevent them from passing the virus to their babies."You have to ask yourself, is there not enough prioritization of women and children?" Dr. De Cock said.

PRAYER POINT

From the Voice for the Voiceless booklet
Female Labourers Definition Female labourers are women who work too long, too hard and too much, especially in back breaking manual labour.

Out of the 550 million working poor in the world, an estimated 330 million, or 60%, are women. The majority of women earn on average about 3/4 of the pay of males for the same work. An African peasant woman typically works 16 hours daily trudging long distances to fetch firewood, animal fodder and water, growing and harvesting food, tending crops, and cooking and caring for her family. This leaves little time to seek education and training, the very things that enable women to break the cycle of low status and poverty. Worldwide, over 60% of people working in family enterprises without pay are women. On a one hectare farm in the Indian Himalayans, a pair of bullock's works 1064 hours, a man works 1212 hours and a woman 3485 hours in a year. Who is like our God who rescues the poor from those too strong for them?

Psalm 35:10
PRAY This verse over the exploited women who are forced to work too long, too hard, too much For godly business owners
For Bible based family structures

ACT - Reflect on the biblical concept of work and appropriate rest. Apply it in your life.

POVERTY & THE GIRL CHILD - PRAYER POINT

WAR - Definition War is the waging of armed conflict against an enemy.
The primary victims of today's wars are civilian women and their children, not soldiers.

Rape has been widely used as a weapon of war. Women have been deliberately infected with HIV and AIDS or raped while pregnant. They have been used as means to undermine, disgrace and threaten the perceived enemy.

Thousands of girls in Uganda have been abducted to serve as soldiers, domestic servants and sexual slaves. In Angola, up to 30,000 girls were abducted by armed forces during its civil war. Girls are often obliged to be sex slaves or "soldiers wives".

Torture of women frequently includes sexual violence with a view to humiliating and degrading the victim. Additional consequences are STD's, forced abortion, or sterilization.

PRAY - God sent his son to be the Prince of Peace.
Isaiah 9:6 That the kingdom of God would be established in peace and that it would protect those most vulnerable.

For Christian diplomats to be Peacemakers.
For Counsellors to help process the grief and hatred.

ACT - Study one hot spot of war and pray into this region.

reading the bible

having weird thoughts this morning, like almost on being on the verge of depression. not knowing where my life is going and not knowing where i want it to go.

i thought of all the things God tells us in the bible, how much He loves us, how He comforts the broken hearted, how He gives us our hearts desire, everything we need to know He has told us in His Word. i thought of the bible as God's love letter to us and knew i needed to read it. my utmost for His highest today referred to psalm 25. 3 times in psalm 25 david says (my) hope is in You.

how can people have hope if we don't know where to find it? twice He tells us basically the same thing. He guides the humble in what is right and teaches them His way. He will instruct him in the way chosen for him.

i read other parts of the bible but nothing touched me as psalm 25. it just blows me away to think of how God knows us so well as to know our hearts and what we need at any given time. what an amazing love, to know us so intimately and care for us so deeply.

we need to read the bible. we need to know God. we need to have an intimate relationship with Him. then we will know He is our hope and our salvation.

thought of a pyramid in a new way last weekend when the facilitor at the alpha weekend retreat put his hands together to make a pyramid. he said when we draw closer to God, we draw closer to each other. i knew that but when he did it with his hands it seemed more real.

i still don't know where my life is going or how i'm going to get there but it's ok cuz i know that God does. and my hope is in Him.

being a christian

i'm hearing some weird confessions of faith lately, directly and indirectly, and i think how Jesus will say He never knew us. when asked how long she had been a christian one person said that she has been a christian all her life, but then she added that she sprinkles pixie dust wherever she goes??? then she met the living Christ and He blew her socks off.

another lady says God talks to her all the time but she never reads the bible. God gave us His Word as an instruction manual. why would He give it to us if He never intended us to read it. i think if God was talking to me all the time He would be telling me to read His Word.

at an alpha retreat last weekend a sweet little older lady met Christ for the first time after a lifetime of going to church. she thought something was missing but didn't know what it was. after all she'd been going to church all her life so she figured she was a christian. this wasn't weird - it was sad and it made me wonder how many other people go to church, have always gone to church and have always thought they were christians.

other people that say they are christians but don't go to church. one man told me he was a christian but stopped going to church and would worship God in his own way. if we are not in fellowship with other christians how can we love one another, serve one another, encourage one another. Jesus calls us to do all this but we have to be together to do it. we are the body of Christ which means we have to be together.

heard a cool thing on the radio yesterday. how do you start a church? you need 2 people - one a hugger and the other a huggee.

HISTORIC BIRTHDAY

World's oldest twins turn 105 - Born in Saskatchewan before it was a province, pair celebrate milestone in different countries

When asked to pass on advice to younger generations, Robertson focused on charity.

"I think every earning person should support a child overseas. People earn so much now, and we have to share."

my sentiments exactly!!!

we don't think about what we need and what others need. we think of what we WANT and we don't worry about what others NEED.

i met someone who claimed to have given away 65 pairs of shoes, but she still has 115 pairs of shoes in her shoe room. it was all i could do not to show my disdain.

