“Sometimes, even we who decry the health-and-wealth gospel forget that the Christian life was never meant to be a cakewalk, that discipleship requires suffering, and that spiritual victory presupposes struggle.”
- Stan Guthrie

From an excellent article called “Stumbling After Jesus,” at Christianity Today’s website. If you enjoy the article, Stan has a terrific blog.

Sorry that I’ve been a little bit off the radar for almost two weeks, but I am back to regular postings now.

This article caught my attention today. Extremist Muslims in northern Iraq say that they must “implement God’s judgment” by killing any youths who convert from Islam to Christianity. Following Christ is no weekend gig for these new believers–it’s their life, and possibly their death.

This is another reminder that Christians in many places around the world follow Christ through great peril. See PrisonerAlert.com for recent updates on Christian prisoners being held globally.

“We – even we here – hold the power and bear the responsibility.”
~ Abraham Lincoln

Every Christian who invests in the stock market using mutual funds has to take the good with the bad. In any given mutual fund there is a long list of companies, some of which support or fund causes that may be contrary to Christian principles.

It can be difficult to decide where to draw the line. I disagree with some of the practices of Wal-Mart, but I’m not going to get rid of a mutual fund I have just because .38% of the fund is in Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. I’m certain that I could also disagree with practices in some of the other companies that my mutual funds invest in, but my grievances with them are in areas of debatable principles.

Genocide is not a debatable principle.

If you are not yet aware of the ongoing crisis in Darfur, take a look at SaveDarfur.org for some basic facts regarding the government-funded slaughter of at least 400,000 Sudanese persons. If you own any mutual funds, there is a chance that you have investments in one or companies that maintain a business relationship with the government of Sudan.

American companies cannot legally operate in Sudan, but they can invest in foreign companies that operate in Sudan, including those companies that make a significant contribution to funding the genocide taking place there. Consequently, many individual investors are unknowingly supporting the slaughter of thousands of Sudanese people.

I checked out the four mutual funds we have using a screening tool created by the Sudan Divestment Taskforce, and found that two of them had significant investments in Schlumberger Ltd, a company that is still known to operate in Sudan, partially funding the Sudanese government with their taxes and business growth. We are taking steps to divest, and then reinvest in funds that do not include these companies.

The situation in Darfur is no less a horror than the Jewish holocaust in World War II. The number of lives lost are fewer, but the targeted killings are just as brutal.

Money talks if a government hungry for it sees it going away. If the militia don’t have funds, they can’t continue their killing rampage. This is our opportunity to take action.

It doesn’t take much looking to find evidence that evil and suffering are a reality. The tragedy at Virgina Tech this week was no exception. Especially significant was the death of Professor Liviu Librescu, a survivor of the Holocaust. April 16, the day of the shooting, was also Holocaust Remembrance Day, or Yom Hashoah. Interviews with students revealed that Librescu died shielding his students from gunfire.

No matter how much money is made or how secure a person is in their circumstances, everyone is touched by evil and suffering to some degree. Yet the Bible consistently calls us to trust God, and to be thankful for his care. Some have chosen to dismiss the difficulty of reconciling a trustworthy God with inexplicable evil, but to ignore it only lessens our ability to communicate God’s trustworthiness.

We can move beyond the mystery of evil and into a deep trust in God, not by explaining why evil occurs, but by knowing that God uses broken people and infuses their lives with meaning. He is not in search of the successful brokers of power and accomplishment, for upon his return, “Jesus will look us over not for medals, diplomas, or honors, but scars.”

Where do we take the miasma of pain, suffering, and evil? Philosophical speculation and rational reflection suffer shipwreck on the shoals of the enormous difficulty. The only territory left to explore rivets our gaze on the vast, unbounded ocean of the glory of God.
- From Ruthless Trust by Brennan Manning

From Prayers Plainly Spoken, by Stanley Hauerwas:

“Crucified Lord, your creation is full of pain. Our lives are filled with pain. We must appear happy, to be OK, to others and ourselves. After all, we know no one likes to be around people in pain. So we cannot even be around ourselves. We refuse to remember because memory is just another name for pain––dull, meaningless pain that makes us numb. But you would have us be a passionate people, filled with the Spirit, possessed by memory. We fear that if we remember, the pain will return and kill our present. Give us courage, which is just another name for friends, to stare down the terror in our own and our neighbors’ lives, that we may be your joyous people. Amen.”

In memory of my dear cousin, Mark Winn, today being the anniversary of his death. Thanks be to God for giving us the strength to remember with joy.

