Jim's Peacemaking

Dear Friends, "I just got off the plane yesterday from Iraq, and I return in about two weeks," he said. I replied,"Wow!" He and Logan than began a long conversation about Iraq with a lot of military jargon I could not understand. David went on to say, "It seems sometimes you just can't get throgh to some people, and you just have to take them out. One of the guys under my command just won't listen. He is so angry at losing his buddies that he just wants to take out every Iraqi he sees. I have talked and talked to him and I just can't get him to stop that." Logan responded,"You know, some times rhetoric just does not work; you just have to act. When we took Sammarh in Iraq, my buddy entered the Iraqi police station without resistance because they were on our side. But he was so angry at losing his buddies that he slapped the Iraqi police captain in the face and hit him in the gut. Do you know what I did? I just put myself in front of my bud...

Hello friends, Four fellows slowly walked up to the Christian Peacemakers Team booth and spit tobacco on the ground as I asked, "Would you like to hear how we are working at reducing violence in conflict areas of the world?" They gruffly said, "Yeah." I gave them the same talk I gave many times during Cornerstone Festival: "Here is CPTer Art Gish in Palestine in front of a tank that was about to run over the farmers' market behind him; he was able to save the farmers' market that day." I ended with, "Would you like some literature?" No, they didn't want any literature, as I thought. One of them, who seemed to be the spokesman, proceeded to tell us, "I have been in Afghanistan. The Afghan people are really good people. I spent 15 hours a day with them, and I really got to know them. They were so glad we got rid of the Taliban, especially for the liberation of the women. We really helped that country." I responded, "I agr...

Hello friends, "Would you like to hear about how we are reducing violence in the war zones of the world?" I said to the shirtless brother as he hurriedly passed our booth amongst the crowd seemingly trying to avoid us. He responded, "You wouldn't want to talk to me; I just got back from deployment in Iraq." He then stared at the photo of Art Gish standing in front of the tank to save the farmers' market in Hebron and then pointing to the photo said, "I've been there." "You know, I would really like to hear your story," I responded. Then he began to tell Tracey (who is in the army reserves) and me his story. "I was part of the first troops from Kuwait to take Baghdad when the war started. The people welcomed us; they were really glad for our arri val. I was a mortar launcher." Tracey shared, "I wanted to deploy to Iraq to help the people, but my unit will never be deployed to Iraq and besides I am in administration....

Hello friends: "Since I was about 17, every night I pray certain verses from Psalm 18. I share this to encourage you to be attentive so you might hear the Lord in your quiet time too. I will share two of the times I heard the Lord speak to me." So shared a 70-some year old women about her personal experience with mediation and prayer as the Manchester Church of the Brethren worship began. A few days later in a conversation with a neighbor friend Bob, he said to me, "You know God is always trying to speak to us, but the problem is we don't stop long enough so we can hear Him." This all has made me try to be more attentive to what the Lord might be saying to me in my quiet time. Here's what came to me recently. In reading Luke 9:12-17, the feeding of the five thousand, the disciples said, "Why don't we send them off to find lodging and food in the nearby villages?" Jesus said, "You feed them." They responded, "But there are only fi...