Update

Hi everyone,

After I posted the blog last night, CNN posted a new article outlining Meriam Yehya Ibrahim's new charges after being rearrested. From what I can gather, it has to do with false travel documents and the illegalities of trying to leave Sudan. Here's the link.

http://www.cnn.com/2014/06/25/world/africa/sudan-christian-woman/index.html?sr=fb062514christianwoman11aVODtopLink


Please pray for favor with the courts. Pray also that the entire family would find new strength in Jesus Christ.

What Will Your Treasures Cost You?

I thought I was reading a happy ending to a story. The CNN headline from Monday, June 23, 2014 reads:

“Christian woman freed after death sentence ruled 'faulty' in Sudan”

It turns out that I was wrong

A Sudanese woman was sentenced to death by hanging for apostasy, converting from Islam to Christianity. Even though she was raised by her mother, a Christian, because her father is Muslim, her marriage to a Christian man from the US was illegal.

She was given the chance to renounce her faith She refused to do it. The article showcases her commitment to Christ this way:

"I am a Christian," Meriam Yehya Ibrahim told the judge at her sentencing hearing in May, "and I will remain a Christian."

She gave birth to a baby girl in prison. Her 20 month old son was also with her. She was given two years to nurse the baby before the sentence was to be carried out. Along with hanging, the sentence included 100 lashes for adultery.

Thanks to international outcry, including appeals for her freedom on social media and pressure from the US, United Kingdom and Canadian governments an appeals court overturned the conviction. Meriam Yehya Ibrahim was freed and reunited with her husband on Monday.

I have been following this story since it broke in May and I actually shouted “Yes!” when I read that she was released.

Before she could leave Sudan with her husband and children, however, Ibrahim was rearrested at the airport, CNN reported Tuesday. Her original accuser, a man who claims to be her brother is adamant that  the rights and honor of his family were violated upon her release. He makes his feelings known in a CNN article, published Tuesday, June 24, 2014.

"This is now an issue of honor. The Christians have tarnished our honor, and we will know how to avenge it."

The whole heart wrenching saga got me wondering about the strength of my commitment to Jesus Christ.

Would I be willing to follow Jesus, even if it meant death?

Canada is a free country. I am free to profess Jesus as my Savior and fellowship with other believers. The Bible is a legal, readily available book. Churches are free to evangelize in the community. Sadly, our country is in the minority when it comes to religious freedom

Christians all over the world face imprisonment and death for their faith. As much as I hope and pray for continued freedom, I wonder if I will ever have to take a life or death stand for Jesus.  

When I was taking a history class in university, my professor told the class that he believed the atonement for sin Christians attribute to Jesus' crucifixion is a myth. He was basically saying that Jesus died like any other man, he has no power over sin and death. A few minutes later, he asked if anyone believed in absolute truth. Without thinking, I raised my hand. He asked me where he could find absolute truth.

I froze. My tongue wouldn’t move for what felt like five minutes, but was more likely 30 seconds. When I could speak again, I stammered, “I shouldn’t have said anything.”

The professor triumphantly continued his lecture. I spent the rest of the class wondering how I could be such a coward. I’d had the chance to speak the truth about who Jesus reveals Himself to be in the Bible and under the threat of a rebuttal  from this professor, I shrank back in fear. I remember closing my eyes to keep the tears at bay. Even though I hadn’t dishonored Jesus, I felt as if I had outright denied Him by omission.

I faced ridicule in that moment. This Sudanese wife and mother faces death, and yet she will not deny Christ.

When Jesus sent out the disciples in Mathew chapter 10 he told them how adamantly he desired their eternal allegiance.

“Therefore whoever confesses Me before men, him I will also confess before My Father who is in heaven. But whoever denies Me before men, him I will also deny before My Father who is in heaven." 

(Mathew 10:32-33, NKJV)

Jesus asks us to give ourselves to him because he loves us and wants our hearts for all eternity. He makes this clear throughout His ministry. A passage from the Sermon on the Mount comes to mind.

"Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”

(Matthew 6:19-21, NKJV)

The persecution of the Church is a difficult issue for me to tackle. I could have written this from the human rights angle, but that would only tell part of the story. Meriam Yehya Ibrahim, and other persecuted Christians can be strong in the face of death because they know who they are dying for. We are all called to “offer [our] bodies as a living sacrifice…” (Romans 12:1) The persecuted men woman and children in the global body of Christ live this calling every day, even unto death. I hope and pray that they will be able to keep their hearts and minds on Jesus. It is in him that they have put their trust. He has prepared an eternal reward for them in Heaven, just as He has done for all the children of God.

The Best Is Yet To Come

For reference read John 5:1-15

Last Friday, I had the privilege of watching my younger sister graduate from high school

Graduation is a time of hope for the future. New opportunities and challenges arise. In the Christian community, graduates are encouraged to find their purpose and expect great things from God.

I think sometimes many of us lose this hopeful perspective when we’ve put a little distance between us and graduation. Life gets stressful and uncertain. God reveals amazing plans for others and we wonder; Does God really have good plans in store for me? Maybe it’s just me, but I have asked that question more than once in the three years since I walked (wheeled?) across the stage and into my future.

This question isn’t new. There’s a story in John 5 where Jesus encounters a man who has probably asked similar questions many times.

This man was lame for thirty-eight years. Jesus encountered him when he was waiting for that to change. He was sitting beside a healing pool called Bethesda with many other sick people. It was said that an angel periodically stirred the water. The first person to enter the pool when this occurred would be cured of his disease. Jesus encountered this man in his waiting. The dialogue is revealing.

When Jesus saw him lying there, and knew that he already had been in that condition a long time, He said to him, “Do you want to be made well?”

The sick man answered Him, “Sir, I have no man to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up; but while I am coming, another steps down before me.”

Jesus said to him, “Rise, take up your bed and walk.” And immediately the man was made well, took up his bed, and walked.

(John 5:6-9, NKJV)

Jesus asked this man; “Do you want to be made well?” If Jesus ever asks me this question in person, my answer will be an emphatic “Yes!” I have told Him I want to stand and walk several times in the last six years. In contrast, this man responds to Jesus with a list of obstacles to being healed that he had encountered for years. He didn’t see any way his circumstances could change. He failed to notice in that moment that he was face to face with God incarnate. He couldn’t see that Jesus was able and willing t heal him.

That wasn’t a problem for Jesus! With a word, He transcended the obstacles. The man was healed instantly.

Oftentimes when I feel trapped by the obstacles in my life, I can’t see a way out. My eyes are fixed squarely on my circumstances. The success of others increases my pain. This is especially true when I watch someone receive miraculous physical healing. I wonder why Jesus hasn’t given me my promised healing yet. I feel weak and alone. Worse, I feel ashamed that I am bitter towards those who have been healed. I want to rejoice with them, but I lack the strength to genuinely celebrate their victory.

It is in these times that I must choose to fix my eyes on Jesus, my Saviour, my Healer and my Redeemer. He understands my struggles and He will fulfill His promises to me for His glory.

As a graduation present, I gave my sister a journal. In the front I wrote a message and copied her favorite verse. I ended the message with this. “The best is yet to come.”

I believe this is something Jesus wants all His followers to remember, no matter what trials we face. He has good things in store for us, because He is the Good Shepherd. Jesus will never leave His children. On the mountaintop He will celebrate with us. In the valley He will pick us up and give us strength to walk.

The best is yet to come, in this life and in eternity!

Words of Hope

My sister and I were recently having a conversation about happy endings in books. She concluded that books shouldn’t always have happy endings because life doesn’t always go that way. I agree, to an extent, but there’s more to it than that.

I have an idea for a novel that I’m working on. I plan on seeing it through, which means it will need an ending. There’s a difference between happy endings and hopeful endings. I plan on approaching my book with this in mind. The end of a story can be sad, even tragic, but I want my books to always end with hope.

I’m sure this seems like an idealistic stance to take. That being said, it’s important to me that I remind people through my writing that no matter how dire circumstances become, hope can be found.

