Pastor Dean's Blog

 

 

 

Third Week of September 2008

 

Recently I talked with a 20 year-old Iraqi man who just wanted to visit with Americans.  He was an intelligent and sensitive young man.  As we talked he shared his frustrations and even his anger over Iraq.  I don’t want to give you the impression that this young man was necessarily typical of Iraqi’s his age.  I am sure there are others like him but for now think of him just as an individual.  We asked him an open ended question, what are you?  He said he was Muslim (as opposed to say, Iraqi or Kurdish, etc). So we asked, what does that mean to you?  He responded I am not a Jew and I am not European, so I am a Muslim.  For him identifying himself as Muslim was more of an ethnic thing---an ethnic identity than really a faith statement.  We learned he really did not practice Islam as a faith.  

Among the many things he complained about was that everyone here just lived for himself or at best for his family.  But people did not think or care for others past themselves or their family.  I want to hasten to add that this is not necessarily what I have experienced, but reflected his experience. He asked how we live.  We said we did not believe in living for ourselves, that our faith taught us we were to live for God and serve God by living for others.  He asked about our families.  And we answered that our families certainly were a primary focus of our life and service but were not the only people for whom we lived and dedicated our lives.   Then he asked if we got paid for what we do here.  We answered that we paid so that we could come and serve in this country.  This just did not compute for him---it was just incomprehensible!  We left him to ponder what we said, and entrusted the Holy Spirit to work.  When we meet again it will be interesting to see where he has been led.  This is the way it goes over here as we try to build relationships and give witness.

I relate this story because it may cause you to reflect on the last time someone asked you what you live for.  How did you answer that question, or how would you answer that question?  Actually it is a good question and one we should all ask of ourselves frequently.     

 

Second Week of September 2008

 

Other than locking your doors at night you probably don’t think about security much.  But you don’t know what a blessing it is to hardly ever think about it.  Some of you have read what I have written about security.  Here it is a constant reality, always at least in the back of your mind, always in front of you. 

The school where I work has concrete barriers alone the road way, an eight foot high embankment behind them, then comes an open space, and then a concrete wall with an opposing entrance that a blast or gunshot would not pass through.  The Asaish, the Krudish Military Internal Security Police are constantly on duty.  A lot of automatic weapons are in evidence here.  

Where I am the situation for Christians is not bad. But you still want to be careful.  It is easy to have someone charge you with proselytizing and that is against the law.  But that changes when you travel.  Most people here are very circumspect about their faith in an open setting.  There are places where you can make a wrong turn and if you are a Christian or an American you can end up killed.  There are places where you just don’t go.  And most everywhere if you travel any distance outside the city you will pass through numerous military security check points.

Because it is Ramadan Muslims are to fast (nothing is to pass their lips) from sun up to sun down.  But in general that applies to anyone else who is in public.  So on the street you don’t eat or drink.  Here that rule is not so intensely enforced, but there are places where you can land in jail for five days if you violate it.

It is so easy to be a Christian in Clear Lake.  That is not true for Christians many places in thew world.  Thank God for you freedom and security.  Pray for those who don’t have it. 

 

First Week of September 2008

 

Northern Iraq where I am currently working has many connections to Biblical history.  But most of those connections represent challenges to the faith, much like there are challenges today.  Nebuchadnezzar the Babylonian king who defeated the southern kingdom in 587 BC, destroyed the temple built by Solomon, and took the people of Israel into exile built his capital city 50 miles south of Baghdad.  It was famous in the ancient world for its hanging gardens. So Iraq is not just deserts, but contains the “fertile crescent”, which historians recognize as a center of ancient civilization.  This may relate to the fact that the Biblical description of the Garden of Eden places it in current day Iraq. And the story of the tower of Babel is set in Babylonia.

Daniel (of Daniel and the lion’s den fame) was actually placed in the Lion’s den at the command of Darius the Mede who was a Babylonian ruler after Nebuchadnezzar.  The modern day Kurds whom I am working among trace their heritage back to the ancient Medes.  Jonah was sent to proclaim the word God in Nineveh which is located just north of Mosul in northern Iraq. 

And of course Abraham originally came from Ur  which was in Mesopotamia (Greek for the “land between the rivers”) located in present day Iraq.  There seems to me to be a kind of great irony in the fact that four thousand years ago God commanded Abraham to leave Iraq and go to a place that God would show him.   The place turned out to be Israel.   If Abraham had not followed that command one wonders what shape Judaism and later Christianity would have taken.  Would Christianity have found its way to Europe and eventually to America?  Would we be Christians?  Would I be a Christian?  And would it even have been possible for God to command me to go back to that ancient land of Abraham to bring the gospel?  Could it be that I am in Iraq because Abraham faithfully followed God’s command to leave Iraq so long ago?

 

Second Week of September 2008

I am now posting these entries from Iraq.  Since both the power and the Internet seem to come and go here at their own will it is only when I have both that I can connect, and that is a too rare but happy occassion.  So be patient about these postings.  I will keep as current as possible.

Other than locking your doors at night you probably don’t think about security much.  But you don’t know what a blessing it is to hardly ever think about it.  Some of you have read what I have written about security.  Here it is a constant reality, always at least in the back of your mind, always in front of you. 

The school where I work has concrete barriers alone the road way, an eight foot high embankment behind them, then comes an open space, and then a concrete wall with an opposing entrance that a blast or gunshot would not pass through.  The Asaish, the Krudish Military Internal Security Police are constantly on duty.  A lot of automatic weapons are in evidence here.  

Where I am the situation for Christians is not bad. But you still want to be careful.  It is easy to have someone charge you with proselytizing and that is against the law.  But that changes when you travel.  Most people here are very circumspect about their faith in an open setting.  There are places where you can make a wrong turn and if you are a Christian or an American you can end up killed.  There are places where you just don’t go.  And most everywhere if you travel any distance outside the city you will pass through numerous military security check points.

Because it is Ramadan Muslims are to fast (nothing is to pass their lips) from sun up to sun down.  But in general that applies to anyone else who is in public.  So on the street you don’t eat or drink.  Here that rule is not so intensely enforced, but there are places where you can land in jail for five days if you violate it.

It is so easy to be a Christian in Clear Lake.  That is not true for Christians many places in thew world.  Thank God for you freedom and security.  Pray for those who don’t have it.