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An American Koran? Posted on 06/30/2008 12:00 AM   |  EMail to Friend   |  View Comments (0)

The Koran Corrupted? Ghows Zalmay- a progressive Afghan Muslim journalist is being accused for corrupting the Koran- spreading a translation of the Koran that is ‘American’& blasphemous- promoting inconsistent teachings on alcohol, homosexuality& adultery. He is already in prison on blasphemy charges. This call for his death comes from the former presidential candidate of Afghanistan, Ahmadshah Ahmadzai. I think it is absolutely essential for you to understand the place of the Koran in the Muslim world& why they react so aggressively against attacks toward it. We as Christians believe the Bible to be the inspired word of God written by men who were close to God and heard him speak and were writing by His direction. The Koran on the other hand is a book that was claimed by Mohammad to have been brought down to him by an Angel (Gabrial according to him). Now why does no one ask for evidence of the visitation by the Angel? Why does everyone just accept that that is the legitimate nature of the birth of the Koran? However the Bible which is historically verifiable is constantly debated and questioned and treated with disrespect. Also a lot of the information in the Koran and Islamic understandings of Christianity come from various sources. Arab’s before Islam came to them were pagan. In their nomadic lifestyle they had found themselves many gods. Mohammad’s first wife, Khadeeja was a Jewess Widow and her Uncle, Warqa Bin Naufil was a Christian who belonged to a sect of heretics who had been cast out of the Byzantinian empire. These people had then come into Arabia and brought their corrupted teachings about Jesus with them. According to them Jesus was merely a man, not the son of God, was taken up to heaven before he could be killed on the cross and Judas replaced him. They did however believe in miracles that Jesus performed but had turned that almost into a mythology of sorts claiming that Jesus was born with speech and that he breathed life into clay birds as a child. He claimed that these epileptic fits were trances in which Allah spoke to Mohammad. Allah was the name of one of the deities the Arab’s believed in. A pagan god, closest in his lack of form and visibility to the omnipotent Jewish God- a god who Mohammad ascribed the virtures of the Creator God to. In his epilepsy Khadeeja took Mohammad to her uncle Warqa Bin Naufil for prayer and it is likely that is where Mohammad came in touch with teaching from the Torah about One God and these heretical ideas that resonate in the Koran. However, Muslims guard the sanctity of the Koran with their lives. They believe it was given to their Prophet by Gabriel and nothing will change their beliefs. As a result everything in there is from God, including teachings on alcohol and the treatment of women etc… They will not stand for a corruption of those teachings. It is where the uniformity and authority of the Islamic Brotherhood (the Ummah) comes from to keep the Islamic community in line with orthodox teachings and lifestyles. A blasphemy against the Koran is a blasphemy against God- by whose hands it was written and what was given by him but it is also a threat to the community. It will begin to make the community unravel and since much of the data and the origins of the Koran cannot be verified it is important to protect it from that kind of corruption and scrutiny. Hence the highly sensitive nature of Muslims toward the Koran. I must run now- Ghani just walked in - in my next blog I will talk to you more about this. Bless you.

S.O.S. - Kidnapped Christians and Kidney Transplant Posted on 06/24/2008 04:06 PM   |  EMail to Friend   |  View Comments (0)

I know I do not usually blog on Tuesdays, but your emails and the reassurance I have had from so many of you has encouraged me so much in my times of trial. Friends please do a google search for Pakistan's news on 32 Christians who were kidnapped on Saturday in Peshawar which is in the north of Pakistan. Please pray for these brothers and sisters. We are so concerned. They were in a worship service when they were kidnapped. Throughout the country Christians are praying and seeking God. Some of them were returned but with threats and no one knows what awaits those who are still held hostage! With the security and tension surrounding the situation we have very little news coming through but I am aching with those members of the body of Christ and I know when you know this you will also ache. Please pray for them. This could be a follow up on last year's threatening letters to churches and Christians in the North to convert or die! Pray for the believers being held hostage but ask the Lord also to fill your hearts with compassion for the kidnappers who do not know Jesus. Please pray that the believers will be able to share Jesus. Also pray for Hannah one of our sisters. She belongs to a tribe in the North. The entire tribe has come to know Jesus. I call them an ISAIAH TRIBE because they once walked in darkness but have now seen the great light. Hannah has struggled with health and fertility issues for a long time. Her tribe live in tough conditions. In a few hours she will be going into surgery for a kidney transplant. Again the news trickled in so I was not able to update you earlier. But please pray as she goes into surgery and for her donor that all goes well. Their lives are always in danger anyway so please pray that they will be treated with care in the hospital and will not be in danger for having become Christians. I will explain more in my next blog. Thank you for standing with us in prayer.

