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Immigration Posted on 03/29/2009 12:00 AM   |  EMail to Friend   |  View Comments (4)

The storm has passed, the hurt is still there but I think Abe will cope with Jesus’help. Though we were all thrilled that we qualified for the scholarship we know the decision for me to stay is the right one. I will miss bhaiya (the word for big brother)ever so much, Amma is already teary& but thankful I am not leaving. We are best friend, it must be said& I know that I am precious to baba too- its different with girls. Especially in our context, it is a blessing to have a father like baba. He has always taught me think big, dream big and to never let anyone tell me, I cannot be someone or get somewhere because I am a woman& a minority to boot! My life should be the pits by BBC & CNN standards. A girl& a Christian girl at that in a Muslim country! Though I do not walk 6 paces behind my father or brother I do not feel I am in grave danger for being a woman with dreams& ambition to become an analyst on politics & culture – in Pakistan. But I do know that will never be easy to go the whole way in Pakistan. I will need to have outside exposure in order to do be balanced& well trained. But when that day comes God will prepare me. I am sure my last blog raised questions. Some of you may have quite strong views about Christians staying where they should& not leaving their countries that need them, some of you may be driven by compassion& wish you could bring the persecuted Christians out of there & keep them safe outside in your countries, some of you may think like me, that it is the will of God that decides where people end up. You know I can never condemn people for leaving. I know how hard it is to think&grow as individuals, but I can never encourage them to leave either, unless it is someone like Tabassum who has the lives of her children and grandchildren to think of- for whom every night for months was spent in a different place, sometimes in alley ways so they would not be found. You see sometimes God will take people out, He may take them forever because His plans for them&their children & their children’s children are such. We do not have to understand that because we are not God, our thoughts are not high like His. Sometimes He may chose to take people out to the West, to train them,prepare them,encourage their hearts & let them delve in the word in complete freedom before bringing them back. Then there is also the case of many Pakistani Christians not getting jobs because their training is not as cutting edge as their Muslim contemporaries who are able to get abroad and get an education, also like Abraham. So they go abroad, study and then come back and are actually able to get better jobs. God’s ways are perfect. The problem arises when God takes someone out to prepare them& bring them back but they fall so much in love with their new found freedom. They forget their homeland& worse than that they begin to hate it. When there is hate the praying stops& they stop reaching out to the Muslims around them even in the West & also they stop financial support for the local Church in Pakistan. You lose wheels & the other wheels have to work harder. The phenomena of immigration is a long story- not all cut & dried. There is no way we can condemn anyone’s decision to move. But we can plead that those who have left, start praying for their land, they start to remember their responsibility to their home church as prayer warriors placing their hurts& sadness at the foot of the cross, forgive their persecutors (Muslims in this case) & reach out to those in their neighbourhoods. There is so much more.

To Leave or not to leave Posted on 03/27/2009 12:00 AM   |  EMail to Friend   |  View Comments (2)