VOICE FROM THE VOICELESS

Prostitution Definition Prostitution is the sale of sexual services for money. Many trafficked girls and women start out in cheap brothels where they are broken in through a process of rapes and beatings. This process is called "seasoning." 2million girls between ages 5 and 15 are introduced into the commercial sex market each year. 89% of prostitutes want to escape. 60 to 75% have been raped. At least 200,000 women and children work in prostitution in Thailand. 1/3 of the women are under the age of 18, and girls as young as five-six years old work in prostitution. "I found myself dancing at a club at the age of 11...I have had different kinds of customers, foreigners and Filipinos. I tried suicide, but it didn't work so I turned to drugs. I want to die before my next birthday." One time, a doctor counted 35 men using a girl in one hour. When the police raided the brothel, they found dozens of empty boxes of condoms, each box having held a thousand condoms.

God is a righteous judge. Psalm 7:11
Pray: That God would reveal that sexual intimacy is a reflection of his blessings and not a commodity to be bought or sold. That God would destroy this exploitation and degradation of women. For businesses that create alternative incomes for prostitutes.

Act: Form a group of people (or from your church group), go and present a rose to the prostitues you meet in your city. Write our government to ask what we are doing about sexual exploitation at home and abroad.

Excerpt from a book called Sub-merge

written by John B. Hayes,
"...But this is exactly what my mind and body needed to cope with ministry stress. Exercise like this would have been so good for me. You're right. But you were so busy doing ministry that you didn't do any of the very life-giving things that would have sustained you. Isn't that what incarnational ministry is all about? Your ministry is your life? That's how you've been doing it for six years! In fact, the opposite is true: Your ministry is not your life; your life should be your ministry. What's the difference? It's a tiny change in word order, but there's a gigantic difference - one that will lead you to burnout and misery if you confuse the two. When ministry is your life, you will give when you have nothing to give, work when you should be resting, neglect that which should be your greatest priority, and ultimately loathe the very people you are called to love. In short, when ministry is your life, you have no life to offer to others and nothing but ministry to invite others into.
On the other hand, when your life is your ministry, all of life becomes a sacrament before God: your work and your rest, your eating and sleeping, your generosity and your neediness, your care for your body and the environment, your trivial pastimes and your greatest accomplishments. When all of your life is what you offer as your ministry, then nothing is wasted. In short, when your life is what you offer to others as ministry, what you offer is multifaceted and rich with meaning.
Are you suggesting that going for a run with my dog is just as significant as any of my ministry objectives?
No only is it significant, but it is also vital. Without a fully lived life, what you present to God and to others is one-dimensional and incomplete. The lost are compelled to follow Christ when they see how you do life -how you treat your children, where you buy your groceries, how you care for your neighbors - not by how much you do ministry -
So all those times when I skipped lunch and pulled all-nighters for the sake of the ministry -
The people you were discipling saw a man living a life of destruction.
Then what did people learn from me?
How to live an unbalanced, chaotic life of ministry that ruins the soul rather than nourishes it.
And if I had dropped what seemed so important to go for a run or to cook lunch?
Your followers would have seen a man (or woman) un apologetically living the kind of abundant life Jesus calls us to.
I want that kind of abundance. I want that kind of life. My ministry is not my life, but my life can be my ministry."

First World exploitation of Africa's resources

perch fillets are stripped and shipped to europe while the africans can only afford to buy the carcasses. overfishing has caused fish stocks to drop drastically imperiling the livelihoods of more than 100,000 fishermen and depriving local people of food. national geographic 4/07.

this infuriates me. as if they don't have enough to eat already, satisfying our own needs is depriving them even more. you read daily about people in africa dying of starvation where most don't even have fish bones to eat.

this is just another example of we who have wanting more, having more and to hell with everyone else.

we would throw this carcass in the garbage after we had taken the fillets off. hungry people would leave nothing of this carcass. we waste more food in a year than people in africa have to eat in a year. we gorge ourselves, then when we become obese we pay to lose the weight. we are a self-indulgent society, spending money pleasing ourselves buying the latest fashions, bigger houses, bigger toys, more toys, drugs, booze. we spend more on our pleasure in a year than people have to spend on food.

will we never learn? if only we could change places, the have's with the have-not's. if only we could walk in their shoes, live in their homes, eat what they eat, live the way they live. would we learn? wait, they don't have shoes and are dying because they don't have enough to eat.

matt 25:42 For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink. 45" He will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.'

i know so many people that profess to be christians and wonder how they can make that claim when their lives don't resemble anything that Jesus talks about. money, greed, self-centred, self-indulgent.

i wish we could change places.

Gloria

we were closer than sisters, she with hers and me with mine. she knew every little detail about all my sins and she didn't count it against me. she loved me anyway.

like God. He knows every single detail about our every sin and when we come to the cross and ask for forgiveness He doesn't count it against us. He loves us in spite of ourselves.

never put off til tomorrow what you could do today

my friend Gloria died last night. we had been friends for 38 years. when i was having babies she was travelling the world. when i was able to travel the world she was having babies. we had talked about going to russia together, she said it was about the only place left in the world she had not visited, but it never happened.

we have been with each other through so many hardships, 38 years of friendship, loving and caring for each other, supporting each other through divorces and deaths. we cried together but mostly we laughed together. she and another friend and i were each 1 year apart. we were like the 3 musketeers. periods of time could go by without contact but we would pick up again like we hadn't missed a day.

for as much as i am at peace because she is with Jesus today i am going to miss her. when she showed me her baptism certificate i was so excited. she had lived in israel for a short while and had been baptised in the jordan river. she loved israel. i thought wow! to be baptised in the same river as Jesus.

