Skip to main content

A Moment of Peace in Colombia

Image
By
A Moment of Peace in Colombia May 5, 2011

Friends,

Yesterday I did a presentation at the "Moment for Peace" at the Mennonite Church, which is an outreach to persons who have had to leave their homes because of threats or deaths of family members by paramilitaries, Colombian army, or the guerrillas.

Three that I talked to have had to leave their families behind; all had children. Another had all her family killed. She wanted me to help her get to the USA, which I was unable to do. It is almost impossible for this to happen, on account of US government policy.

So I ask you to be like Moses, who for 10 times - even though he felt inadequate because he stuttered and thought Pharaoh would not listen - was told by God to go talk to Pharaoh anyway. Remember 600,000 heads of households with their families were freed from slavery as a result.

Take a minute every week and go to fcnl.org and with one click tell all your government representatives to stop giving a million dollars a day in military aid to Colombia, which is about the same as putting wood on the fire of war here.

Also tell your senators, congressperson and the president to push for cancellation of the Free Trade agreement which only helps big business and forces people in many ways to work for very low wages for these businesses. They are deciding about this right now.

I had good travel, especially the time with the 5 people I got to know and shared with. They all expressed thanks and support for my work. It was also good practice, since I had not made a presentation for a while.

Pray for :

Colombian President Santos and President Obama and their advisers: that they would seek the way to bring justice and peace, for God to show this to them, that they would be open to it, and put it into practice.

My patience and quick learning of a cell phone and the computer differences here. It has been trying, though it is getting better little by little, thanks to friends here.

That I would learn how to put these messages on facebook and twitter, so as to share them more widely.

Thanks and peace,

Jim

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Hope in Iraq

By
Dear Friends, I have recently finished Peggy Gish’s book An Iraq Journey of Hope and Peace . It brought me to deep prayer at times, helping me to see US soldiers as human beings and breaking down some of my stereotypes of them. It also helped me experience the personal pain of Iraqis who are caught in the war as opposed to hearing statistics in the news. This was peacemaking taking place in my own heart and mind. Peggy’s honesty in sharing her own personal struggle and admitting her own mistakes is challenging to my own peacemaking. Another aspect of this book that was inspiring to me was that when CPTers in Iraq realized they were making a mistake in midst of sharing with Iraqis, they were able at times to change right then and there. This is clear evidence of the Spirit at work. It also gave me a sense of how God was able to use the seemingly small amount of people, just six or so, to make a significant difference for the good in this horrible situation. I am adding to this messag...
Post a Comment
Read more

An Incredible Prime Minister

By
           An Incredible Prime Minister     Dear Friends, a hopeful happening,                  Two years ago, Ethiopia was a basket case. The government seemed to be losing control The majority Oromo people were restive under a rule that seemed to rob them of their place. The traditionally powerful Amhara rioted. A state of emergency brought silence on the surface, but underneath the nation seethed. Civil war threatened. A foreigner was killed. Tourism waned. Finally, the prime minister resigned. The church prayed earnestly. Then, unexpectedly, eight months ago, the relatively unknown Abiy Ahmad was elected prime minister. What followed was equally unanticipated. In a bold, courageous acceptance speech; Ahmad announced a policy of peace, love and unity for the nation and its relationships with the rest of the world. He made sweeping promises and, to...
Post a Comment
Read more

An Army Visit

By
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...
Post a Comment
Read more