We Believe Posted on 06/22/2008 07:46 AM   |  EMail to Friend   |  View Comments (0)

My cousin was here from England a few weeks ago. She was surprised we still say the Apostles’ Creed or as we were taught at school, ‘The I Believe.’ She was perplexed about it & asked us why we still say it, and told us do not have to follow ritual. For a while she was confused & upset about it. She even sat down during the service & closed her eyes & didn’t participate in communion or even the singing. We have always worshipped at St Martins Church. We have always taken communion just as we did before she went away. She learned the Creed just the same as me & now she wants to know why we still say it. Sahar, sulked for a while, then at dinner she asked mum. ‘Tai’ (this is the title for one’s father’s older brother’s wife- we tend to have particular names/titles for particular relatives that way we know just which uncle or aunt we are talking about.) ‘I am asking you this because I trust you, but we do not have to say the Creed. Its not important. I could not say it in church because I sensed this ritualistic element & I think that is just wrong. My brother, Abraham, jumped in. Being the eldest of the cousins he does feel very responsible about where we are all at. ‘Do not forget who you are & where you are from. This idea of feeling the faith- it frustrates me. It is not what we feel, it is who we are & our relationship with Jesus. THAT defines our identity. What we do is a declaration of that. Don’t reject the Creed.’ My brother sees his Christian faith & the gladness of that faith something to be guarded passionately. He gets very upset when people disregard the power of liturgy. It is just that we have learned to make every word count. We have learned that declaring ‘I believe in God the Father Almighty, creator of heaven & earth & I believe in Jesus Christ His only Son Our Lord…’is declaring war on the spirit of Islam that surrounds us. It is a declaration of what we believe in a land where religion teaches its followers that God is NOT FATHER and HE IS NOT SON & JESUS is NOT SON & that He died for us & gave His life for us & that He descended into hell & that He then ascended in heaven ALL THIS AFTER BEING CRUCIFIED ON THE CROSS OF SHAME. We believe that is the Gospel in few words & do we not say we are not ashamed of the Gospel? Is that not what Paul said, ‘ I am not ashamed of the Gospel.’ It does not only mean that we ought to be able to say we are Christians & believe in the Bible. It means we need to be filled with pride of the Gospel. We own something & are proud of it, should we not show it off? Such is the power of that love & passion for the Gospel. That we can declare it as a body of believers, as His bride, we can declare that we believe in God & we believe in Jesus. Imagine the worldwide Church declaring the Apostles Creed, proclaiming it with passion & declaring war on the evil one. Imagine that as a fragrance & a promise & a reassurance to our Lord of our pride in Him- imagine the evil one quivering when we say that as a body around the world. He doesn’t have a leg to stand on. It says to him that we are persecuted, treated harshly, pressed, crushed & hurt on every side, but our spirits are convinced of what we believe & the deception of Islam does not stand in light of the powerful truths of the Creed. Say the words with us my brothers & sisters, declare them for our soldiers wounded in battle, weak & unable to shout out that we believe in the Father, Son & Holy Spirit. Stand in the gap for us for then we are strengthened, that is the hand put out to us to take hold of & stand up.