years ago she had asked me to be her executrix, i said yes and although i took care of all the details when my father-in-law passed away many years ago, this will be a lot harder.

she had ms, recently got a couple of infections and was getting worse and then got pneumonia. she had gone to the hospital monday and when they wanted to put her on life support last night she refused and succumbed to the pneumonia.

i had talked to her on saturday and she had told me she was going to hospital sunday or monday, i told her i would come over sunday either at home or hospital. sunday i talked to her and she was at home but too tired for company. we talked & i told her i would come and see her today and we would see about getting her affairs in order. she agreed. she probably knew she was near the end.

i told her i couldn't come until today because i worked monday - wednesday and had classes monday to wednesday nights. my tuesday class finished last week and i had thought about going to bible study but i put that off too. when i talked to a co-worker about needing new glasses and she suggested costco i went to costco looking for new glasses and ending up walking up and down every row looking for whatever. i left costco at 8:30 and thought about gloria and realized it was too late to visit her on my way home. i expected to see her today.

you never get a second chance to say goodbye. i'm so glad that the last thing i said to her was 'i love you my friend' and she said 'i know, i love you too'

until we're together again my friend - i love you.

POVERTY & THE GIRL CHILD CAMPAIGN

Prayer for Day 1 Child ProstitutionDefinition:It is the sexual exploitation of a child for remuneration in cash or kind, usually but not always organized by an intermediary (parent, family member, procurer or teacher).>10 million children worldwide are engaged in some facet of the sex industry. Each year at least one million children, mostly girls, become prostitutes.>In Thailand, 10-12 year old girls service men in the sex industry. They typically have sex with men 10-15 times daily and sometimes as many as 20-30.>In South Africa there are 40,000 child prostitutes.Children are more susceptible to HIV and other STDs.There is also a personal impact story which would be too long to include in this email, however, I am going to see if I can obtain copies of this book.Prayer reflection regarding the above:Because of the oppression of the weak and the groaning of the needy, God will now arise. Psalm 12:5PRAYPray that God would arise and defend the little ones.Pray that God would raise up lawyers, moviemakers and government rulers who will bring an end to this savage exploitation.ACTMake a short presentation on the prevalence of child prostitution and how your government could take action. Share this in your church, work place, and circle of influence.All of these points come from the book. Two recent stories (April 23rd) from The Toronto Star4. Opening bank doors to women in AfricaIn a recent survey, African businessmen were asked what they thought of women as entrepreneurs.All very well and good, said one puzzled responder. "But how can property own property?"That's the kind of prejudice Joanne Thomas Yaccato is locking horns with, as the pioneering GTA entrepreneur takes on a new role with the World Bank's private-sector arm to revolutionize the way African banks view businesswomen.As a consultant to the International Finance Corporation, which will distribute $40 million in international funds, her goal is to empower African women – providing the money and confidence they need to raise themselves, and the impoverished continent, from a life-and-death struggle to economic security.Although new to Africa, Thomas Yaccato, 50, has spent decades dissolving the stereotypes that keep women beneath the "glass ceiling" of business success and prevent banks and other corporations from understanding how to satisfy them as clients.The problems of African women were not new, just more acute than those of the West. She quickly found that Africa's diligent but disadvantaged businesswomen had one thing in common."They were ignored by the banks. One Nigerian woman (Muni Shonibare) who owns a chain of furniture stores couldn't get a dime from bankers if her life depended on it. And until we went in there, the bankers hadn't a clue about the opportunity in the women's market."5. African teens and pain of fistulaZinder, NIGER–For two days, 14-year-old Sari Zainabou pushed and pushed, her narrow body stubbornly refusing her baby safe passage into the world. At a clinic in her village outside the Sahelian trading town of Zinder, the women could do little more than wipe Sari's brow and encourage her to keep trying. When the baby boy finally emerged, he was dead. And after two solid days of Labour, with her baby's head pushed up against her pelvic bone, Sari was left with necrotic tissue that ate a hole in the lining separating her vagina from her bladder. The result was a constant trickle of urine splashing down at the grieving girl's feet.Now 15, Sari sits in the courtyard of the Central Maternity Hospital waiting for a second surgery to finally repair the fistula. It's a condition the United Nations hopes to erase from the developing world in the next seven years, spending $20 million (U.S.) on prevention, education and training in 40 countries and enlisting the help of celebrities like Australian singer Natalie Imbruglia to drum up attention in the West.Eradication is not likely to happen unless the more worrying problem of child marriage is solved, says Dr. Lucien Djangnikpo, one of six doctors in Niger trained to surgically repair fistulas. Judged the poorest country on the planet by the United Nations in 2006, more than half of Niger's girls are married before the age of 15. Nearly 90 per cent are pregnant before the age of 18. In a country where malnutrition and difficult living combine to create small, sinewy women, the conditions are ripe for fistula. "The body isn't mature enough to handle (giving birth)," Djangnikpo says.

From the Protestant Church of Smyrna

A letter to the Global Church from The Protestant Church of Smyrna

Dear friends,
This past week has been filled with much sorrow. Many of you have heard by now of our devastating loss here in an event that took place in Malatya, a Turkish province 300 miles northeast of Antioch, the city where believers were first called Christians (Acts 11:26).

On Wednesday morning, April 18, 2007, 46 year old German missionary and father of three Tilman Geske prepared to go to his office, kissing his wife goodbye taking a moment to hug his son and give him the priceless memory, “Goodbye, son. I love you.”

