September 2017

   Nora and I were at a conference in the Middle East several weeks ago, where brothers and sisters in the Lord (with a 2000-year Christian-tradition of which many centuries in hostile conditions especially recent years). Their conversation was about a theology of the cross, of Christian suffering, what the Bible teaches us, the impact of liberation-like thinking and leaving, or a theology of martyrdom resulting from staying put, and endure the consequences. God is at work, as his children seek to be a witness by love, faith and perseverance in circumstances that few of us in the West seem to really be able to grasp. Maybe God takes it all away, so that we ultimately lack in nothing  (James 1:2-4 ESV). It sounds like a contradiction but it has deep wisdom. Some refugees from Mosul that fled for safety across the border left behind property, cars, businesses, gold (for a ‘rainy-day’), etc. They told me that they were Christian but rather in name only, now they understood what it really meant, and are thankful, despite having lost everything. We talked with someone else who had graduate studies and a high-paying job, and was now helping with the administration of handing out food-stamps for fellow refugees; she was thankful for the way the Lord was using her now.

   About two weeks earlier, I was at a church in another Islamic country, and the pastor of a steadily growing church told me about a ‘covered girl’ (girl with hijab). She showed up at the church, and wanted to learn about knowing God. Weeks before, she woke up from a dream, which initially seemed unusual. She dreamed about entering a door, a building, a hallway, and two people, who were standing at the end of the hallway. She saw their faces but did not recognise them. Now, a few weeks later, she was walking in a less familiar part of town and to her astonishment, suddenly recognised the building and door that were in her dream recently.

   She went to the door and went inside, and still to her amazement found everything as in her dream, including the people at the end of the hallway. She recognised both the pastor and a church-co-worker from her dream, now in front of her in reality. She approached them, and said she wanted to learn about Jesus, and after several conversations and Bible-studies she decided to follow Jesus to become a child of God. She is facing serious challenges with her family at home. After a while she became a regular member of the church and she stopped wearing the hijab. We pray for her situation at her parents’ home that they will not abandon her, but become followers of Jesus too.

    With prayers in our hearts for the global Church and our host churches in particular in these unusual challenging times.

   Greetings and Blessings from Prague,

   Pieter & Nora Kalkman