It is a heavy day. But I am so full of hope. Bear with me here, as I will be touching on a rough topic many of us are unfamiliar with.
The Rwandan genocide began today, 23 years ago. Over the next 100 days, 800,000 Tutsi would be murdered, accounting for 70 - 80% of the entire people group. Decimated. Finished. Mourn for the nation that was torn asunder, the families that were broken by death and hate, and mankind's inherent evil. This event, rarely discussed in Western culture, pervades all of the Rwandans. Even so, Philip Gourevitch asserts that "Rwandan culture is a culture of fear." It is a disturbing statement because it is terrifyingly true. One such massacre happened inside a sanctuary: "When Tutsis asked the Hutu Power mayor how they might be spared, he suggested that they seek sanctuary at the church. They did, and a few days later the mayor came to kill them." My stomach rolls. Read about this travesty--know about your world and the suffering that encapsulates it. We may experience suffering on a lesser extent than the Tutsis (and Rwanda as a nation), but we experience it. Life may be a beautiful thing, but suffering inevitably follows. Richard Wurmbrand lamented about how Westerners often have good intentions to help yet do not enact on conviction. Wurmbrand was in a Communist prison camp for 14 years before finally being released. During captivity, he was so mentally and physically exhausted that he could not recite the Lord's Prayer, and could only repeat, "Jesus, I love You." His suffering was so great he had 18 lacerated scars, his feet had been burned to the bone and beaten, and had been stabbed—all the while enduring psychological hell. I shudder to think of the torture. Are we willing to say that we love Him in the midst of evil--evil like the Rwandan genocide or the Syrian refugee crisis or political imprisonment? Are we willing to aid those who are hurting, to set the captives free? Wurmbrand said, "But God puts every one of us in His place and we must stand firm where God has put us." There is so much I could write, so much I could say. Our response to suffering is what refines us and shapes us! Wurmbrand, a man that experienced suffering like the Tutsis, responds so beautifully: "I am very glad that the Lord loves me so much and gives me the joy to endure for His name." Read up! Read about what is happening in our Middle East, in North Africa, in Southeast Asia. Be in petition and prayer for nations who need our help. Go and help! Enact on those convictions we so willingly ignore. Suffering bends sympathy into empathy, apathy to response, grief to action. We all have small stories of suffering. Use it for His magnitude and fame. We find hope and refuge in Christ. We have experiences that in the Body, victory, courage, hope, and perseverance know no borders, no skin color, no nationality, but are given equally without measure by the Holy Spirit. "The New Testament martyr not only personally testified to the truth and power of Jesus Christ, but was instructed to take that witness to others, regardless of the cost." - Richard Wurmbrand "Beware of those who speak of the spiral of history; they are preparing a boomerang. Keep a steel helmet ready." - Ralph Ellison
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