Tilman rented an office space from Zirve Publishing where he was preparing notes for the new Turkish Study Bible. Zirve was also the location of the Malatya Evangelist Church office. A ministry of the church, Zirve prints and distributes Christian literature to Malatya and nearby cities in Eastern Turkey. In another area of town, 35 year old Pastor Necati Aydin, father of two, said goodbye to his wife, leaving for the office as well. They had a morning Bible Study and prayer meeting that some other believers in town would also be attending. Ugur Yuksel likewise made his way to the Bible study.

None of these three men knew that what awaited them at the Bible study was the ultimate testing and application of their faith, which would conclude with their entrance into glory to receive their crown of righteousness from Christ and honor from all the saints awaiting them in the Lord’s presence.

On the other side of town, ten young men all under 20 years old put into place final arrangements for their ultimate act of faith, living out their love for Allah and hatred of infidels who they felt undermined Islam.

On Resurrection Sunday, five of these men had been to a by-invitation-only evangelistic service that Pastor Necati and his men had arranged at a hotel conference room in the city. The men were known to the believers as “seekers.” No one knows what happened in the hearts of those men as they listened to the gospel. Were they touched by the Holy Spirit? Were they convicted of sin? Did they hear the gospel in their heart of hearts? Today we only have the beginning of their story.

These young men, one of whom is the son of a mayor in the Province of Malatya, are part of a tarikat, or a group of “faithful believers” in Islam. Tarikat membership is highly respected here; it’s like a fraternity membership. In fact, it is said that no one can get into public office without membership in a tarikat. These young men all lived in the same dorm, all preparing for university entrance exams.

The young men got guns, breadknives, ropes and towels ready for their final act of service to Allah. They knew there would be a lot of blood. They arrived in time for the Bible Study, around 10 o’clock.

They arrived, and apparently the Bible Study began. Reportedly, after Necati read a chapter from the Bible the assault began. The boys tied Ugur, Necati, and Tilman’s hands and feet to chairs and as they videoed their work on their cellphones, they tortured our brothers for almost three hours*

[Details of the torture--
* Tilman was stabbed 156 times, Necati 99 times and Ugur’s stabs were too numerous to count. They were disemboweled, and their intestines sliced up in front of their eyes. They were emasculated and watched as those body parts were destroyed. Fingers were chopped off, their noses and mouths and anuses were sliced open. Possibly the worst part was watching as their brothers were likewise tortured. Finally, their throats were sliced from ear to ear, heads practically decapitated.]

Neighbors in workplaces near the printhouse said later they had heard yelling, but assumed the owners were having a domestic argument so they did not respond.

Meanwhile, another believer Gokhan and his wife had a leisurely morning. He slept in till 10, ate a long breakfast and finally around 12:30 he and his wife arrived at the office. The door was locked from the inside, and his key would not work. He phoned and though it had connection on his end he did not hear the phone ringing inside. He called cell phones of his brothers and finally Ugur answered his phone. “We are not at the office. Go to the hotel meeting. We are there. We will come there,” he said cryptically. As Ugur spoke Gokhan heard in the telephone’s background weeping and a strange snarling sound.

He phoned the police, and the nearest officer arrived in about five minutes. He pounded on the door, “Police, open up!” Initially the officer thought it was a domestic disturbance. At that point they heard another snarl and a gurgling moan. The police understood that sound as human suffering, prepared the clip in his gun and tried over and over again to burst through the door. One of the frightened assailants unlocked the door for the policeman, who entered to find a grisly scene.

Tilman and Necati had been slaughtered, practically decapitated with their necks slit from ear to ear. Ugur’s throat was likewise slit and he was barely alive.

Three assailants in front of the policeman dropped their weapons.

Meanwhile Gokhan heard a sound of yelling in the street. Someone had fallen from their third story office. Running down, he found a man on the ground, whom he later recognized, named Emre Gunaydin. He had massive head trauma and, strangely, was snarling. He had tried to climb down the drainpipe to escape, and losing his balance had plummeted to the ground. It seems that he was the main leader of the attackers. Another assailant was found hiding on a lower balcony.

To untangle the web we need to back up six years. In April 2001, the National Security Council of Turkey (Milli Guvenlik Kurulu) began to consider evangelical Christians as a threat to national security, on equal footing as Al Quaida and PKK terrorism. Statements made in the press by political leaders, columnists and commentators have fueled a hatred against missionaries who they claim bribe young people to change their religion.

After that decision in 2001, attacks and threats on churches, pastors and Christians began. Bombings, physical attacks, verbal and written abuse are only some of the ways Christians are being targetted. Most significant is the use of media propaganda.

From December 2005, after having a long meeting regarding the Christian threat, the wife of Former Prime Minister Ecevit, historian Ilber Ortayli, Professor Hasan Unsal, Politician Ahmet Tan and writer/propogandist Aytunc Altindal, each in their own profession began a campaign to bring the public’s attention to the looming threat of Christians who sought to “buy their children’s souls”. Hidden cameras in churches have taken church service footage and used it sensationally to promote fear and antagonism toward Christianity.

In an official televised response from Ankara, the Interior Minister of Turkey smirked as he spoke of the attacks on our brothers. Amid public outrage and protests against the event and in favor of freedom of religion and freedom of thought, media and official comments ring with the same message, “We hope you have learned your lesson. We do not want Christians here.”

