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Interesting Stories


Greetings from Barranca, Colombia

Here are some interesting stories from the recent past. A few months ago a Paramilitary Commander came to our house in Barranca. We were very hesitant to let him in, for we feared he might want to hurt us is some way. However, after some conversation in which he said that he had come to tells us thanks for our work in the Opon, we let him in.

He than proceeded to take over an hour to tell us that our talking to him and his soldiers had convinced them to reconsider their being a part of the Paramilitaries. He and a number of his paramilitary soldiers quit the Paramilitaries several months ago and have joined a local Protestant church. He remarked that he was glad to replace his guns with his new weapons of a Bible and some books as a part of his mission for others to seek the way of Jesus. It sounded almost like a direct quote from Ephesians 6. He was very glad for their new life with the Lord, despite the danger they faced of possible threats from the Paramilitaries for leaving them.

He encouraged us to keep up our good work, especially asking the armed groups to lay down their arms and to seek peace by peaceful means. He said the Opon farmers really appreciate our work

Today in our worship time we were thinking about the newspaper report of another assassination and how despite the fact that it feels like a broken record, we must not let our selves become numb. We must continue to realize that it is a sad thing still, especially for the families involved. We proceeded to think about and pray for the families involved.

Then our Colombian team member said she has been living with this in the news ever since her birth, and that she felt it good to be part of the CPT Team because it was a reminder that an assassination is not just a statistic but instead is a very sad human tragedy.

She then went on to share that the first time she encountered a Paramilitary soldier, she asked him what it was like to kill someone the first time. He said it was when he was 15. It was so hard he had to close his eyes to pull the trigger. He had killed 9 people at that point.

We then thought and prayed together about what killing people does to the mind, heart, and soul of the people who kill. Please join us in this.

Jim


PS

A quote adapted from the Talmud has been meaningful to me in the last days:

Do not be daunted by the enormity of the world’s grief.

Do justice, now.

Love mercy, now.

You are not obligated to complete the work.

Neither are you free to abandon it.

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