So Sad...Yet there is LIFE

Following is a portion of an article printed at: www.dailymail.co.uk

The suicide sisters ready to die for their country

Clad head to toe in black and clutching sub-machine guns and automatic rifles, they vowed to die killing Israelis.

The women, at once sinister and yet awkward in their long dresses and munitions belts, say they will blow themselves up in attacks on Israeli soldiers if the Gaza Strip is invaded.

They gathered as Israel pounded the Strip with airstrikes yesterday - in response to weeks of rocket attacks from Palestinian fanatics.

Death wish: Holding up their guns and hidden behind their veils, the women pledge their lives as suicide bombers. In front of them are rockets like those which have plagued Israel

"If the Israelis try to invade northern Gaza Strip, we will defend our land and our homes," one of the women declared as the group gathered at the Jabalya refugee camp north of Gaza City.

"We will turn our bodies into living bombs against the Israeli army," she added and demanded revenge against Israeli "crimes" carried out against the Palestinians.

The women belong to the military wing of Palestine's ruling Hamas party.

A day earlier rival militants of Islamic Jihad released a video in which dozens of women said they were "eagerly awaiting" the chance to become suicide bombers.

One said she would like to be the first to commit suicide on behalf of the Palestinian resistance.

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This is so, so, sad to me! These women are ready to kill themselves for revenge, for land, for religion, for their homes - I tell you none of these thing - none, not one - is a good enough reason to blow yourself up and plunge yourself into eternity. These women do not know Jesus Christ, I guarantee you, and if they die without accepting Him, they will spend an eternity in Hell, not because they committed suicide, but because they refused to accept the One whose life was taken so that they could have life.

John 5:40 --> "But you are not willing to come to Me that you may have life."

John 10:10 --> "I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly."

John 20:31 --> "but these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name."

1 John 5:12-13 --> "He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life."

If you have never accepted Jesus Christ, the Son of God, I beg you to do so now. Eternal life is available to anyone and everyone who chooses to accept it.

Life in Love

"I know what you're saying. I call it the freedom of choice. God gives us the freedom to make choices. He didn't make us puppets. He gave us the choice to walk with Him or not. And when people choose not to, they begin to make stupid mistakes and decisions....because ultimately, we all need God in our lives. There is nothing good about US. It is God who is GOOD. Therefore when we operate in the flesh, we can do NO good. Only EVIL."

A friend wrote that to me in an email today. I really like what she said about choosing to walk with God or not. God has really been emphasizing that in my life recently. He wants me to walk with Him. He wants me to live my life in LOVE with Him.

That's the reason I'm alive -- to love God. He covets my love. He longs for it. He passionately desires that I seek Him first everyday.

Prov 8:17 says: "I love those who love me, And those who seek me diligently will find me."

This does not mean that if we do not love God He does not love us - 1 John 4:19 is very clear about that when it says: "We love Him because He first loved us." - but rather that if we seek Him He will reveal Himself to us. That is exciting, isn't it!

This 'revelation,' however, does not mean that as soon as we give our lives to Christ He will show us all of who He is - no, our human minds could never contain all of that - but rather that He will teach us who He is day by day.

But do not be discourage, if you feel like somedays you can't find God. Ps 30:7 says, "LORD...You hid Your face, and I was troubled." Sometimes, God hides Himself from us to test and strengthen our faith. He has done it to me before. It was a painful time but in the end, I was so much stronger because of it. To fulfill His plan, God often has to do what we would rather Him not. Through it all though, one thing that has kept me through it is the thought of Hebrews 13:5 where God says: "I will never leave you nor forsake you."

Yes, sometimes God hides Himself, but He never leaves. He is always there ready for me to seek Him, ready for me to live my life in love - in love with Him!

Astronomical Requests in a Text Message:

A Day (or a few) in a Missionary Kid’s Life

The other day I asked my dad, “So what do you think about me getting married?”

“What?”

“Well this text message, right here, it says ‘Two are better than one because they have a good reward for their labour. (ecclesiasts4:9-10. Gen. 2:18-25. Gen 39:30) Please i love you be my wife the rest of my life. Please text back. Thank you.’ and the next message says, ‘It’s Gen. 29:20 Not 30.’”

“Did Paul send that to you?” Paul is one of my dad’s Bible College students. He actually calls himself a Pastor or Evangelist depending on his mood, but we all refuse to use the title.

“Yes,” I lowered my head and bit my lip. Dad was on the verge of explosion.

“I’m gonna call him right now! What’s his number?”

I produced the number for my enraged – and rightfully so – father. I honestly had hoped that he would flip out at least a little bit because this guy needed a serious talking to.

“Are you sick, my friend? Are you having malaria?” I could hear Dad’s voice bellowing throughout the house. I could not keep from laughing.

