Jim's Peacemaking

The big move is Lyn and I are planning a move to Chicago by November, to be closer to our three children and four grandchildren, and so Lyn does not have a two hour drive to and from work and can more easily commute to Minneapolis to support her mother 95 and aunt 89. We will be part of Living Water Mennonite Church , where the Lord has given us many friends recent years. I have never lived in the city. In my head this seems clearly the right thing to do, though I find it emotionally challenging when I think about leaving Plow Creek community and rural life and moving to the all the noise, cement, and people of the city. We will be in Rogers Park, six blocks from Lake Michigan, which is consoling. I will continue my peace work with the support of the church there. I welcome your prayers for this transition.The unity between Lyn and I on this has been a bonus gift. "David, how is it going in the Fellowship of Reconciliation booth?" He responded, "I am finding it a real ch...

Dear Friend, “Lord help me do this breathing exercise, meditation exercise, work this reading into my thinking and living, and intercede for these my brothers and sisters.” That is how I begin my quiet time each day. Following are more of my prayers and thoughts. “Give the persons I pray for the books, ideas and people to bring wholeness, healing, and health into their body minds, soul and society.” “God, help me realize I am your servant and not You.” Prayer is the language of people who are in trouble and know it, and who believe God can get them out. I have found it helpful to write down prayers, concerns, and people's names to help me remember to pray for them. You are on the list. Often I just read the list, but I sense God still uses it, the effectiveness depends not on me but on God. Other times I sense I touch the people as I pray for them. Another help has been a picture of Jesus to remind me that God is present. Sometimes I have carried worries for years until one da...

Dear Friends, I have been sharing the following with people these days. “Have you heard of the book JFK and the Unspeakable by James Douglas? In it Douglas, a Christian, shows through his in-depth studies that JFK’s assassination and some other political US assassinations were related to these persons being in the process of implementing some important changes.” “I sense our country is at a crossroads in our history. And a political assassination could be devastating for the whole world. So I would like to encourage you to say a prayer for the protection of the candidates, and for God’s will to be done in these elections. I think we can with our prayers have a part in shaping history for the better. Ask your friends and church to do the same.” “It would be so easy to let this just be something we use to make conversation about the election and another thing to feel helpless about. We can influence this situation, contrary to the air around that says we are hopeless to change things. W...

Dear Friend, “Today’s presentation is just for kids and if the the adults behave we will let them listen”, thus I began my recent presentation at my home church at Plow Creek. “Do you know what a peacebuilders is in your school?” I ask the kids. They answered. “Sure they give up put downs, they make friends with those who are left out, they try to work things out by talking instead of hitting or fighting.” Well, when I go to Colombia for 2- 3 months, I try to be a peacebuilder amongst the people who have been fighting for 45 years there. They are not only fighting with angry words with hands and sticks as you might with your playmates, but they are using even guns which can kill people. Here are real bullets and a real gun. In Colombia they talk about the lead (plomo) was flying as a way to say there was a fight. They are talking about the lead here the tips in these bullets. When the trigger is pulled the gun shoots the lead out and it will tear into what ever it hits, and if it hi...

Dear Friends, Imagine being told that the home you built, or were born in, or lived in all your life is no longer legally yours and that you must leave. Further imagine that all of your relatives and neighbors are being told the same thing, and that failure to leave will result in death. This is what is happening to the communities of Garzal. These people are now being pressured by a former owner to abandon their farms. This former owner, a cocaine producer, is using paramilitaries to threaten them. Their leader, Salvador, who is a Pentecostal pastor and their school teacher, has asked us to accompany them in their struggle to get land titles and resist expulsion from land on which they grow cacao (chocolate), bananas, and yucca. These crops are their livelihood. So, as a way of supporting them, a CPT delegation spent three days in Garzal. We followed this with a public witness action to raise awareness of the plight of these people. It was finalized with a letter that we signe...

Dear Friend, “There must have been 40 or 50 soldiers from the Colombian Army who came through here. They accused Jorge, my son, of being an informer for the guerrillas. I was so scared. They took his picture and asked him a lot of accusing questions. I was afraid to let him go fishing like he often does. They were all around the house. I was afraid that if there was a confrontation with the guerrillas, bullets might hit any one of my children.” “They asked our first and last names and checked them, with lots of others from the community, against their list of supposed guerrilla sympathizers. We are not guerrilla sympathizers, but there is nothing we can do to convince them otherwise. They have guns, so I don’t argue with them. Someone must be singling us out. I was so scared that I called Pierre of CPT to let you all know about it. Then I was scared that they might be listening in on the call. Pierre said it is was ok and wondered why the army keeps using these fear and intimidation ta...

Dear Friend, Land mines are one of our biggest problems here. You know how children are. You tell them to stay on the path, but it is so hard for them to realize the danger and obey. Just for them to go to help find some firewood or go to school, it is so dangerous. One was badly injured and we took him to the hospital in San Pablo, and they said they could not treat him there. Then we had to take him to Bucaramanga, all at our expense. There doesn't seem to be any help from the government," shared one of the farmers. Delcy, from the Vice President's Office of Human Rights, answered, "If they cannot treat a person in San Pablo, they are responsible for transporting him to where he can be treated. I will have that looked into." Another farmer shared, "The Army treats us like dirt. They have check points on the paths to our fields, and they stop us and accuse us of being guerrillas and detain us for hours at a time. They entice our children with candy and then...