Islam in China Posted on 06/20/2008 07:15 AM   |  EMail to Friend   |  View Comments (0)

I have a picture in front of me from an Islamic lifestyle magazine. Its printed in England and my cousin sends me one every so often. It’s a picture of an Islamic school in China’s Shanxi province. This is school is in Xian. It is the most precious picture ever. I have hung it on the wall in front of my desk in my room and use it as a reminder to pray for those in it. Its important to look outward and show concern for the needs of others. Its very easy to become preoccupied with our own suffering and persecution and forget that of others and forget that all the time we are obsessing and fretting over our own little worlds there are others who need our prayers. Sometimes in South Asia and the Middle East we forget that Islam is not only attacking Christians and human beings in our countries but with its chameleon-like tendencies it has spread even to places like China and established itself as a practised religion- particularly in the South of China. The picture in front of me has some 30 little children- not more than 4 or 5 year olds, the sweetest little Chinese girls and boys. But my heart aches every time I see these beautiful little faces look even paler against the pale white and light blue hijabs (head scarves). They have been photographed in the middle of motions to a song they are singing and each mouth is shaped into a perfectly rounded O. My heart goes out to them. The caption under the picture says that they are singing Koranic songs. Every time I see the pictures my heart weeps. When I was growing up we were always told that Islam does not encourage music. In fact some of my friends went so far as to tell me they were offended by the singing and the motions to the songs to do with God – like Sunday school songs. The motions were equated with dancing and that was always considered unislamic. And then today they print this picture and caption. A few days ago we were flipping through TV channels and Amma and I were completely shocked when we got to ‘Peace TV’ which is an Islamic channel. They were teaching little children Islamic songs to the tune of an American song from the 70s. This is why I call it chameleon. Islam constantly demonstrates to us that it has the ability to sit quietly and take on the colour of the environment into which it has entered, eventually becoming part of the environment. However, as soon as they become an accepted part of the environment and become influential to the point of dominance they begin to regurgitate all that is intrinsically unislamic and so the essential nature of that place changes. It is only in this way that under a strict regime such as China’s Islam could become so dominant in any region, even to the point of setting up Islamic schools and giving children Islamic teaching. These beautiful little children must not be forgotten. I have a dream – that one day I will see a picture of these same children but the caption will say ‘These children from Xian are singing ‘Jesus loves me this I know’. I put the picture up before the earthquake took place. Can we pray that at this time in the middle of this crisis, the Holy Spirit may take Christians there to touch the lives of these little children and release them from a life of walking in the dark and fill their lives with light and healing. Pray that they may be able to step out and walk without their heads covered and behold Jesus. I wonder what happened to that school? Perhaps we could Google it. If you find something worth knowing why don’t you email it to me. Lets pray for the next generation in China t

A City Blessed Posted on 06/18/2008 07:30 AM   |  EMail to Friend   |  View Comments (0)

I had to leave early this morning for cClasses. It’s about a 20 minute drive from my home to the Ccampus but with the traffic building up and all the road works it takes so much longer to get there. So I left home at 6:45 so I could be there for by 7:30 which would give me at least an hour in the library. The dust storms and ‘mango rains’ as we call them (Mmango season is a few days away- yipppeeeeee!!!) have brought down branches and bill boards and the gypsie slum dwellers were busy that early in the morning gathering the branches for firewood. They tie old bed sheets like head bands around their foreheads and in the sack created behind them the little ones shove branches and dried leaves and bits and pieces that will burn well. Then they drag the sacks behind them, pulling with their foreheads. Believe me its ingenious, but they have to drag these heavy sacks all the way back to their slums. They collect the branches to burn for cooking or heat in the winter. and collect them wood for burning either to cook or store for winter. Nearer Closer to the campus I saw Baba Annayat. An wisezened up old man with wrinkled skin around his eyes, grey hair and stooped hunched back. Annayat is a Christian. He is one of the many Christians employed by the municipal co-op to sweep the cities’ roads and foot paths and empty tips cans into the garbage vehicles. It is not a pleasant job that Baba ji does but he has done it faithfully all his life. Sadly this is one of the jobs Christians get without any discrimination at all. When Baba ji’s son, Arbab, applied for a job with the water and sanitation department as an office clerk he was denied. The situation got so bad that he eventually took the only job that came his way, standing manning a photo copier machine in the local courts, running peoples’ paper work through the machine and charging Rs 1.50 per sheet of paper of which Rs 1.00 goes to the office. That’s after having been to school and taken the local matriculation exam and then training for a secretarial job. However being a Christian it is harder for him to qualify for the better paying jobs. I have known Baba Annayat and his family all my life. His sister is Sharifa who comes and helps us with our cooking. I waved out to this man who faithfully sweeps the roads and keeps the area looking clean. I am sure he was thankful for the reprieve from the heat and that he was able to work a lot better. He was getting older and I often wondered how much longer he would carry on with this job. Arbab did not make much money and his wife had just had their first baby. The household (5 people) runs on the meagre earnings of these two men. But that is the lot of many, many Christians in Pakistan.

