I've been writing a lot of posts lately and then deleting them. I think it's because I'm having trouble communicating what I want to. I'm not sure this one will be much better, but it's worth a shot.
I've been missing Egypt a lot in the last week. I've been flooded with memories of people and their faces. Just last night I dreamed about my favorite little boy at the orphanage. I wish I could go back and hold those little ones just one more time. I find myself constantly thinking about my family in Embaba and imagine all the preparations they are surely making for my sister's engagement party and my other sister's wedding. I also think about the nut man and the fruit man and even the bread man (whose funny, incoherent call is my current ringtone). But I also think about the faces I encountered on travel component in Turkey and in Syria and in Israel and in Bethlehem. I've been extremely emotional lately about politics--specifically Middle-Eastern politics. I've cried on more than one occasion (today included) just from watching talk shows/new reports that seem to so easily dehumanize others. We believe in love and peace and some might even go so far as to believe Jesus' radical teaching of loving the enemy, but it's hard to begin to love someone without understanding them.
Some on the right believe that they have everything figured out and some on the left believe that they have everything figured out. Then each side begins to grow a hate that is only reinforced by choice media. How quick we are to feel ourselves superior and forget that "they" are no further from God's grace than "we" are.
I think I get emotional because I now have faces that I can pair with "stories".
I'm currently reading a book by Ted Dekker called Tea With Hezbollah in which he records interviews held with many men that are often referred to as "terrorists" and "enemies". What I find so intriguing is that instead of asking "What is your philosophy on..." or "What is your political view on..." or even "What theology motivates you on...", Dekker asks questions like "What makes you laugh? What makes you cry? What is your favorite joke? What is your family like?"
Because a man is more than philosophy and theology. All men are created in the image of God and his love is as deep for each one as if he were the only one ever created.
I do believe that evil exists in this world and that men are capable of detestable, evil acts. Terrorism is real and people are killed every day. But terrorism that is fueled by hate cannot be defeated by more hate. I'm not sure I can believe that there is never a time for violence. This is a fallen world. But if I truly believe that Jesus conquered death and sin and evil in his death and resurrection...then I must believe that he is able to restore the things most broken and the hearts most wayward. We cannot do this, even with all the forces in the world.
I don't know that there can ever be peace until Jesus comes back, but I do believe that peace and harmony can be restored one heart at a time (beginning with my own) and that it can be spread one heart at a time.
Quite honestly, I don't give a care about politics these days. It's theory, manipulation and agenda. I want something real. I want the love of Jesus.