It appears that this was an organized attack initiated by an unknown adult tarikat leader. As in the Hrant Dink murder in January 2007, and a Catholic priest Andrea Santoro in February 2006, minors are being used to commit religious murders because public sympathy for youth is strong and they face lower penalties than an adult convicted of the same crime. Even the parents of these children are in favor of the acts. The mother of the 16 year old boy who killed the Catholic priest Andrea Santoro looked at the cameras as her son was going to prison and said, “he will serve time for Allah.”

The young men involved in the killing are currently in custody. Today news reported that they would be tried as terrorists, so their age would not affect the strict penalty. Assailant Emre Gunaydin is still in intensive care. The investigation centers around him and his contacts and they say will fall apart if he does not recover.

The Church in Turkey responded in a way that honored God as hundreds of believers and dozens of pastors flew in as fast as they could to stand by the small church of Malatya and encourage the believers, take care of legal issues, and represent Christians to the media.

When Susanne Tilman expressed her wish to bury her husband in Malatya, the Governor tried to stop it, and when he realized he could not stop it, a rumor was spread that “it is a sin to dig a grave for a Christian.” In the end, in an undertaking that should be remembered in Christian history forever, the men from the church in Adana (near Tarsus), grabbed shovels and dug a grave for their slain brother in an un-tended hundred year old Armenian graveyard.

Ugur was buried by his family in an Alevi Muslim ceremony in his hometown of Elazig, his believing fiance watching from the shadows as his family and friends refused to accept in death the faith Ugur had so long professed and died for.

Necati’s funeral took place in his hometown of Izmir, the city where he came to faith. The darkness does not understand the light. Though the churches expressed their forgiveness for the event, Christians were not to be trusted. Before they would load the coffin onto the plane from Malatya, it went through two separate xray exams to make sure it was not loaded with explosives. This is not a usual procedure for Muslim coffins.

Necati’s funeral was a beautiful event. Like a glimpse of heaven, thousands of Turkish Christians and missionaries came to show their love for Christ, and their honor for this man chosen to die for Christ. Necati’s wife Shemsa told the world, “His death was full of meaning, because he died for Christ and he lived for Christ… Necati was a gift from God. I feel honored that he was in my life, I feel crowned with honor. I want to be worthy of that honor.”

Boldly the believers took their stand at Necati’s funeral, facing the risks of being seen publicly and likewise becoming targets. As expected, the anti-terror police attended and videotaped everyone attending the funeral for their future use. The service took place outside at Buca Baptist church, and he was buried in a small Christian graveyard in the outskirts of Izmir.

Two assistant Governors of Izmir were there solemnly watching the event from the front row. Dozens of news agencies were there documenting the events with live news and photographs. Who knows the impact the funeral had on those watching? This is the beginning of their story as well. Pray for them.

In an act that hit front pages in the largest newspapers in Turkey, Susanne Tilman in a television interview expressed her forgiveness. She did not want revenge, she told reporters. “Oh God, forgive them for they know not what they do,” she said, wholeheartedly agreeing with the words of Christ on Calvary (Luke 23:34).

In a country where blood-for-blood revenge is as normal as breathing, many many reports have come to the attention of the church of how this comment of Susanne Tilman has changed lives. One columnist wrote of her comment, “She said in one sentence what 1000 missionaries in 1000 years could never do.”

The missionaries in Malatya will most likely move out, as their families and children have become publicly identified as targets to the hostile city. The remaining 10 believers are in hiding. What will happen to this church, this light in the darkness? Most likely it will go underground. Pray for wisdom, that Turkish brothers from other cities will go to lead the leaderless church. Should we not be concerned for that great city of Malatya, a city that does not know what it is doing? (Jonah 4:11)

When our Pastor Fikret Bocek went with a brother to give a statement to the Security Directorate on Monday they were ushered into the Anti-Terror Department. On the wall was a huge chart covering the whole wall listing all the terrorist cells in Izmir, categorized. In one prominent column were listed all the evangelical churches in Izmir. The darkness does not understand the light. “These that have turned the world upside down are come hither also.” (Acts 17:6)

Please pray for the Church in Turkey. “Don’t pray against persecution, pray for perseverence,” urges Pastor Fikret Bocek.

The Church is better having lost our brothers; the fruit in our lives, the renewed faith, the burning desire to spread the gospel to quench more darkness in Malatya …all these are not to be regretted. Pray that we stand strong against external opposition and especially pray that we stand strong against internal struggles with sin, our true debilitating weakness.

This we know. Christ Jesus was there when our brothers were giving their lives for Him. He was there, like He was when Stephen was being stoned in the sight of Saul of Tarsus.

Someday the video of the deaths of our brothers may reveal more to us about the strength that we know Christ gave them to endure their last cross, about the peace the Spirit of God endowed them with to suffer for their beloved Savior. But we know He did not leave their side. We know their minds were full of Scripture strengthening them to endure, as darkness tried to subdue the unsubduable Light of the Gospel. We know, in whatever way they were able, with a look or a word, they encouraged one another to stand strong. We know they knew they would soon be with Christ.

We don’t know the details. We don’t know the kind of justice that will or will not be served on this earth.

But we pray-- and urge you to pray-- that someday at least one of those five boys will come to faith because of the testimony in death of Tilman Geske, who gave his life as a missionary to his beloved Turks, and the testimonies in death of Necati Aydin and Ugur Yuksel, the first martyrs for Christ out of the Turkish Church.

Reported by Darlene N. Bocek (24 April 2007)
-.-.-.-.-.-.-
Please please please pass this on to as many praying Christians as you can, in as many countries as you can. Please always keep the heading as “From the Protestant Church of Smyrna” with this contact information: izmirprotestan@gmail.com // http://www.izmirprotestan.org

i was hungry...