Matchmaker Matchmaker Make me a Match... Posted on 06/15/2008 08:00 AM   |  EMail to Friend   |  View Comments (0)

Those are the words from the popular musical ‘Fiddler on the Roof’. If you have not already watched it it’s also available as a movie and its excellent. However my title is about something a little more urgent than going to your local blockbuster rental or to your local theatre to watch a show. It is so urgent that I hope when you finish reading this blog you will get on your knees& go to the Lord with a request and storm heaven with your prayers. If each of you does that that’s at least 500 prayers today – if not more& the bible only talks about two or three coming together in Jesus name- how much power then with 497 extra people – I am hoping it will be more. Shagufa came to see me today. Her dad& my dad are good friends. Shagufa& her dad (Hameed) are converts - her mum died when she was 5& some years later her dad found the Lord Jesus. In time they were baptised into the Body of Christ. Shagufa’s dad is an amazing man. He is committed to taking the Word of God across Pakistan. He walks the length& breadth of the country, ministering to men who then take the gospel home to their wives. However with all the travelling he has to do he has to leave Shagufa with his sister Jamila. Jamila also gave her life to the Lord some months after Hameed& stays home caring for Shagufa and her baby sister. The eldest girl died some years ago from an infection she got from contaminated water while they were on the run, fleeing from extremists who were trying to force them to convert. In those months they lived in appalling conditions hardly able to complain about what water they got, just thankful for getting any at all. Today Uncle Hameed (In Pakistan we call someone who is a brother/ friend of our parents ‘Uncle’ or if it’s a lady ‘Aunty’ as respect for their age and their very special familial relationship with the family) came to ask dad to pray for Shagufa and for a husband for her. He is very concerned. His Muslim brothers have tracked them down and are pressuring him to give Shagufa back into their care. They say they will not give Hameed or Auntie Jamila any further grief if they give Shagufa over to them in marriage to their son. First they asked nicely but over the past few weeks they have become aggressive in their demands. Tears ran down Uncle Hameed’s face as he begged dad to help or if he or anyone at church knows of a young Christian man who will marry his daughter. The young man Hameed had initially thought of for Shagufa was also an MBB. A young man with a heart on fire for the Gospel and for Christ. A heart that put him on the frontlines of the battle for souls for Jesus. It was on that front that he had been killed by Taliban, killed for loving Jesus and having turned his back on Islam. Now, 2 years later Hameed is desperate. Shagufa is 18 which for northern families from Peshawar is a normal age for finding a girl a husband. Hameed is also afraid that his family will kidnap Shagufa while he is away on a mission trip. The situation is desperate. We hardly want Shagufa to be passed around and married to the first Christian who comes our way. The important thing is for Hameed to be led to a man who is ordained by the Lord to be Shagufa’s husband. But please pray because anything could happen and the burden on this brother’s shoulders is great. Please pray for them. I can hardly express the urgency and the pain of what they are going through at this time.

A Vibrant Christian Faith Posted on 06/13/2008 02:00 PM   |  EMail to Friend   |  View Comments (0)