This article from the New York Times tells how many people from the battered region of Darfur, in Sudan have found a haven in Fort Wayne, Indiana. Fawzia Suliman, a mother and wife from Darfur, talks about how Fort Wayne has been a welcome place for her and a growing community of Darfuri people.

“I came fresh from the problem area to America and I did not know I would have so many friends here,” Ms. Suliman said. “So many people from Darfur come to help me, to say welcome here. I still cannot believe, every day, my God.”

Unfortunately, Fort Wayne is a place of in-betweenness for her. Though she and her son, Zakaria, are safe from the horror they left behind, she is still away from home. She doesn’t know where her husband is, and she has lost countless friends and family members to the slaughter of the government-sponsored janjaweed militants in that area. The tears come each day as she waits to hear news of her husband and others.

On this Saturday in between Good Friday and Easter, I am reminded that Mrs. Suliman’s experience has parallels to the tension that the disciples faced between the death of Jesus on Friday, and his resurrection to life on Sunday. After the crucifixion of Jesus, there was a strange quiet as they remained in hiding. What was next? How would this turn out? They were safe for now, but where is the victory Jesus talked about?

Anyone who follows Christ as His image-bearer will ask these questions.  There is a constant tension between the death to self and the resurrection to life that we depend on from God. No one keeps perfect faith, especially when the tension of Saturday seems to linger longer than 24 hours (the day-long wait between death and resurrection is often much more than a day). In fact, most of our lives are lived in this place of tension, which is why hope, faith, and love are strong allies for those who are learning to live in the “Fort Wayne, Indiana” of our walk with God.

I occasionally take time to review The Divine Conspiracy by Dallas Willard. I read this book a few years ago, and was profoundly impacted by it. Today as I flipped through, I was looking for wisdom about what life looks like when we place ourselves in the care of God’s rule. Depending on which preacher has the floor, I have heard two different things about life in God’s kingdom.

One idea is that I should prepare for a life of discomfort and difficulty if I choose to follow Jesus. All the relevant Scripture passages are used to support this, like the times that Jesus told his disciples to take up their execution device (cross) and follow Him. Unfortunately, this idea doesn’t tell the whole story. There is also joy in this journey.

The other idea I’ve heard also sounds extreme. The claim is that life with God is the “good life” and that life’s circumstances improve when we are following Christ. It is an attractive extreme that can sell a lot of books and draw big crowds, but it lacks the reality of a Gospel that promises a good life regardless of the circumstances.

Dallas Willard’s approach to the kingdom of God sets the question in balance:

Standing in the kingdom, we make responsible decisions in love, with assurance that how things turn out for us does not really matter that much because, in any case, we are in the kingdom of the heavens. In that kingdom, nothing that can happen to us is “the end of the world.”

Our circumstances have lost their power over us. In God’s kingdom we are taken care of and never overlooked, regardless of how much pain and trial we endure.

Healer God,

Is there more room in the house where the man was dropped down through the ceiling?
Are the crowds so thick that more cannot touch the hem of your garment?

Grant us the wisdom to place limits on the enjoyment of our resources, so that we can place limits on the sicknesses that come to those who have no resources.

Grant us the courage to give
(so that we heal ourselves).

Take away our allegiance to our possessions
(they have made us sick).

May we find our greatest allegiance in You
(our place of refuge).

Heal us all, in Jesus’ name.

Thanks to Black Coffee Reflections for reminding me about the special that 60 Minutes did on the situation in Darfur. I meant to post something about that last week, but it’s been hard lately to sit down and post anything. The 12 minute piece can be viewed at the 60 Minutes web site. It is worth a viewing:

http://www.cbsnews.com/sections/i_video/main500251.shtml?id=2113182n

I thought it was well done, giving us a glimpse into what is happening in Darfur. It is basically a government-sponsored human slaughter. Keep in mind that what they are doing to the people in their country is on a scale just as evil, but much larger than what Saddam Hussein did to Iraqis or anyone else. More than 400,000 people have been slaughtered, 2.5 million have been displaced from their homes, and the rape and genocide of the people continues with the blessing of the Sudanese government. The Bush Administration has called these atrocities what they are: genocide. More detailed info about the situation can be found at SaveDarfur.org.

My wife, Krista, and I both attended the funeral last week of the wife and daughter of a co-worker. They were both killed in a car accident. It has been difficult for any of us to accept, and our hearts are broken for him. His name is Brad Unland, if you think to pray for him in the coming days. He is left to care for his 3 month old baby, Sarah, who survived the accident.

Krista put some meaningful thoughts on her web site that want to recommend to you. I felt that it captured a lot of what many of us are feeling. Her site is pendrops.com, and the article is titled “These Hourly Bells”.