Some time ago I mentioned there was something up with Abraham. First I thought ‘girl issues’. Turns out he was looking into the possibility of scholarships for us- to go to the West to university to complete our education outside Pakistan. Today was tense. Abraham is tired of the situation in Pakistan& struggles to find a job that signs him on for more than a 6 month probation. They find some reason or other to tell him they can’t keep him. He studied hard to get his grades at college&training levels & is good at what he does, but is not a Muslim. That makes him disposable. He wants me to study freely¬ be blinkered by the academics in this country.He did all this research into scholarships. We are by no means poor, Abba does well.The house was left us by daada. One may not think that someone with a house like ours&with house help would need to apply for a scholarship but that is in Pakistani terms. Convert our money into Dollars,Sterling or Euros& it wont go very far to educate 4 children in the West- unless one is a powerful landowner, industrialist or has corrupt means. If Baba pushed it he would be able to send us, but it would affect the people they are able to provide jobs for, it would affect the projects they support& Abraham was conscious of that when he searched out this scholarship program. We didn’t stand a chance for government scholarships as they cater either to those who can pull strings or provide substantial bribes& very few Christians get them. He knows we both want to serve Pakistan& wants to give his best by training best as possible&then returning. I understand. I too want to go abroad& study but right now- I am not ready! Right now I do not feel right to leave Amma&Baba& go abroad, especially now. Abraham also knows that unless he gets his academics in order&gets a steady job he does not stand a chance of marrying Saman. It is all so complicated! There are so many of us who have this decision to make- stay or go. Perhaps you do not know how hard this blog has been for me. This blog about decision making- deciding with God what it is He wants from our lives, it is about honouring our parents and their wishes, for some about being sick of Pakistan’s cruelty& selfishness of those in power, for some about not wanting to abandon their struggling country, for others, the need to breathe without Islam breathing down our necks, for some a need to go abroad, better ourselves& then return. Some will never leave, others will marry the next Green Card Holder or British Passport holder who comes their way even if it is someone to whom they aren’t in the least bit attracted but can get them out, or a woman who has a green card&so her three previous failed marriages can be ignored. To leave or not to leave- that is the question – pray for those of us who have this decision. I have hurt my brother by by saying no. This is for him, he needs to go, but for now I need stay, to finish my degree &then go. For now I have a responsibility to Johnny&Neens they are teenagers and they need their big sister even though they may not want me. I have responsibilities toward my Muslim friends in my class. Some of them only share the deepest secrets of their heart with me. For now Abraham must go.If I ever go it will be to come back again. To return to serve my people, to be a light in this darkness- God has called me, please pray that I never forget that. I sometimes hold my breath from fear of becoming contaminated with hate for those who persecute us. That is not my path- or that of anyone who follows Jesus.

Christian Lawyers Posted on 03/23/2009 12:00 AM   |  EMail to Friend   |  View Comments (3)

A few days ago someone commented on a blog of mine. I want you to understand that we are all against the Blasphemy law and we stand behind all thsoe Christians who are out there as Christian lawyers. God has given us the great priveledge and we all give thanks for the fact that very recently we have had the first Christian judge in the last 20 years! I mean almost all my life there has been only one Christian judge who was only there for a short while! The problem with the protests that happened in my city only a few days ago was that the Long March was being sold to different groups as a different cause. No one was certain of what was happening. The problem with protests and marches in countries like Paksitan is that there are always a few people who go out for a cause that they are passionate about like the Christian lawyers in Pakistan. My Uncle, Dawood, belongs to a Christian lawyers group and went out in the march and his reflections later on were that there was no unity in cause. However the Christian LAwyers used it to share their cause with many people. How can i discredit that opportunity to share with 100s of lawyers the dangers of the Blasphemy law in paksitan. But on the other hand, it was a complete discrediting of the police and those who protect our nation and it served only to help terrorists move across the country with no way of tracking them because they moved as part of the long march. It succeded in restoring the judiciary and so people may see it as a successful and good way of getting their way in the future. The Long March was not a problem in the most idealist sense of the word. But everyone is idealist and thats what every political leader uses. When I see how Moeed was influenced and he thought he was marching to oppose the present government and the President of Pakistan. The Christian Lawyers were Marching for the blasphemy cause and Nawaz Sharif was supposedly marching the restoration of the judiciary. I cant seem to think it was ok as it kept hundreds of Christians from Churches. None the less, in the middle of all this confusion of causes, I ask that you will think of your Christian brothers and sisters who are lawyers in this country. It is not easy getting where they have got and they are fighting for so many of your brothers and sisters who suffer for their faith. They need your prayers to be able to survive and be affective in a very difficult Islamic legal system, which will continue to get harder as Sharia becomes a stronger possibility for the nation - and I am talking 'taliban'versions of Islam and Shariah- I am talking attempted annahilation of the Church. I am talking - serious prayer wars. I am talking about you and us - as a family calling out to OUR FATHER to see things change.