Sharifa wasn’t able to come in yesterday so we defrosted some chicken she had frozen for us. The rain flooded most of the roads in her area. I have been to her very live Church (Abid Town Chapel) to worship. The poverty is bad and when I look at young people at St Martins (the church I attend) I see young people with so much and yet struggling to come to the heart of God. At St Martins, young people have access to education, none of them are illiterate. None really worry about tomorrow’s meal. It’s not that we aren’t persecuted - we just have a better start in life- not filthy rich, just better off than many Christians in Pakistan. The folks at Abid Town Chapel may just make primary school. Their parents are not in well paying jobs. At age 2 some girls begin accompanying their mums in cleaning peoples’ homes. They are so poor, yet their faces light up as they worship. Some of them have suffered violence, emotional and verbal abuse. Some have been sexually abused but see no way out. Some have been to prison for being unfairly accused for theft and other petty crimes of which they are innocent. Having given God their lives – their eyes are fixed permanently on Christ the King. Some of them actually work for employers who respect them. Its not always bad, but its never wonderful. In spite of that the young girls at Abid Town Chapel see it as their opportunity to serve, to be Christ and display his servant hood. They accept the hardships. Again and again in their lives I see demonstrated Christ’s teaching ‘To turn the other cheek’. They persevere in the face of hostility. That is where I see Jesus. I am working on possibly getting St Martins’ youth group to go and be blessed by their vibrant Christian faith and their worship services on a few Sunday’s through the year. I think St Martins youth group needs to come face to face with their brothers and sisters and realise the privilege of being where they are, realising how God can use them to bless their less privileged brethren& also learn from their consistency. Sharifa said when she woke up the road was blocked. Her neighbour’s roof was leaking so she called their entire family to come stay at her house. She said when the families from next door came over (about 30 off them) they decided it was a great time to have a prayer meeting. So they shared their chappatis and tea for breakfast and then spent the rest of the day fellowshipping while the guys worked on fixing the roof. They live in what we call the joined family system in which you have several generations and family units living together. So you have the grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins all living in the same house. Please pray for the young people in churches like St Martins to know God’s voice and seek intimate fellowship and that their minds would come back to the heart of God’s vision and purpose for them as a chosen generation. Pray they would cease to be distracted by their ambition to be as good or as rich or successful as any other Muslim. That is not the objective of a successful Christian life in the Muslim world. Though their hearts have known Jesus and they all seek to draw closer to Him, they are distracted and fearful of being always seen as the outcasts in Pakistan and are desperate to be successful and not be sidelined any more as they have been in school and college. Pray that they will rise up and declare that Jesus is God and will be a voice for their less privileged brethren.

The Fragrance of Salvation Posted on 06/11/2008 08:20 AM   |  EMail to Friend   |  View Comments (0)

The heat broke last night after threatening to rain for the last few days . Last evening we had a mad dust storm. Everything goes yellowy-brown as the sun tries to shine through the country’s dust! Then there are gusts of wind and things go flying. Invariably the neighbours’ socks and towels end up on our terraced roof and ours on theirs. It’s fun playing guess work when we go to give things back. Sometimes it can be quite embarrassing! We live in a very normal world where very normal things happen. It’s always interesting depending on what comes our way, even entertaining. Sometimes I have a giggle when I see a really skimpy pink tank top end up on our roof – especially if it comes from the house at the back. The women there all wear Abbayas (The long black coat) and veils over their faces. One would hardly imagine a skimpy pink top or skinny jeans underneath that! Yes a synthetic or silk black Abbaya and Veil& gloves in 42°C (107° F) with the hot sun killing even those of us with no veils and coats on! Then once that blows over a fresh clean gust of wind bringing with it the fragrance of roses, Gladioli and Motya (Jasmine). Then voila- there is rain. The first rain drop that hits the hot terracotta floor sends the most amazing earthy fragrance right through the house- it has got to be my favourite smell ever. It reminds me of the testimony of Bilquis Sheikh the Pakistani woman who wrote the book, ‘I Dared to Call Him Father’. If I remember correctly she dreamt of a perfume bottle on her dressing table and the fragrance from that spreading through the world and in her dream that perfume bottle was the Bible. If I could capture God’s Word in a perfume bottle it wouldn’t be the scent of earth, raindrops or jasmine. It would not so pretty because when some Pakistani men and women meet to worship and fellowship, to read and share the Word of God, it’s not pretty. It’s not always in a pretty garden or old Church like the one we go to. Sometimes it’s after a day in the fields, or many hours of walking in the heat, climbing rugged mountains with a prayer tent on their backs. Many times they have not removed their shoes from their feet for many days and when they do come together the smell of sweat and hard work defines the moment. The beautiful fragrance then far supersedes these romantic smells from the garden of a Pakistani Christian girl who does not have to worship Jesus in secret. The beautiful fragrance is the Word of God, a word that transforms the lives of tired, weary and scared men and women. The fragrance of the air as they soar on wings of eagles from waiting on the Lord, the stench even of martyrdom and fear as they worry about being found out in this little room behind a trash heap. In the midst of it their hearts soar, their thumping heads and aching shoulders calm as they rest against one another and break bread and drink of His cup. From such little pockets there goes out a wave of change in this nation, a wind carrying the stench of martyrdom but the fragrance and the promise of Salvation.