A few more harsh words and an “I-don’t-want-to-ever-see-you-speak-to-her-again” and the telephone call was over. But this guy was far from gone.

As usual, he showed up at Bible College that weekend.

On Saturday, he was given permission to speak to me so that he could apologize. Sadly, he apologized like a girl, profusely as well.

I told him “Fine, I forgive you. It’s in the past. But I have no respect for you.” I did not tell him that he had not had any respect to lose in the first place.

Let me elaborate, like I said earlier, this guy is a self-proclaimed weirdo – hem, sorry, did I say that? – I meant pastor. The legalistic, Satan obsessed, tongue-speaking, falling down, screaming type. Great! Just my kind of guy. Honestly, I think the time he apologize and I said that I told I forgave him, was the longest conversation we had ever had. I don’t know where he got the idea that I would want to marry him – or that he would even want to marry me.

“Maybe it’s because I resemble a very large visa to the United States,” I told a friend.

Because Paul only attends our Bible College and not our church, I didn’t see him for a week. But over the course of that week he ‘flashed’ (in the cell phone lingo of my country, that means that you call somebody, let it ring once, and then hang up because you don’t have enough credit to actually talk to them) me a few times.

That Sunday I told him, “Listen, Paul, you remember that whole no respect thing? And how you said you wanted to earn it back? Well to do that, you’re gonna have to not talk to me. Just wait for me to talk to you, ok?”

“Ok. Sorry,” he said.

Sure. Sorry. Whatever that meant in his vocabulary, it certainly meant something different in mine.

He called me the next Saturday. I picked up – reluctantly and with much disgust.

“Hello.” There was no response. I said it again, “Hello.” Still no response. Eventually, I just hung up. Then I sent him a text message: “And ur reason 4 callin me and not sayin anything?”

He responded a few hours later: “My reason 4 calling you can not be explain, i don’t want to say or do anything to make you unhappy because, i love you so much.”

What part of back off didn’t this guy understand?

When I showed his text to my dad we decided that it was time for me to give him a stern talk; each of the pastors had already tried and it does not seem like he listened.

“I’m not a mean person. I have a hard time yelling at people, Grace,” I told my friend.

“I think you should slap him and then just make sure we’re around to back you up in case he tries anything,” suggested an anonymous guy friend.

“I’ll just practice on you, Grace,” I told her.

So that day at the beach, I yelled at Grace. Then throughout the rest of the afternoon and evening, I tried to get myself into a ‘mean mood,’ a mindset of being stern and maybe a little bit scary. And at Bible College class that night, I spewed my carefully collected venom.

Among a myriad of other things I told him, “You don’t love me. You can’t love me because you don’t know me…This isn’t my father speaking, this isn’t Pastor Daniel speaking, this is me telling you I’m not interested! And when a girl tells you this as sternly and strongly as I am , you go away.”

He said, “Ok.”

I walked away, thankful that I had been able to be mean enough, and thankful that I had something to laugh about.

This is my everyday life - I am missionary kid. We face interesting situations almost everyday – not always ones involving astronomical requests in a text message – but we do face them everyday nonetheless. Some days they are funny, some days annoying, some days painful, and others – a complete and total blessing from God that remind us why we are here on mission field.

Saying "No"

I wrote this a few weeks ago in an email to some friends and I though you all might enjoy it:

We just finished with our relationship seminar and I was really blessed. During the after-rap with the guys and girls Alex was kind of 'complaining' women who don't respondwhen men initiate, or who keep rejecting a guy or pretending they're disinterested just to make the guy chase them.

So I popped in and said, "One time P.Lange said, 'You know a guy likes you if he comes back after you say no.' Now I'm not saying in every situation a girl should say no to a guy, but that IS what he said." There was a mini uproar from the guys.

Afterwards as everyone was leaving I heard Alex complaining about me. So I jokingly asked "What did I do now?"

Alex said, "Why did you have to say THAT?"

I laughed and then said said, "I wasn't the one who said it, I was just quoting P.Lange."

Then David chimed in, "That is wisdom actually," he said. "Because if a guy sincerely believes that it [a girl, or a relationship] is from God then he will keep pursuing the girl even when she says no, just waiting for her to hear from God like he has."

What really blessed me about what David said was the fact that those words were actually coming out of a guy's mouth. I mean, for me, ever since I heard P.Lange said that 'You know a guy likes you if he comes back after you say no,' I've always though, "I could never do that, what if he never comes back and I really do like him." Well, here was a guy point blank telling me, " Yes, what P.Lange said is true. If I was really led by God to you, I would come back if you said no."

There were so many, many things said tonight that blessed me but that was just one of them. I hope it blesses you too. Comments welcomed!!