Jesus' love to us- the Bible Posted on 03/22/2009 12:00 AM   |  EMail to Friend   |  View Comments (2)

I am writing this between classes. We just had one class on Islamic history and now I am waiting for my History of Mid Eastern Language lecture. The Lecturer seems to have graced the campus today. He is one of the many who sees his job in the University as a good CV filler, but obviously not worth his time. He comes in, takes an attendance and then either just LEAVES, or then has a random conversation with us about languages. There is hardly anything of a lecture in what we recieve. Last semester we had a fantastic teacher. An older professor who has been a lecturer in England in the earlier years of his life but decided he wanted to come back to Pakistan and teach here and influence young lives. I wish we could have continued to have Anwar Sahaab (Sahaab or sahib means SIR or Mr). He is such an amazing teacher and responsible human being. After class we would talk about the use of language in the Koran and the Bible and he always said that the Zabur (Pslams- perhaps one of the only books of the Bible which the Muslims give credibility to) were his favourite and he considered them classical literature. We would have long discussions that ended in talking often about faith and the role of the Bible as more than just literature but as the WORD OF GOD that speaks to me even today and how it influences who I am. He knew I was passionate about the Bible and the reason it is poetry and beauty to me is because it turned the ashes of my life into beauty and he knew that i wanted him to taste of it too. I knew that he had never thought to question what he believed. Unlike me who had at 15 taken the hack saw to every thing I thought I believed about the Bible and Jesus. I had questioned every thing. Perhaps broken the hearts of Ama and Aba. I never doubted JEsus just wanted to ask the questions that my friends asked and let Jesus answer them himself and He did. I longed to challenge Anwar Sahab and ask him if his prophet Mohammad could answer his questions and escort him through the valley of the shadow death. Jesus had done that for me through His Word. Thank you Lord, that no matter what they say your word has not changed.

Mob Mentality Posted on 03/20/2009 12:00 AM   |  EMail to Friend   |  View Comments (1)

So the government after opposting the march and making life misreable for everyone, gave in the next day to the oppositions' demands! Do not ask me why. Once again we know that there has been a show of power from the other. Once again we have seen the mob instinct at work. In 2004 I think it was, maybe before that - when the cartoon issue arose? I do not know if you know about that but in Denmark there were some cartoons of Mohammad, the man who Muslims claim to be the seal on the prophethood. There was an uproar in the Muslim world, across the globe, Muslims united to denounce the cartoonist and the paper who defaces their prophet, of whom a kind of pictoral representation is blasephmy and just plain wrong. The world saw the face of united Mulisms, they saw the power this unity wielded. Here in Pakistan we saw how that unity and the mob instinct could work in conjunction to wreak havoc and destruction. One man shouted out loud in an open space about the wrong done to the Muslim nation and condemned the presence of European banks on that street. One man - that is all it took and in minutes there were crowds and slogans, banners, pickets - a march of violent solidarity, urgent passion to set right this grievous wrong by being proactive - or in this case prodestructive. In some skewed way the destruction of banks with a European name, the clobbering of cars (belonging to Pakistanis) and the breaking of their glass windows and doors, the pile of Danish Cookie tins in the center of the city and the fire started at the tiny road side store where the little old shop keeper would not let them waste his stock of Danish cookies. What the manufacturers of Danish cookies had to do with cartoons may seem to you alien and you may wonder why those were used to attack Denmark's publication of the these cartoons. In an honour and shame culture what is on show is a representation of the owner or the creator, it becomes the bearer of the honour of the owner or the creator. The Owner or the Creator becomes the honour of the people he or she in turn represents. In our country for so long Danepur cookies have been the honour bearers of the people who defaced the prophet of Islam. That mob instinct flourishes under the Spirit of Islam. That is what caused riots and chaos in our country yesterday. We feared for our churches and places of worship because so many did come under attack after those cartoons were published. Churches were at risk and vulnerable yesterday too. Churches were attacked and threatened because to the Muslim mind there is a synonymity between what is Western and what is Christian and so the Chruch in this land was considered for bearing the punishment of the Danish people. The mob does not think, it does not process, it is not committed. It is highly emotional and gets swayed easily. It is a mass of people who get manipulated - a mass of people who may not know what they are marching for, what they are bashing up cars in a parking lot for or what they believe in. To them the argument sounds good for now - so they go for it. That is what we are suffering from right now - a mass of people who want a way out, who are not committed because they do not want to commit to leadership who are not committed to them - a mass of people who are being used and manipulated into steering our nation into a direction we are not ready for. We are a mass of people who need more and more prayer every day.