The Duties of Islam Posted on 06/08/2008 06:45 AM   |  EMail to Friend   |  View Comments (0)

Perspiration is rolling down my face, my back, my legs- you name it. It is so, so hot! 42° C (that’s 107° F). Imagine a power outage in this heat! That’s why I try to pack in as much work on the computer while I can. If I forget to hit the ‘Save’ option every few minutes I will lose everything. College only has fans which are running on low so everyone is hot. Lots of paper fans are lying around the place. If the male students are not around we take off our ‘dupattas’ ( the scarves worn around our necks, or used to cover our heads). In class we have to keep them on. Being gracious becomes a real life-sized challenge, especially when I see my girlfriends wrapped up in huge ‘chadars’ (shawls) unable to get fresh air. Even Sadaf let her guard down and reacted to the cloth. She always talks about it as her identity and how proud she is of it, how it keeps her safe; its her security, protects her honour and is God’s requirement of her as a good Muslim woman. Her expression has been less than satisfied. That was a window into the life of a very dissatisfied friend who is less than pleased with her ‘security’ blanket, but feels she must bear with it. It also made me sad because imagine the pressure to constantly pretend to be happy with one’s circumstances. She herself chose the hijab when she was 18 as her heart’s desire is to please Allah and live as a better Muslim. She truly does love Allah and believes that by wearing the hijab and adhering to the 5 pillars of Islam she will be closer to God and to heaven. In case you don't know, the five pillars of Islam are what uphold Islamic teaching, they define and create uniformity in the Islamic life- you could call these the five duties of Islam. This was one of the first things we learned at school. By the time I was 7 I already knew the basics of Islam and its requirements. They are: 1. Shahdah (or Kalima) All Muslims must believe in the creed which proclaims that there is no God but Allah and that Mohammad is his last prophet 2. Salah: pray 5 times a day in the prescribed manner, using the prescribed prayers 3. Sawm or Roza: fast in the Holy month of Ramadan 4. Zakah: pay alms to the poor 5. Hajj or pilgrimage: attempt at least to perform hajj in Mecca (Saudi Arabia). These have for centuries succeeded in keeping members of Islam in community. With a uniform set of objectives that each Muslim is trying to achieve there is a common goal. This helps keep them accountable- to the point of fear! Fear of being a less than perfect Muslim. Each one pours themselves entirely into being Muslim and if someone slips up the rest of the community points the finger at them for letting down the ‘honour of Islam,’ and there are fearful consequences for this- it is likely to be equated with blasphemy. Pray for the many like Sadaf who made this choice which is taking its toll on them. Two things happen- for a start they convince themselves they are happy and do not recognise their sadness and frustration because they suppress it so much. Also they dare not express their desperation, but instead become militant in their approach. It saddens me because we do not need pillars to keep us afloat. We need faith that buoys us up and helps us walk on water. We also have a cross which held Jesus up to take the rap for our sin and now we have salvation! Praise God for what we have and may more Muslims see Jesus lifted up.

Choose Your Words Wisely Posted on 06/06/2008 08:15 AM   |  EMail to Friend   |  View Comments (0)

