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"What can I do for peace in Iraq?"

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"What can I do for peace in Iraq?" asked someone to Cliff Kindy, a long time CPTer in Iraq, at one of his six seminars at the Cornerstone Music Festival. Cliff replied, "What I am sharing is what I experienced, which is one view of Iraq. Get other views from a number of news sources , talk to people who have been in Iraq, especially soldiers. They need to tell their story and we need to hear their story for our healing and their healing. We need it for the healing of our nation. We can not expect the government to provide this. The churches need to do this." Several times Cliff reminded people how important getting other points of view and connecting with people who have been in Iraq is to build a lasting peace in the world.


Here at our Cornerstone Booth is Hilda a woman from Norway signing up to be on our mailing list, one of the over 300 persons who did so.

One of the leaders of the band Me with out You put in an unsolicited but good plug for CPT at Main Stage before some 6000 fans one evening. It greatly increased the interest in CPT. The leader came to our booth for a while to talk.

I was very grateful for the seven others who helped talk to people at our booth this year. They did a super job, seems I could not have picked a more dedicated and sensitive group of people to represent CPT and to stand up in a wholesome way to the challenges of people who disagree with us. Doing this is central to peacemaking. One women who disagreed with me said, "You are the most open person I have ever met". So maybe I am making some progress. Six of my helpers are hoping to do CPT training soon.

Rod Orr one of our helpers listened to one soldier, who supported the war tell nearly in tears how he killed a seven year old boy who was about to shoot him, and than how he had to strangle his Dad when he came at the soldier with a knife. What an emotional memory to live with. War is hell for everyone involved, even us who have to listen to such stories. Rod remarked, "I try to just listen and give them hope by offering an alternative to war."

There was an Army chaplain just down the way in our tent with whom three of us each talked for over a half an hour with. Cliff even exchanged email with him so they can have further conversations. The Chaplin said, He was doing this work of recruiting chaplains because he did not feel he could handle returning to Iraq for a while.

We kind of built a short time of significant community amongst us in our times of sharing and prayer as we started each day. That was an added gift .

I recently began to practice a simple meditation exercise to help me get in touch with what is going on in my life. It helped me work through some concerns about my blood pressure that were weighing on me more that I was conscious of. If you would be interested in information about this exercise let me know.
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