Prayer for the Children of Pakistan Posted on 03/18/2009 12:00 AM   |  EMail to Friend   |  View Comments (3)

The city is in chaos. Sharifaan waited hours at the bus stop while young protestors gathered at stops & railway crossings across the city to raise support for the Long March in the cities this week. It is a political move of 'civil disobedience.' Sharifaan was exhausted! I thought it was the political situation & the speedily rising cost of living that was robbing her of her smile. I made her a cup of tea, told her to sit down & relax. Then as I helped her put away the groceries (every week there are less due to the rising prices of everything) she began to talk. 'Baby ji' she said (which is what she's called me since I was little). 'Last night was strange. You remember my granddaughter Mitya?' I remember her well. When she was born her parents brought her with Sharifaan for us to see her. They had been all smiles & it was refreshing to see a family so happy at the birth of a girl child. Normally when a girl is born to poor people they see it as a curse from God because it will mean one day a dowry & no returns as a girl becomes someone else's property. Hard words - I know - but it is the poor man's truth in Pakistan. Mitya grew up, bright eyes, intelligent, quick to pick up whatever life & the world had to teach her. Abby & I had pooled together our pocket money for 3 years to buy her her school books. Then she got a scholarship & her father said we did not need to help with books anymore just with prayer. Mitya grew close to the Lord, an A student at school, doing with a scholarship from the school governors. But this was a problem. It made the Muslim children in the school & the Muslims families in their street jealous. They too struggled with poverty but they felt any scholarships & monetary help should be their right - after all Pakistan was created for the Muslims - so Christians really did not figure in that vision of the founding father & India's Muslims. Poor little Mitya, only 12 years old - already an object of hatred & occult practises. We are covered in the blood of Jesus & under His protection no amount of occult can touch us, but the evil one can try to frighten us. Little Mitya has started to have night after night of bad dreams, she starts screaming suddenly because she feels walls are falling in on her and she sees all manner of oddity. She is not possessed but the evil one is trying to frighten her. She is so afraid she is hiding under the bed. Last night for the first night in weeks she came out from under the bed when Sharifaan prayed for her & held her in her arms all night. Then the suspicious mother & grandmother started a search after asking God to reveal to them what it was. In her bag they found bits of rolled up paper with Arabic verses on them. Someone tried to cast some kind of spell which won't work because she loves Jesus & it is his name she calls on to save her from danger. Remember I shared this with you before. Even if she is not physically & spiritually affected by this, she is missing school & will lag behind in class & her scholarship will be withdrawn. Her folks cannot afford to pay for three children's fees. Pray that our little sister Mitya in a little 'abadi' (a dwelling) in Pakistan, will be able to overcome, & for those who are trying to hurt her to back off. Pray also for other bright Christian children who could be part of the future of this country, who could make things better without long marches and strikes by pouring their hearts, intelligence & gifts into the prosperity of this nation. Mitya is only one & for this one your prayers will make a dif

Basant Posted on 03/16/2009 12:00 AM   |  EMail to Friend   |  View Comments (3)