Pervez the street crier woke me up. He is a little old man with a very strong voice. ‘Get your pressure cookers fixed’ he cries out in Urdu as he cycles past. Sometimes it’s pressure cookers, other times it’s old kitchen utensils for sale, or then he comes around with his instruments fixing peoples’ copper cooking utensils, removing the dents, cleaning off the scales- shining them till they are new. I have always been fascinated by the little man. He is so tiny and yet cycles around town going from one home to the next, calling out loudly and making himself very useful. Everyone in the street knows him. Most of us have known him since we were toddlers rolling around in the front yard of our homes wearing little more than a cotton onesie being sprayed by the gardener’s hose! He would sit with his hammer and tools working on smoothing away the dents and sanding the scales off age old pots and pans. He, like the postman, knows all the goings on of every house. In fact Pervez reminds me of the postman in Malgudi Days. If you have not already read it, do. Written by an R K Narayan, it demonstrates community in South Asia so well. Some years ago I read Malgudi Days as part of course work and I loved the way he portrays how community holds us all together as individuals in this part of the world there are few differences between India and Pakistan but generally it gives you a pretty good picture. Pervez is a Muslim yet he has never had a problem sitting in the courtyard of a Christian home, fixing their pots and pans. I guess if I were an inquisitive little man who likes being a ‘fly on the wall’ in every home, I too would not discriminate, as any home becomes an open book of news, information and networking. Watching him straining to catch bits of conversation and put his bits and pieces in always makes me smile. By the same token we have to be so careful what we say. There is a screen door in the back of the house which allows cross ventilation in the hot summer months and keeps the flies out but does not keep voices inside the house. People in the kitchen have to be aware of who is in the courtyard or the garden so they can be careful of what they say. It is a crime in Pakistan to talk against Islam or her prophet Mohammad. Sometimes desperate and sick of the discrimination against Christians, Sharifaan (I mentioned her the other day - she helps with the cooking for the family) and Arif (he helps with the driving) – both Christians- have a venting session. Some of the stuff they say could be misconstrued; sometimes my brothers and I join them. When we know Pervez is around, we are careful what we say. In our world we know that people love us and respect us but only as long as we do not cross the line. The line is not visible, but we tread carefully around it every day of our lives. Pervez, like all other Muslims, has a primary loyalty to Islam and the Ummah (the Islamic brotherhood). If anyone violates that, all other loyalties become void. I often pray that his inquisitive bright eyes, his sharp ears and his years of coming to our home have shown him Jesus, and that in each of our lives he has beheld the Good news. This morning I woke up to a thought- ‘Imagine a Pakistan where Pervez knows Jesus and every street crier were to go around on his bicycle, calling out ‘Jesus is Lord’. Here in the midst of the reality it is hard to even imagine it but will you turn this into your prayer for my Pakistan? Nothing is too big for our God!

Dark Days Posted on 06/04/2008 06:30 AM   |  EMail to Friend   |  View Comments (0)

It’s a mess! The whole political situation is a mess! Please pray for us. We have power outages 5 times a day for 70 minutes at a time and its so hot that one needs the whirring fan to keep the air moving and cool the sweat that bathes us in the middle of the night! During the day Mr Sun cooks the country and the people. People are dying of the heat and since electricity rates have gone up, many have been unable to maintain their electric supplies and pay their bills so WAPDA (The local electicity provider) has gone around cutting their wiring! If you think that’s bad- think again! In a nation where many, many people survived on $2 a day- well that just changed because the Pakistani Rupee nose dived this last month that the average daily wage now equals $1 - that’s less that the price of 4 mangoes or 6 bananas or a bag of wheat and rice which are the staples of our diet! Sharifah in the kitchen, she is the lady who helps with the cooking, she and Hadayat (the driver who takes us to school) have been sharing with us today the burden since everything has sky rocketed! Meat and milk is something they had put out of their minds. Amma and Abba have some land on which they put down wheat and rice every year and that helps Sharifa and Hadaayat as well, but last year our neighbours set fire to our crop when one of the men at the farm refused to convert and become a Muslim. So this year we have no crop! While Mr Musharraf was in power the situation was in control- take it from someone who lives in Pakistan. The present regime is shaky and unpredictable! It is like a circus act. Every one is tense and stressed on the roads. The driving which is always manic has nose dived and just become the worst in the world. People are so tense about the price hike in the shops no one smiles and every one is complaining. Mama and I went shopping and the beggars seemed to have doubled! One man was knocking at peoples car doors and asking for money because his son is in the hospital and needs a very expensive injection but also needs nutrition supplements, so in order to provide those needs he has taken a letter and is going from door to door. In the shop, we eliminated all luxuries of our list, no ginger ale, no plum chutney, no cream cheese, no ice cream. We collected only the most basic of the monthly shopping and it came to about $60. That’s without any trimmings! I was just horrified to see what’s happened. With the electricity out all the time our equipment is suffering and my computer suffered from that, so I was delayed in getting this to you. Please pray for us. Pray for all the poor and the sick in this country who have no one to stand by them and help, for whom $100 dollars a month for shopping Is just too much. I ask that you would pray for us in these days.