Matt 25:42 For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, 43I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.'
44"They also will answer, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?'
45"He will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.'

don't try this at home

AN UNUSUAL PAIRGilberto Sheedan, 50, and his crocodile friend Poncho, of roughly the same age, put on an entertaining show for visitors in the Caribbean-slope town of Siquirres. Sheedan (aka Chito) rescued Poncho after discovering him close to death from a gunshot wound. The man's effort and time nursing the reptile back to health has blossomed into a unique relationship between the two.

i hate this new blogger

although everything appears the same it's not. i can't leave comments anymore. sometimes change is good but in this case i think it sucks. i wasn't going to change to the new blogger but was forced to or just not have a blogger at all.

fifa U20 world cup

i'm going to the world cup!!! woohoo!!!

i rarely spend money on myself but i have been watching the fifa under 20 world cup to see if costa rica would be playing in burnaby and they are. the draw was today and although i will only get to see costa rica play one game i will be able to watch zambia, jordan, spain & uruguay. the round of 16 is also at swangard so maybe costa rica will be in that as well.

i thought i would only go to one game when i saw the ticket prices but it turns out it was a package deal for 7 games.

Jerusalem Prayer Team

Mike Evans' Iraq Journal, Part III

My first meeting today at 9:00 AM was in the State House with the Minister of State, Karim Sinjari. I had two more high-level intelligence meetings with Iraqi diplomatic leaders. I cannot attribute a quote from them for security reasons. I do not want an Iranian agent to put a bullet in their heads.

Karim is a very humble man; we sip tea as he tells me the story of two attempts to kill him by terrorists and a third by Saddam who poisoned him; he almost died. He repeated a story I had been told earlier:

“Saddam disappeared 191,000 men between the ages of ten and sixty years so the women could not remarry. They would have no proof that their husbands were dead.”
Saddam used the Koran to back his claim that he had permission to kill the enemy and confiscate everything they owned. He secured a fatwah, a legal decree from an Imam to give the legal, theocratic right to wipe out the Kurds.

I was told that Iranian agents by the tens of thousands are everywhere in Iraq, and that Iranian proxies number in the hundreds of thousands. I can honestly say I really don’t like that, knowing I speak out strongly against Iran on network shows, and that I wrote Showdown with Nuclear Iran. I feel a bit like a canary in a mine shaft. I am so thankful for my faith; it strengthens me in the darkness.

Karim told me that the biggest problem they have is the influx of Iranian agents into the whole of Iraq. Iran is working with Syria, a Sunni state, to kill Iraqis and with the Shiites to pit one group against the other.

According to Karim, Paul Bremer (head of the Coalition Provisional Authority in Iraq) opened the borders, forcing the removal of all security check points in Iraq. Bremer was warned that this would create terror, but he wanted to show the world he was tolerant of everyone. Iran is now running one of the biggest employment services in all of Iraq. For a few dollars, they put unemployed Iraqis on the terror payroll. It is also one of the biggest intelligence agencies operating through the Iraqi government. It makes no difference if you wear a police or military uniform; the vetting process does not work, and the fruit is that secrets are being shared with Iran which now is aware of every move.

Said Karim, “Your army is in a holy war with global jihadis worldwide. Thousands of Iraqi fanatics lived in Iran and returned home as agents with the full support of Iran. Remember, the Iranian revolution was planned in Najaf by Ayatollah Khomeini. Najaf knows well how to plan Islamic revolutions. The only reason they are not attacking you in America is because you invited them to attack you in Iraq.”

Al-Maliki says the U.S. should not use Iraq for a confrontation with Iran. This is another sick joke. Al-Qaeda has between 4000 and 5000 terrorists in Iraq. If we leave, the danger will be a thousand times greater, but in the U.S., not in Iraq. The terrorists will take the battle to the streets of America. The only restraining factor is the U.S. troops. We keep the terrorists occupied by fighting them in Iraq. I was told that if we leave Iraq, all of the Arab countries would run away from the experiment in democracy, and that the entire region would explode.

Karim further opined, “Saudi Arabia is so convinced that Iran is coming, they are building a 400-mile wall at the cost of $13 billion to keep them out. Saudi is panicking because 50 percent of their population is Shiite, and the oil region is in the Shiite area of Saudi. They know a nuclear Iran could mean their end. They pray that the U.S. or Israel will stop them.” I have been told that over 500,000 Shiite “missionaries” are gathered in Saudi Arabia with one goal...convert Sunnis.

We are taping the last segments of the prime-time special based on this book. Late today at the studios of the state television station, we were given classified footage never shown on U.S. television, or anywhere else. I saw images of Saddam’s flag being planted in each village after the gas canisters were dropped. At first, gas that stayed low to the ground was used. When the people fled to the mountains, canisters containing poison gas that rose in the air was dropped in order to kill those fleeing. Later, I was shown footage of Saddam’s death squads exterminating multitudes, including Islamic fascists beheading Americans. It was the most unspeakably horrific sight I have ever seen.

It was a shock to see the face of Ali Hassan Majid on Iraq television. He was standing trial for genocidal crimes against humanity. “I am not apologizing,” he said, “I did not make mistakes. I am the one who gave the orders to the Army to use WMDs against 100,000 Iraqi Kurds.”