We could not go to church yesterday because of the long march across the nation. Young and old thinking they are supporting a worthy cause, marching to boycott the government. The roads around us were all blocked up and there was no way to get to church. Throughout the city those not living directly next door to their churches were kept away. The government had tried to barricade the roads in order to avoid any terrorists getting into the major cities. Today was supposed to be Basant - the spring & kite flying festival. But what kind of Basant is this with the army on standby, a semi curfew across the country, not a sound apart from radios & TVs? Flowers dance cheerily in the sunshine, birds are chirping, nature is unconcerned about the stupidity of people, they continue to do the beautiful things God has created them to do. At least there are bright flowers & sunshine to smile about. I remember Basant being such fun. For Christians the festivities start after church. For the rest of the county they start at midnight the Saturday before. People climb onto their roofs & fly shiny white kites in the dark sky with spotlights on them. Families & friends would get together & have a whole day of meals together. You have probably all read the Kite Runner. Do not let the story of the little boy in that leave you with a sad sense about Basant. For us it is a time of joy & fun, however over the years the precaution attached to kite flying have increased because of the number of kids who fall off roof tops or cause accidents on roads. Today that is hardly the fear in our hearts. Nor today is there any festivity in the air-just the sense and news of a massive protest throughout the country. In Lahore the police let the house-arrested leader of opposition leave his home & did not stop him when his supporters broke the barricades. The news is all full of noise but very little information. These men have appealed to the mob. I am just thankful that a few nights ago a friend from college and her brother Moeed came over to see us and mentioned he was planning to go to Lahore for the protests. I was shocked because he is not even a Nawaz Sharif supporter. He is just a young man with passion. He has been manipulated by the students at college to join the protests. I did not go to college the other day because Abba felt it was not safe. I pleaded with Moeed how pointless and dangerous this is. I think that is why his sister brought him here. He admitted that the students impressed him with pretty cool arguments and if he did not go he was a coward. If he did go and died he was 'shaheed' which means he will be a religious martyr for Allah-he calls it Jihad in some ways. I thank the Lord that Moeed listened. He has switched off his phone & gone to stay with his aunt. All I said to him was 'Moeed you are more use to us alive than dead.' There is every hope that one day Moeed will enter politics, like his father. I wanted him to see there is a future & God can use him to help his nation in the years ahead but only if he is alive. I also am aware that to build bridges with our Muslim friends & share love & life with them means that in the future when they are in power they will have tasted the love of Jesus and who knows where that will lead them in terms of a relationship with Christ. As I write to you the dead silence on the roads just half a mile from us has been broken - I hear the sound of chaos. I must sign out now - Dadi is becoming very restless. Now I hear sirens. Please pray for us. My country is in cri

A Family United Posted on 03/14/2009 12:00 AM   |  EMail to Friend   |  View Comments (4)

Can I ask you to start praying for the safety of this nation and the people? There are stirrings and it seems that protests and marches and rallies are going to start in a major way and the people will take to the roads. Mr Nawaz Sharif has promised that. Will you please stand with us in prayer? If you think the cricket incident was bad, then a week ago at almost the same time, shadowed by the former was the news that a great cultural site had been attacked. In the North there was a mausoleum put up in memory of the great poet, Rehman Baba. He had become over the years a symbol for Pakistan's Pashtoon and Afghan communities. He is a cultural symbol in sufi literature & language and rightly so honoured for his role in developing language in the north and giving people a sense of identity and national pride. Because he represented a culture of poetry, music and painting he was considered 'haram' by the extremists. So little of what is beautiful is left in our nation and yet even what comes from traditions within Islam, the talibanised elements cannot cope with. That is why the Taliban warned devotees that it was wrong for them to be involved at the mausoleum. Now that mausoleum has been blown up and with it the message has gone out that the extremist elements will stop at nothing to bring talibanisation or the same level that used to exist in Afghanistan to Pakistan. Their intent is undoubtable. Think about where that leaves us, your family. Think about what our options will be as this talibanisation countinues. It is only a matter of time before they begin to declare that we are not welcome in our homeland, that the persecution will take a turn for the worse. My friends it is only a matter of time. I love my land and my identity but I can see how people are beginning to live in fear of the Islamic Society and its leaders and how they look at Fareeda and myself and the handful of Christians. I have seen how the girls get looked at for their heads not being covered, I have sensed how Ghanni's younger brother is sickened by the fact that his brother has a Christian friend, I have seen how the girls have begun to be more afraid and have therefore become more violent, I have seen how people are always tense because they do not know if the University, the center of learning, will be the next target of the radicals and their appetite for violence. Please pray for us. We do not know what is happening. We are walking on egg shells and so many things are happening which even in my letters to you I am afraid to write about because if they are traced back to my family we could be in trouble and that could put at risk the lives of my secret Christian friends and my relationships with seekers. However our strength comes from the Lord and we know He reigns supreme and will never ever let us down. He stands with us - will you stand with us too? How beautiful when a family can be united, when a Father and all his children, no matter where they are, can be united. Thank you for being here with us.

