A thing worse than death...

Bishop Grant tells me that one of our villages in the Gambela People's Region was attacked recently by marauding bands, probably from a neighboring country. Three people, including a pregnant young woman (so 4 people really) were killed and eight children were kidnapped. Three children managed to escape, but the others are still missing and will no doubt end up in the slave market - this is sex trafficking at its worst. 

The villagers all fled across the river, and are now housed in another village which has welcomed them, but they lost their crops and many belongings.  +Grant brought one truck load of food and non- food items, but much more is needed. 

Because of these all too common occurrences, Louise and I are beginning to read up on how to deal with trauma as we will need to know how to deal with some of the deepest scars imaginable.  Losing a child to death is one thing, but losing your child and not knowing what will happen to them - yet knowing that the sex trade is alive and well in that area - must surely break your heart like nothing else.

Tears today...well expressed in this hymn written by Mary Garang.

Death Has Come 

1. Death that has come to reveal the faith;
it has begun with us and it will end with us.
O you who fear death, do not fear death!
It only means that you will disappear from the earth.
Who is there who can save his life and deny death?
We who live on the earth, we are mere sojourners in the world;
As the Lord has said: Let us serve the truth!
Upon the earth there is no man we can call our "father".
We abide together equally in unity as brothers.
God did not create us to be the slaves of mere mortals like ourselves.
This cannot happen upon the earth!

Chorus:
We are only the windblown dust rising from the black soil;
We have no one among us to save our souls.
We are blind and deaf within our hearts: We have rejected the words,
    the words spoken by our Savior are wonderful words!
The jok of deception has held us back from the light. *2

2. Let us comfort our hearts in the hope of God,
    who once breathed life into the human body.
His ears are open to our prayer; the Creator of man is alert to see!
He reigns from his high throne; he sees the souls of those who die!
Turn your ears to us! Who else can we call for help?
You are the only one! Let us be branches from the vine of your Son!
Jesus will come with the final word of judgment,
    carrying the book of judgment upon the earth,
    the book of peace and the life of faith!

3. Evil and good are competing. The earth will stand still
    and the blood of mankind will cry out: "O Lord, Lord!"
People are crying out all over the earth: "God, do not make us orphans
    of the earth!
Look back upon us, O Creator of humankind!
Evil is in conflict with us tying heavy burdens upon our necks which no
    person can bear."

4. Let us encourage our hearts in the hope of God who once breathed into the human body.
His ears are open to our prayers; the Creator of humankind is watching;
He reigns from his place, seeing the souls of those who die.
    Turn your ears to us: upon whom else can we call?
Is it not you alone, O God? Let us be branches of your Son.
Jesus will come with the final word of judgment, bringing glory to the earth, peace and the truth of faith.


Mary Alueel Garang, then a young illiterate village woman behind Sudan's battle lines in north Bor, composed this song in 1985 shortly after her conversion to Christianity. *1

Marc comments:
"This is an apocalyptic vision from the heart of a child of Sudan in wartime. All the inhabitants of the earth are engaged in terrible conflict, combat both physical, in the body, and spiritual. Then in one great, culminating moment they all, with one united voice, cry out, pleading that they not be made "orphans of the earth", not be abandoned, made destitute, landless, as it seems so obviously they are.
    In the final verse there is an abrupt step back, taking in the larger, encompassing reality: Above and over all is the Creator God brooding, listening, intently gazing on all that occurs. Under his eye none is bereft. None is orphaned. The compassionate, creating Father is attentive to each loss, each soul that dies, be it that of a young soldier, infant babe, or destitute widow, whether by bullet or through starvation: each is known and beloved. With confidence we affirm that Christ will intervene, will arbitrate and establish that glorious peace which is longing to be born...
    God is intimately present even amid what appears to be his utter abandonment."

*1 Nikkel, Marc, Why Haven't You Left? Letters from the Sudan (Ed. Grant LeMarquand), Church Publishing Inc, NY, 2006, 59, 60, 80.
*2 "In the Jieng language the terms jok (singular) is the broadest generic designation for any unseen spiritual force of power."

The Mosquito...and another killer...

The mosquito. One of Africa's most deadly creatures. According to NetsForLife (http://www.netsforlifeafrica.org/malaria/malaria-statistics) "over half a million (655, 000) people die from malaria each year, mostly children younger than five years old. There are an estimated 216 million cases of malaria each year." Ethiopia experiences cycles of malaria epidemics every five to eight years, but according to USAID these epidemics have decreased over recent years. This is mainly due to preventative measures such as insecticide-treated nets, spraying operations, and anti-malarial drugs. 

Of course, this is wonderful news and hopefully the downward trend will continue...how many lives will not be saved if we can conquer those protozoan parasites!

But there is another killer in Africa...one that rears its ugly head from time to time with devastating force. It is not easy to identify nor is it easy to prevent or treat, but it is there and we ignore it to our own peril. 

Trauma. 

Of the 35,000 inhabitants of one of the refugee camps in Gambela, about 80 % are between the ages of 12 and 17. These children have experienced violence and fear on a level we cannot begin to imagine even in our wildest nightmares. 

What is happening inside them, behind those cherubic faces? Is anyone helping them to deal with those images of horror and the reverberating screams of their parents and peers? 

What lies dormant now may not lie dormant forever. History teaches us that anger is but one letter removed from danger. It lies simmering beneath the surface until some trigger is pulled and the trauma explodes with thunderous violence.

Saving people from malaria is a wonderful thing to do. Saving people from extermination through war and persecution and famine and poverty is equally commendable. But leaving people unsaved from the festering power of hatred and bitterness is unforgivable. 

There is only one who can reach into the depths of a person...there is only one who can heal the putrid psyche of the suffering...there is only one who can dispel the darkness trapped in the soul of the tortured...and that is Christ...the one, who in the depths of His own personal darkness and despair, cried out, "Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing." 

At the recent opening of the Church of the Holy Family in a new refugee camp located in the southern part of the Gambela People's Region, several different ethnic groups gathered together to worship Him whose blood made them one...while just across the border ethnic violence raged on. These men, women, and children are witnesses to the fact that the suffering Saviour brings healing to His suffering servants.

It is by His stripes that they are healed, as it is His stripes that can remove the sting of their own. His response of forgiveness to those who afflicted Him defies the logic of retaliation, and it is in embracing Him that they are enabled to let go. It is only Christ who can break the cycle of "trauma epidemics" and it is only us, His people, who can bring this eternal preventative measure to bear upon the lives of those who need release.

Shared from Revival Tabernacle's Facebook page.