We were cleared by the government to see and have access to the footage. Some of it will be incorporated into the television special, “The Final Move beyond Iraq.”

Dr. Tim LaHaye, Mrs. Anne Graham Lotz, Mr. Pat Boone, Mr. Bill McCartney, Ms. Kay Arthur, Rev. Tommy Tenney, Dr. A.R. Bernard, and Dr. Jay Sekulow are just a few of the more than 300 Christian Leaders who are part of the Jerusalem Prayer Team.

The Jerusalem Prayer Team is a non-profit organization with 501c3 tax exempt status. The Jerusalem Prayer Team is a prayer movement of people around the world. It is a non-denominational organization. It receives no support from the Nation of Israel. Donations are tax deductible.

The mission of the Jerusalem Prayer Team: To guard, defend and protect the Jewish people and Eretz Yisrael until Israel is secure, and until the Redeemer comes to Zion.

i hope it's soon.

heartbreaking

how can we who have so much ignore those who have nothing.

spiritual hearing

is just like physical hearing. the closer you get to whoever you're listening to, the better you can hear them.

talking to a friend about hearing God speak to us. i've only ever heard God speak to me in an audible voice once, the 2nd day i went to live in costa rica when He said "but only for one day."

yesterday He spoke to me through His Holy Spirit, putting thoughts into my head. i was reconciling accounts and it wasn't balancing. for the life of me i could not figure out why. i knew it was there but i didn't know how to account for it. then a name came to me from 4 months ago and i knew i had the answer. i don't remember a name from someone i met face to face yesterday, never mind a name that came across my desk 4 months ago. i was praising and thanking God because i knew it was from Him.

once i reconciled that account i was looking at another one and again i was at a loss as to why it wasn't working. i was asking God to help me cuz i didn't have a clue. then a figure came into my head and i knew i had the answer. again it was something that happened once months ago. i couldn't tell you anything from a week ago never mind several months ago. again i was praising and thanking God because i knew it was from Him.

i can watch the same movie over and over again if it's a good movie and also because i forget how it goes. last night i started watching a movie from the beginning that i had started watching 1/2 way through last week. normally i would just keep watching it but instead i turned the tv off and went on the computer. and that's weird because normally i would've just watched something else. when i went on-line i found that dany (from costa rica) was on-line and i haven't talked to him on-line for months. we talked for 2 1/4 hours. again thanking and praising God.

we don't have to hear an audible voice to hear Him.

ok i'm bored

while you are all out going for walks or drives enjoying the beautiful sunshine, i'm sitting here wishing i was out there.

our beloved pastor

these little piggies went to market

i am the eggman..

the original 4 wheeler

now that's a rear view mirror

fish & chips anyone?

how to stay cool on a hot day

where's his red flag?

to market

to market

hula hoop anyone?

how many can you get on your bike?

non-hodgkins follicular lymphoma

several people have asked what the results were of all the tests that i've had so here it is in a nutshell.

I have been diagnosed with low grade Non-Hodgkins Follicular Lymphoma. It's similar to diabetes in that there is treatment but there is no cure. It's cancer of the blood.

Right now I don't have too many other symptoms so they don't recommend treatment. I will be tested & checked every 3 months & when I start getting other symptoms they'll start chemo.

life expectancy is 7 – 10 years but I could get hit by a truck tomorrow or the Lord could come back and we’d all be home in 10 years. we exist by the will of a perfect God so who are we to question His perfect will. we live according to His will, His timetable not man's so who is man to say we will go here or there, do this or that, or live or die at a given time.

life is a test - God is testing each one of us all the time. i think how we respond to each test is how we grow, or not, into the godly person He wants us to be.

i was having such a pity party the day i finally believed in Christ. my life is so totally different now. rom 8:28 we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose. so if His perfect plan, His purpose, is for me to have lymphoma, who am i to say otherwise.

life is uncertain - eat dessert first

lying

have you ever thought about it? how often you do it? how 'natural' it is. you don't mean to but you do it without even thinking about it. someone asks you what you're doing on a certain day and you say you're busy when you're not. the words are out of your mouth before your brain's engaged.

the bible tells us that liars will not enter heaven.

last week when i went for surgery i was asked where i would be staying or if someone would be staying with me. i said i would be at home by myself. i was told i had to have someone with me or they wouldn't do the surgery. i had planned to have this surgery 3 years ago and have been waiting for it for the past year since coming back from costa rica. there was no way i was going to wait any longer. i phoned the lady that had driven me to the hospital (who had on the way there asked me if i needed someone to stay with me & i said no) and told her i needed a babysitter and asked if she wanted to spend the night at my house or me at her house. she said we'd work something out so i told the nurse that i had a babysitter & she said they'd proceed. i lied. i out and out lied. i had no intention of not sleeping in my own bed. for as much as i intentinally lied at the time i wasn't even thinking about it that it was a sin. i was only thinking i had to have the surgery, i didn't want to wait more months.

well i didn't, sleep that is. besides feeling so sick from the medication i was convicted (heartsick) about lying. i thought about how God says that liars won't enter heaven. oh man was i convicted. all i had thought about (me) was wanting the surgery instead of thinking about what God feels and thinks about liars. i had not considered that i was putting my soul in jeopardy. but i tell ya. i've thought a lot about it since.