An Open Book Posted on 03/11/2009 12:00 AM   |  EMail to Friend   |  View Comments (3)

Things are not safe, no one wants to to travel after dark, everyone things twice before leaving their homes and no one knows what the day holds in terms of violence. Now we are under scrutiny from every side. The victims are not mad at us but everyone else is jumping on the band wagon. Now Australia's Prime Minister Mr Kevin Rudd is wanting to know why we did not deliver on tight security for the cricketers. I do not think anyone understands the treacherous nature of how terrorist cells work in our part of the world. They have managed to make their way into the system and like sleeper cells they lie silently until they hear the call. They have been trained and they have been brainwashed. Sometimes even they do not know they have received training from terrorists to support the exetremist cause. It begins in offices and schools. In my last blog I was telling you about how frustrated the people are and how they become easily influenced. A young man or woman will become disillusioned with freedom and what moderate Islam has to offer and will start to ask questions. She or he is not allowed to find answers outside of the realm of Islam as that is punishable by death, that is just unthinkable. So they begin to ask those who look wise and intelligent about matters of faith. These great 'sages' may be Imams, qaris (the Islamic teacher) or a pious looking teacher who perhaps observed hijab (ie the scarf around the head which not just a piece of cloth which women wear to keep them from appearing attractive and cover their hair, but is also a state of mind, an attitude and many times a political and religious statement). Gone are the days when the Scarf/Hijab, was mainly a symbol of male domination. I know guys at school who are going spare because their sisters or future wives are beginning to take up the Hijab. Such are the ones who become caught up in a deceptive web of Islamic teaching which appears to them as light, this is the classic example of the Devil masquerading as the Angel of Light. So people get drawn to it. Becuase it is a crime for us Christians to be evangelistic and there are not enough of us able to be in public life so they can see us and be friends with us and have relationships with us in which we could minister to them. However, praying is not a crime, so we pray for them that in these small groups when they meet this spirit of extremism may be replaced by a true search, a spirit of courage to really seek out the truth and saved by the living God. That is the only hope for the Middle East. Will you pray for us for this? Will you pray that God will give the Christian community in Pakistan a new lease of passion to be involved in the public life of the nation, to excel and put our all into glorifying the name of Jesus? We really need to be more involved and set up systems where we can equip poorer Christians who are hidden away because they are not able to get jobs and school admissions because they are Chrstians and so no one knows about them and they do not get the chance to go to school and improve their lives. Will you pray for us that we will come together and stand by one another and enter boldly into the lives of Muslims and share His love with them - I am reminded of the words of a great Christian who is passionate about encouraging the local Church in the Middle East - a man who said perhaps our lives are the only Bible anyone can read. Will you pray for us that our lives will be like an open book - not any book but the Bible.

Change of Heart Posted on 03/09/2009 12:00 AM   |  EMail to Friend   |  View Comments (4)

