City of Refuge

Jordan is not new to being a place where people who have to flee their homes and country are welcome. The Palestinians fled there. The Iraqi’s fled there. Now, the Syrians are pouring across the border fleeing civil war.

Many are fleeing with only the clothes on their backs. Ignorantly, I was picturing that these people were the lowly of the lows. I was corrected yesterday by the “man” whose phone receives a text daily with the number of new refugees arriving.  Today alone, 1,000! He also told us that these are professionals, doctors, lawyers, and the common, average everyday citizen. Suddenly, my mindset was changed, forever.

Imagine how these people feel. Imagine how they desire to be treated. Once having held a high rank position in their field of expertise, they are now completely dependant on a country, and a people, to provide all their needs. Immediately, I began to cry. What these people need is not disdain, judgment, or even anything less than respect. They are the ones we are serving. They will be treated with highest regard and personal value. They will receive great honor and dignity from us, just as you or I would desire if we were in this position.

I also learned that it has been 1400 years since the name of Jesus has been spoken to the majority of these. Is it any wonder that they are a people who find themselves in such a depraved country.

We will bring the name of Jesus to them in our actions. We will value them with our behavior and touch. The children I understand express themselves and their lives in pictures they draw. Pictures of hangings, pictures of stabbings, pictures of their own rapes, pictures of guns and knives. Only with the help of God will I be able to not break when I see this. You see, I want to introduce them to a loving Person. A person who has a plan for them, if not in this lifetime, the most important one, the eternal one. I will love on them like crazy! I will do my best to make them smile, laugh and even have fun! And yes, I will tell them about Isa, the name above all names. The Shepherd who leaves the 99 to search for the missing 1.  I will tell them that He has found the 1, it is them.

I pray their future drawings will be of a people who came to love them and tell them the Good News…