After having mourned over our sins, we are, as a natural consequence, humbled into being meek, a term few people use these days especially since being humble and gentle towards others is perceived as more of a weakness than a virtue. However, perhaps ‘meek’ could be better translated as ‘disciplined’.
In addition to the numerous new challenges the world has been facing due to the COVID-19 crisis, we are also grieved over what is happening in the U.S. today, which has led us at LSESD to pray for our brothers and sisters in the US and reflect on our own prejudices and racial issues:
After having mourned over our sins, we are, as a natural consequence, humbled into being meek, a term few people use these days especially since being humble and gentle towards others is perceived as more of a weakness than a virtue. However, perhaps ‘meek’ could be better translated as ‘disciplined’.
Disappointed by the cancellation of the Baptist Children and Youth Ministry (BCYM) Children’s Camp that they had flown all the way across the Atlantic Ocean to help out at, the Canadian Baptist Ministries (CBM) team from Lorne Park Church was surprised to learn that their visit was nevertheless an unexpected answer to a struggling pastor’s prayer.
Having been encouraged by a friend to attend, on Saturday, January 11th Rana set off for the Family to Gather event that was taking place at the ABTS Moore Conference Center that day. Hoping to find support in the midst of the political and economic crisis happening in Lebanon and keep her family strong despite all of the uncertainty and anxiety it produced, she brought her husband, nursery-aged son, and 8-year-old daughter along with her. What happened for her family there, however, was beyond what she could have hoped for.
Wave after wave of violence has threatened to extinguish the light of Christ in Iraq as the country has been vacated of over two thirds of its Christian population since the early 2000s. And yet, at least one pastor and his congregation can be highlighted as having stood firm in the face of the temptation to flee and chosen to shine as bright lights in the impending darkness.
What if a story of hope came out of the Middle East instead of the usual news of war and chaos? What if you had a chance to partake in this story of hope?
Imagine that you are held at gunpoint waiting to be executed by the foreign soldiers who are terrorizing your land. You close your eyes and anticipate the pull of the trigger that will end your life in an instant when suddenly a miracle occurs, and your executioners are blown away by the blast of a friendly tank shell.
When we wake up each morning, what’s the first item we lay our hands on: our Bibles or our smart phones?