Added to our list of transgressions is now this attack on the Sri Lankan cricket team. Sri Lanka themselves have been gracious in their response not condoning it but acknowledging the past years of hospitality& openness the people of Pakistan have demonstrated, acknowledging that like in their own country there is only a minority who are bent on violence. Do not forget that modern day suicide 'bombing' as we know& see it was developed as much by the Sri Lankan rebel groups as it was by Islamic extremists. They know the pain of violence& what it does to people in crisis when we feel the same pain. Sri Lanka feels the pain of terrorism& what it does to a nation so they tend to understand something of what we go through.When we feel the same pain we cannot judge or deny the pain of another. 1 Corinthians 12:26 says, that if one part of the body suffers we all do. You in your world& us here in ours, we are suffering right now from wounds inflicted on us by some of our own, those who look, talk& dress like us, but do not think like all of us. The diversity among the people of my nation leaves me amazed at how easily the outside world stereotypes us. We do not all think as terrorists. Most in my nation are Muslim, some are Christians, others Hindus, even Sikhs, some moderates, others extremists, some extremists are extreme in their views but not in their actions, some in their actions but not violent& destructive in them. Some are quiet about the state of the land, carry on living lives of integrity, hoping people will leave them alone, still aching inside at what is going on in our homeland, others are so hurt they are frustrated& their frustration perhaps was not dealt with& has now passed onto their children, teenagers, young adults, who have decided to act to pacify that frustration& that has manifested itself in the form of terrorism& violence. These frustrated people who have been quiet for a long time, or have seen their parents suffer in various ways, have been misdirected by some extremist element or other, either in their schools, or their madrassahs (Islamic schools) or their communities & have taken to violence. Members of the Body of Christ, your family, are living in the midst of this frustrated, misdirected world. Please feel our pain, we are part of the same body, something is wrong with the functioning of the body if you do not feel our pain& our frustration. Our pain at what the people around us are doing to themselves. The passion& urgency we feel to reach them with the Gospel but the total inertia we feel from years of control& fear that has been preached to us by Imams on a Friday from the mosque, by laws like blasphemy& apostasy which make evangelism or opinions on faith a crime-especially if they may indirectly claim that we think Islam is a lie (I struggle even to write this to you as I have become trained not think such thoughts). What a world we live in. Feel our pain. If you do not understand, or struggle to understand, ask Jesus to help you feel our pain& He will give you a heart of compassion& will take away your inability to understand. It is ok to not understand why someone would be so violent but it is not ok to not care about them, to not feel for them, not pray for them with a compassion that can only come from the Father's heart of our God. If we are willing to believe that God can change the heart of a terrorist, can we then believe that God can change our hearts& fill us with love for them regardless of whether they become Chrisitans or not? Feel our pain& pray for us.

Sharia is coming... Posted on 03/07/2009 12:00 AM   |  EMail to Friend   |  View Comments (0)

Every day there are names of people in the papers - people who think they are saying something terribly profound. Something in them must be satisfied when they see their names in print. I cannot think of any other reason someone wants to make such a pointless statements of pseudo importance. Ok sorry, this is Maaria very desperate - watching people act as though they have power. All they are doing is attempting to bring in rules THEY approve of and forgetting that this is a nation of people of diversity, not their private backyard to implement whatever they like. Pray that God will intervene. The common man believes that Sharia is going to spread through the land now. We need prayer now more than ever before. Please pray for us in these days and raise up prayer in your churches for us.

I'm sorry Posted on 03/06/2009 12:00 AM   |  EMail to Friend   |  View Comments (0)

Why? What did Sri Lanka ever do to us? I am sure that you have heard by now about his horrible incident in Lahore. The city I was born in, the city I spent the best part of my life in before we moved. (I can't tell you where we moved to because I am not certain who all read this blog and I cannot be exposed.) The city I have always loved so much and yearned to go back to and now I see these sad incidents of terrorism. I am saddened at the way people can carry out an attack like this as though they are buttering bread - but then again do they carry them out as simply as that in a heart beat? Dadi and I were so heartbroken as we watched news flash after news flash. How could they do that? The stadium is such a symbol of our sportsmanship, a symbol of the talents God has given the people of my land and their excellence in sport. How could anyone think that it is ok to something like this? I want to use this blog to say sorry - sorry to all those who have been affected by this. Sorry to those dedicated people whether players or security personnel, the driver, all those who have been part of this horrible crime. I hope that somewhere in thier hearts they will find God's grace and forgiveness for us. I hope that somewhere in my heart I will be able to find the strength to put this behind me. I am not angry just deeply saddened. This just shows that all our fears for the future of extremist and crazed behavior are not far fetched. Those who want to destroy our peace and safety are at large and the sad part is that they do not know that in spite of what they have done Jesus loves them, inspite of what they have been taught there is hope for them and they perhaps think not. Will you pray that somewhere today God will raise up someone to minister to them, that justice be done but also the love of God be shared with those who seek to destroy us and our lives. You know if they can attack a Sri Lakan team that is not even Western then the Spirit that controls them (the Evil One) will not stop at Churches and Christian institutions. Will you please keep my beloved land in your prayers? Now more than ever the need is great and when you will cry out to "Our Father" as Jesus taught us to, our Father will hear our prayers.

