sojourn stories...

Angelina Jolie writes about Darfur

Did you read this?

surrender

I remember going to visit "Mum"  she was my surrogate grandma, when i was growing up.  She lived in a cabin in the woods in PA, cooked amazing Pot pie, played a mean hand of Canasta and she loved Jesus with all her heart.  She had a simple and deep, abiding faith, and i loved to go to her home and rest.  Even as a teen, I was aware of the heaviness of life at times, and i always found it restful, simple at Mum's and that somehow life made sense.

She was always humming or singing old hymns and one of her favorite's was "I Surrender All."  I think that I learned alot of theology, just hanging out with her, and this hymn way sacred to her, along with Everlasting Arms.  As i grew and learned more of her life story, i understood why.  The very fact that she could live surrendered to God, trusting and believing, not blindly, but Faith-filled and at rest, i admired and simutaneously could not grasp.

This past year has been one of ambivalence... of push-pull with a call to surrender and trust that has been like nails on a chalkboard to my "type A" personality.  I modified Mum's song to "I Surrender Some" and was doing fine!, thank you very much...

Remember the cliche about "FINE" (feeling insecure, neurotic, & emotional)  well, while i wasn't necessarily "fine" I was feeling Sick, tired and sick of being sick and tired... so obviously surrendering some, wasn't really working!  lol

So, after a lengthy battle, i decided that G-d wins and i would reassess.  Which translates to Rest--lots of rest and doctor visits, listening and yep, you guessed it... SURRENDER!

This meant saying "no, but thanks for asking, maybe at another time..."  Alot...

Alot more than i did in the past, Alot more than i like to... and trusting that G-d would bring opporutnites back around another day, month... year...

It was during this season of Surrender that a dear friend said these words to me regarding faith:  "Faith is not Believing that God Can, it is Knowing He Will."

These simple words rocked my world, as i thought about how much I Believe... and yet don't surrender and trust... because when it comes right down to it... i don't think i KNOW.

As i studied Scripture, i found many examples of Faith filled folks who Knew G-d Would...

and so i am camped there... learning to surrender....

Darfur

This week there was a full page advertisment in front page section of The Washington Post that was one of the boldest moves I have seen to date.  The picture was of the President of General Omar al-Bashir, who took power in a military coup in 1989, with a larger caption that stated, the Genocide will not stop until the world leaders deal with the leader of Sudan.  (this is not a direct quote, as i no longer have the paper--feel free to send me the direct quote via email or comments!- the paper got recycled before i could snag it!)

The bold comment demonstrates how far the grass roots movement has come from when I first was introduced to it just 2 short years ago...when Save Darfur was promoting holding a Darfur Vigil and I first met the Lost boys of Sudan, who have profoundly impacted my life. 

The next day, the Post ran an article about Sudan and China with this opening paragraph:

THE DARFUR crisis has demonstrated the limits of U.S. influence. President Bush and administration officials have described it as genocide and pushed intermittently for sanctions, peacekeeping deployments, and a deal between Sudan's government and its rebel opponents, but their efforts have been hampered by the hesitancy of other players. Sanctions resolutions in the U.N. Security Council have been delayed and diluted because Russia sells weapons to Sudan's government and because China has a large stake in Sudan's oil. Efforts to deploy a serious peacekeeping force have been undermined partly by foot-dragging within the Security Council, partly by the indifference of Sudan's Arab neighbors to the suffering of Darfur's Muslim victims and partly by the ambivalence of the African Union, which has veered between brave efforts to supply soldiers and a misplaced deference to Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir. (read more)

When will we stop mixing human life, our most precious resource with political and ecomonic gain. 

That was the problem with Jesus.  He refused to do so...  and so should we.