Jim's Peacemaking

Dear friend  Planting Seeds of Hope                                               Sat, May 19, 2012  "You brought us to see a peace work that we were completely unaware of going on in our Colombia, thank you so much for coming to help to give your life from USA to work for peace in our country. Your sharing gives us hope for peace." remarked Pastor Oswaldo. I shared in the 1st Baptist church of Bucaramango sunday school, they had many good questions. Pastor Oswaldo and others said afterwards "We will be praying for peace and justice." I also shared in a school in a poor neigberhood where his wife, Graciela teaches. Several of the sudents had to leave were their homes because of threats of the armed groups in their communties. There I gave 6 presetations back to back with just a small break in between. It was the 1st time to do so many sharings so close t...

Dear friends, Surprises in Colombia May 5, 2012 "When can you come again and teach us more about peace?" asked a youth after my sharing in the Bogota Baptist church. Another youth, Angie, remarked, "You must come and share in my public high school." On Monday I was in her school making arrangements for me to share there. Their interest and work to see this happen is very encouraging. I also visited La Mesa, which has a very pleasant temperate climate; this was a nice change from the humid cold 40 degrees of Bogota. There they grow lots of beautiful flowers. The photo below was taken in La Mesa. I am speaking in one of two sessions at the Mennonite school which included all 250 of their sixth through eleventh grade students. Because of all their questions each session lasted one and a half hours instead of the usual 40 minutes. This resulted in my sharing many more aspects of my vision for the way God wants to use students to br...

Tea Party Sharing Dear Friends, After I spoke at a church, the pastor shared with me: “There are several people in our church who are of the somewhat militaristic and of tea party persuasions, so I was a bit anxious about what response you would get when you talk about peace. I was glad to see how well you were received. I did not hear one complaint. I felt you opened our eyes to a new world; you gently but deeply challenged us in good ways.” After my presentation at the Nazarene Church in Princeton, IL, Laura Root, the pastor, spent a good five minutes telling the congregation how much she appreciated my talk. I than received many sincere comments of thanks and over $100 from individuals to support my work. At another talk, one of the attendees, a college professor, told me: “I really debated whether I should come to your presentation tonight because one of my students, who is involved in CPT, accused me and other teachers of being off the wall because of our political views. He eve...