One of my favorite poems is “Hope” is the Thing With Feathers by Emily Dickinson. In this poem, the metaphor Dickinson uses for hope is a bird. The second stanza describes the resilience of hope like this:

“And sweetest - in the Gale - is heard –
And sore must be the storm -
That could abash the little Bird
That kept so many warm –“

In this stanza, Dickinson illustrates that hope can survive and cultivate joy in the greatest of adversity. This is an eternal, transcendent hope, the kind of hope my Heavenly Father wants me to have in Jesus Christ. God doesn’t promise life will be easy, but He does promise to keep hope alive in me. Hope is a confident expectancy rooted in assurance of the goodness and faithfulness of God. That is why it is eternal because Jesus is eternal. Jesus is hope personified. He is “the hope of glory” (Colossians 1:27). With Jesus reigning as Lord of my life, hope will remain in me in the midst of suffering. The Apostle Paul declares this truth in Romans 5:

We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they help us develop endurance. And endurance develops strength of character, and character strengthens our confident hope of salvation. And this hope will not lead to disappointment. For we know how dearly God loves us, because he has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with his love. 

(Romans 5:3-5, NLT)

My hope is in Jesus and what He did for me and all humanity when He died on the cross and rose from the grave. Death didn’t win. Suffering didn’t win. Jesus made a way for me to experience the Father’s unconditional love through the Holy Spirit. He loved me enough to endure momentary suffering to give me eternal hope. I can endure suffering knowing that I will not be forsaken. Jesus assured His disciples of this right before He went to the cross. He was giving them some last words of encouragement before His betrayal, death, burial and resurrection. He finished by saying:

“I have told you all this so that you may have peace in me. Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world.” 

(John 16:33, NLT)

Just as Jesus didn’t want His disciples to lose hope, he doesn’t want me to lose hope.

There are plenty of reasons to lose hope in this life. As a journalism student I was inundated with reasons to become jaded, cynical and hopeless. I decided to move away from the type of writing that showcases the often bleak world we all live in. Instead I plan to use my skills to bring people hope. I won’t pretend suffering doesn’t exist. I will bring hardship and conflict into my books for the purpose of showing how God reigns over it all. He loves this sinful, broken world, and His story will never end.

God's Word Endures Forever

Last week, I was reminded about how long written words last.

I was at ladies Bible study and one of the women told me that she still had a poem I had written years ago on her fridge. The poem had been shared with the church in the bulletin when I was a kid. I wrote it when I was nine years old. I had no idea it was still encouraging someone roughly twelve years later!

That got me thinking about how long the Bible has been around. For multiple millennia, the Lord has spoken to us through His Word. He is the Word:

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 

(John 1:1, NKJV)

When I took a Media Ethics and Law course in University, we studied a lot of ancient philosophical writings. Aristotle, Plato, that sort of thing. We studied this stuff to figure out their ethical philosophies. The prof said we didn’t need to study the Judeo-Christian ethic because she didn’t want to go there. I wonder if, deep down, though she would never admit it, she was scared to face the living Word of God

You really only see the writings of Plato and Aristotle in University textbooks and scholarly articles these days. They are instructive and important in some circles, but they aren’t living. The Bible is miraculously eternal and life giving.

The grass withers and the flowers fade,
but the word of our God stands forever 

(Isaiah 40:8, NLT)

 For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. 

(Hebrews 4:12, NKJV)

I love knowing that my writing encourages people, but, no novel, essay or poem written over the centuries has the power of the living Word of God. God will always invade our hearts, minds and souls with the Word.

The earth was spoken into existence.

Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light. 

(Genesis 1:3, NKJV)

Jesus spoke to heal the paralytic.

“I say to you, arise, take up your bed, and go to your house.” 

(Mark 2:11, NKJV)

God’s Word has power today, right now! I want to let Him speak to me every day so that His purpose is accomplished in my life. The ancient philosophers are long dead and their works are crumbling. My God is alive. His Word is alive! Which matters today?