Will you stand in the gap? Posted on 03/04/2009 12:00 AM   |  EMail to Friend   |  View Comments (3)

You know in some churches the season of lent is being taken quite seriously. Not everyone agrees with the whole idea of lent, it is essentially a remembrance of Jesus' time in the wilderness when he went away for 40 days and 40 nights neither eating nor drinking. It is not just some wacked out old tradition with no relevance today. One of my cousins in the UK (she's 8) is allowed to send the family in Pakistan an email once a month. She emailed saying how so many of her classmates are giving up chocolate at the moment for lent, her sister on the other hand went off on the fact that we do not have to observe lent (fair enough I do not argue with that) because it is legalistic (I do argue with the fact that we ignore the reason for lent). It was just a passing phrase but it made me think. My friends & I have decided to have a Lent Bible study through this time. We are not fasting, only one of us has been led to fast or give up something. We have been led however, to DO something - to use this time to meet once a week & spend two hours praying for the wilderness experiences of our brothers & sisters who are in hiding because of their Christian faith. Men & women like Uncle Hameed, like Butros' friend Ahmed (see Butros' recent blogs for updates), like Tabassum & her family, those who are in the wilderness of loneliness, where there may not necessarily be a lack of food & drink but there most certainly is a hindrance in accessing the Word of God, fellowship with other belivers & in essence 'spiritual nourishment.' These men & women have been in this wilderness at times for more than 40 days. I hear Auntie Tabassum is wearing thin. She & her family have been split up & in hiding for a couple of weeks now. On their wilderness experience there will be many separations, there will be times the Evil One will come to them, tempt them, offering them a way back to their old lives & homes, offering them lies that would temporarily take away their loneliness, their tiredness, their frustration, their need for family. Temptations that could take them straight into a trap in which those who are looking for them could find them. When one is lonely, tired, hungery, and afraid then the temptation to turn stones into bread, the termpation to tempt and test God, the temptation to look back and take one last look becomes very real, and it is in that gap that we as a Church family need to stand for one another. Will you stand for us? Dwell on the cross on which Jesus hung & the reality of the Calvary walk which many of your brothers & sisters walk every day. They need your prayers to stand strong, to hold onto the cross & take it to the Skull, to not lose grip from weakness & then leave. There are many who are at the point where they want to realise the prayer of Jesus about not drinking the cup. Pray for those of us who are at that place.

Prayers and Compassion Posted on 03/02/2009 12:00 AM   |  EMail to Friend   |  View Comments (2)

I am very concerned about Uncle Hameed. I am concerned for his daughter and for their safety. It has been weeks since Uncle Hameed came round or called Baba, and Baba is worried. Things in his part of the country have become worse. With Sharia being implemented in his region and now the change of provincial government in the Punjab, soon we, too, will see change of government and government stance on Sharia - will it soon spread as far south as we are? Will the threat of Sharia and government instability come to us and spread over by beloved country? They have already destroyed so many beautiful parts of the country and done their part to ruin prospects and attempts of so many beautiful children in this country. What more can they do? I take comfort to know that our strength comes from the God of heaven, the God who is ultimately the Maker, the Intervener and the Transformer. So where these men, guided only by the guidance they have (the Koran and false teaching), can only do their 'bit' in being destructive, our God will not let any of the little ones go without an opportunity to know Him. I am certain that in the increasing darkness that Islam will try to spread across the land of Pakistan and the rest of the Middle East will be countered by prayers of believers around the world. I am convinced that when you go into your room and pray, when you gather even in ones and twos, when you gather wherever you are, whether you have a lot or you have nothing of monetary value, but if you gather in the name of Jesus to remember your brothers and sisters here in my country who are truly fearful of the days ahead, then we will know the answer to your prayers. Whether that means the tide will turn or whether it means that the persecution will get stronger but so will our faithful brothers and sisters and the prayers for us. We can do nothing and be nothing except for you. What an awesome God we serve! If this persecution means that more Muslims will meet with Jesus - then who am I to stand against it? But when I think of the sacrifice in terms of the lives of men and women in the Church, it makes me cold, it spoils my sleep - but then I am up - and then I must pray and then I am filled with gladness. Thank you, all of you, for your prayers and compassion.