someone asked me what i was doing on friday night. i'm busy was out of my mouth so fast i would've been caught in a lie if asked what i was doing, or had to lie again (then it would've been intentional) to cover up the first one. i don't know why i said it. it literally was out of my mouth before i had time to think about it. when i realized that i wondered how many (not if but how many) other times i've lied like that. it was so automatic i could hardly believe it, how easy it was and how 'natural' it was. it is the sinful nature in me that causes me to do things that i don't want to do.

a few months ago my secret sister gave me a card saying she thinks i'm a woman in whom God is well pleased. i kept that card & it sits right beside my monitor. i want to be that woman in whom God is well pleased. i have a long way to go.

what a whiner!!!

ever since complaining about my hospital stay i've been thinking - what a whiner! that we have free medical care is more than most of the world's population.

i read the drug information on the pain rx they gave me and it says take with food. in the hospital they gave me the drug but didn't give me any food to take with it. and i thought how millions go without food daily. and i thought of millions of victims of war and disease who are suffering without any pain medication. i thought of kids stepping on land mines and getting their legs blown off, or worse, and having no medical attention at all.

i thought of others and i felt petty. we are a society of self-absorbed whiners.

we eat too much, we over-indulge ourselves, we buy the latest fashions, we buy all the latest toys, we are so not living the way Jesus wants us to. we are a spoiled, self-indulgent society expecting that the world owes us everything.

the rich ruler wanted eternal life, Jesus told him to sell everything & give to the poor and follow Him. he couldn't follow Jesus because he wanted everything he had, he wasn't willing to give it up. are you truly following Jesus or are you hoarding your money?

are you so concerned about your own needs, totally forgetting about the greater needs of others?

when Jesus returns will He say to you come in with Him or depart from Him? will He spit you out because your love for Him is only lukewarm?

"The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.'

are you living for Him? or are you living for yourself? do you live to please Him? or are you living to please yourself?

lymphoma

months ago it was suggested i might have anything from mono to lymphoma. i thought ok whatever. lymphoma was confirmed and i thought ok whatever.

before i knew anything about it i just thought lymphoma was cancer and people get sick from cancer. some people die from it. some people are afraid of dying. when i expressed to a friend that if i had lymphoma i wasn't afraid of dying (thinking cancer, which is sometimes fatal) she told me i was being selfish. she needed me how could i think of leaving (dying) her.

we are not in control. do we fear dying because we fear losing control? if we fear anything at all it is because we have not surrendered to God. God is in control and He is going to do what He has already determined to do. He knows the plans He has for you. trust in Him and He will be with you whatever you go through.

as for me i feel great and wonder if there's been a mistake.

msa hospital

if you have to go to a hospital i hope you can go to another one. i went for pre-op blood work & an eeg on thursday. i enquired about getting crutches thinking i would go next door & rent them but admitting told me they would give them to me upstairs after the surgery. when i saw the nurse she put the bp cuff on then she sat down. when it was finished she told me to take it off. when i had the eeg the tech apologized for swearing and then continued swearing a couple more times. the gown she gave me was so wrinkled it looked like it had been balled up soaking wet. she had to do the eeg a second time cuz she was in a hurry to get off work & she pulled the cords off before it was finished. there was a dirty dish beside the machine and no place to put my clothes except on top of a pile of towels.

yesterday when i had the surgery i was given a gown that i had to pull apart as it was stuck together with a melted heart monitor thing. when i pulled it around me i saw that it was stuck together with a gross blob of something that looked like melted rubber cement. they couldn't get the needle in properly and had to do it again. and i'm not sure what they gave me for pain but i'm pretty sure it was the one thing i told them i can't take cuz i've been sick ever since. when i was ready to go i asked for the crutches & they said they don't have them there. i told them i had enquired about them the day before & was told they would be giving me a pair. no they couldn't have told me that because they don't have them there. why would i think it would be so much easier to get a pair while i was still able to walk properly. they told me i couldn't get my foot wet for 2 weeks. like how am i going to do that in bc in the winter hobbling on some little flat thing. i left the hospital feeling a heck of a lot worse than when i went in & none of it had to do with the surgery on my foot. on a scale of 1 to 10 msa scores zero.

My Utmost for His Highest.

". . . my earnest expectation and hope that in nothing I shall be ashamed . . . ." We will all feel very much ashamed if we do not yield to Jesus the areas of our lives He has asked us to yield to Him. It’s as if Paul were saying, "My determined purpose is to be my utmost for His highest— my best for His glory." To reach that level of determination is a matter of the will, not of debate or of reasoning. It is absolute and irrevocable surrender of the will at that point. An undue amount of thought and consideration for ourselves is what keeps us from making that decision, although we cover it up with the pretense that it is others we are considering. When we think seriously about what it will cost others if we obey the call of Jesus, we tell God He doesn’t know what our obedience will mean. Keep to the point— He does know. Shut out every other thought and keep yourself before God in this one thing only— my utmost for His highest. I am determined to be absolutely and entirely for Him and Him alone.

My Unstoppable Determination for His Holiness. "Whether it means life or death-it makes no difference!" (see Philippians 1:21). Paul was determined that nothing would stop him from doing exactly what God wanted. But before we choose to follow God’s will, a crisis must develop in our lives. This happens because we tend to be unresponsive to God’s gentler nudges. He brings us to the place where He asks us to be our utmost for Him and we begin to debate. He then providentially produces a crisis where we have to decide— for or against. That moment becomes a great crossroads in our lives. If a crisis has come to you on any front, surrender your will to Jesus absolutely and irrevocably.

my earnest expectation...

that... Christ will be magnified in my body, whether by life or by death" —Philippians 1:20